Anyone else see a knockoff?

Roadrunner

Roadrunner

Joined
Jun 9, 1999
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Perhaps it's more a case of very liberal inspiration, but I'm not impressed by this new one from S&W.

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The flame pattern on the handles sure looks an awful lot like the new Aftermath to me.

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No, it's not exactly a knock off in the strictest sense, but my first thought upon seeing it was that it reminds me a lot of the Aftermath, which I believe was S&W's intention. The flame pattern handles are a very unique and distinctive feature of DDR designs, so what do you think of S&W using them as well? I'm interested in knowing how my fellow knuts feel about this one.
 
I disapprove of any company copying another companies work for publicity or having their product bought by confusion, but I'm not sure that's what S+W was doing there.
 
That Smith & Wesson folder certainly has a Darrel Ralph inspired look, but I wouldn't call it an outright knockoff. I just call it ugly.
 
While there is an undenible resemblance there, flames and flame-inspired motifs have been a standard stylistic element for a very long time. Because they are such a common decoration I don't think that simply having a similar "flame style" is enough to qualify something as an outright knockoff.

In this case the S&W is clearly a very diferent knife in terms of design, appearance, and overall execution. I doubt that abybody would confuse it for an Aftermath.

This case is also an excellent example of how seemingly small details can make or break a design. While the basic idea is similar and the Aftermath is a great looking knife; the S&W tries and fails to walk the fine line between ugly and cartoonish and ends up with a good deal of both.
 
Interesting, since the original is based on this knife. S&W decided that the flame pattern would dress it up a bit. The pattern has Darrel Ralph's approval.

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Ugly and cartoonish says it all! Darrel Ralph would never design anything remotely like that. I agree, they tried to copy his work -- but they failed.
 
i read that it is a L. Mah and J.W. Smith design, so it is actually a S&W collaberation.

They certainly have a similar look.
 
Originally posted by LizardKing
i read that it is a L. Mah and J.W. Smith design, so it is actually a S&W collaberation.
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It's actually a S&W production version of the Liong Mah/JW Smith Juggernaut collabration, that I posted above.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I guess I'm over-reacting, at least they're crediting someone with the design. That doesn't change it's fugly nature, but at least their business practices are improving.
 
Here is a knock off of Greg Lightfoot's LCC. One of the guys I work with pulled this out and showed it to me. I was shocked. The knife is a double action scale release. The screws holding the slabs together protrude through the frame and it has very sharp edges. The blade is marked "Stainless China". What a piece of ****.
 

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Originally posted by K.V. Collucci
Here is a knock off of Greg Lightfoot's LCC.
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Hate to break it to you, but they were knocking off the Microtech version, not the custom Lightfoot version. Microtech did get permission from Greg Lightfoot to make those.

Since the knives above are not knockoff's, but sanctioned production versions of a custom collabration, let's not turn this thread into a copy bash...
 
You don't have to break anything to me Tony. I am fully aware of the Microtech connection to the knife. Regardless of who they knocked-off it is still a Greg Lightfoot design. Greg was making the knife long before Microtech jumped into the picture.
 
Originally posted by K.V. Collucci
Greg was making the knife long before Microtech jumped into the picture.
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Yes. But the knockoff didn't start to appear until the MicroTech version took off like fireworks. I was refering to the timing, not the design.
 
Originally posted by tonyccw
Interesting, since the original is based on this knife. S&W decided that the flame pattern would dress it up a bit. The pattern has Darrel Ralph's approval.

http://www.ancientsoulknives.com/images/juggernaut.jpg[img] [/B][/QUOTE]

Oh sure, spoil our conspiracy theory. :rolleyes:
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Originally posted by tonyccw
I guess you missed the second name in the home page.... :rolleyes:
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Hmm... I have just about no idea what's going on right now, so I'm just not going to click on this thread again and assume I haven't made an ass of myself.
 
I was hoping the Juggernaut would get a better production version done. I was hoping with Darrel's involvement with Liong and S&W that S&W would have done a better job than this. S&W did a decent job with the designs Darrel did for them, especially considering the price point they were after.

Overall, I am pleased to see Liong selling his designs. He has some excellent ideas!
 
When I started buying factory folders, I came across some that caught my eye. I bought a few which were clearly made in Taiwan / China, all probably made by the same company / groups, all with 420 crappola steel. But I have to give it to them, not too badly executed - functional (to a degree). As I gained more expereince reading mags and such, I realised that these were actualy knock-offs of Emerson CQC-7's, Kershaw's, Gerber Applegate-Fairbairn's. They were clearly made along the same lines - I guess thats what caught my eye in the first place. Even though I knew nothing about knives at the time, these looked good to me. Of course credit goes to the original designs. But with the number of crap knockoffs I bought like that, I couldn't have saved up and bought and actual Emerson or other good quality original. While they didn't copy the originals' logo, it was only one step away. There are so many knockoff's and so many knock-off companies specialising in that stuff out there, its not funny. Jason.
 
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