counterfeiting

[DennisStrickland]

i've watched this craziness since the 70s. in older days it was high dollar case, marbles, & ka-bars. knives selling in the hundreds were really closely studied. the 70s probably had 90 custom makers so the customs were bothered hardly at all. having friends that trade daily in old knives the fakes have gotten so bad that guys will try to pass a funny just to make 25 or 30$ profit. knife collectors have really grown in number but old knives have a finite number. some of the older & even younger people have accumulated boxes of oldies & parts & have lots of spare time to put together funnies.now the custom guys are really getting hurt since the old time collectors know most of the tricks. with all the inexpensive power tools available its easy to pick up inexpensive models & do a quick jazz up. i seldom spend more than 200$ on a single knife & only deal with decent distributors. the only way i can see out of this quagmire is to deal with competent traders whom have a fair return policy.my best buddy got burned last year because the knife was not pictured on both sides & the off side had a broken handle. he lodged a complaint which goes on the guys record but 650$ was lost.--dennis