Read below, this is from B Levines Forum, maybe i'tll help, a lot of the indicators of a fake kife also apply to cheap knives not worth buying.
Immunize yourself against fakes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new collector, who had just bought a fake bowie on eBay, asked me for advice on what to look out for in the future. He had read the lists of warning signs in LG4, but he did not have enough experience to put them into practice. A lot of other people have had similar experiences, so I got to thinking about how I first learned to recognize fakes. I did two things.
#1) I read about and thought about how knives were actually made in the 19th century -- and before. If a knife was not made that way, it was not made then. There are several old articles on my website that describe aspects of this, plus some excerpted material in my books. Read articles and books that were written back then. Skip the recent romantic B.S. about blacksmiths and primitive knives -- it has no basis in fact. If you believe that nonsense, you will ONLY buy fakes.
#2) I looked at lots of knives, all types of knives. I'd looked at at least 100,000 old knives before I presumed to write anything about them. Looking and handling are as important as reading, maybe more so.
A common mistake is to look only at "romantic" knives, such as bowies and military knives. The problem is that many of these are fakes, or re-works, so until you can tell which is which, they will only add to your confusion. Instead look at knives that no one bothers to fake.
What I mean is to buy some inexpensive old knives in excellent unsharpened condition. For example, if you are interested in Sheffield bowies, buy some inexpensive Sheffield knives -- such as dinner knives, industrial knives, and carving knives. Make sure they are actually old -- not marked ENGLAND, not with deep etched logos, not stainless, not synthetic handles. Then really STUDY them, study the way they were forged, the way they were marked, the way the blades were finished, the way the handle materials were finished. Look at every detail -- surfaces, facets, edges. Look at where the old makers cut corners, and where they did not.
Once you have done this, even the best modern fakes will no longer have power over you.
The first time I ever went to a gun show, in 1971 or 72, a prominent dealer had some very fancy I*XL bowie knives for sale there. I had never seen a real bowie knife, except in pictures. I did not know that anyone was making fakes. But as soon as I looked closely at his knives, I said (to myself) these are all fakes.
By that time, with less than a year in the business, I had already studied hundreds of old Sheffield knives: table, pocket, industrial, kitchen, butcher -- also razors and scissors. The knives he had were the wrong color steel, the wrong kind of blade finish, the wrong kind of handle finish, the wrong kind of blade etching. They were fairly well made, but they were not old. Years later I found out that they were in fact newly made, by Fred James.
So where do you find inexpensive old knives to study? 30 years ago every thrift shop had some, but not any more. However today just about any antique show or antique mall will have a few old dinner or carving knives for sale, often at bargain prices. There are usually some on eBay, too.
If you buy such a knife, but you're not sure how old it is -- scan it, post it here, and ask.
Some years ago a collector showed me a fake Rio Grande Camp Knife he had just paid $500 for. If he had spent that $500 on a carton full of old dinner knives, or even $50 worth, and then studied each one carefully, he would never have been tempted by another fake again.
BRL...
------------------
http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/links.htm
