Look, I don't want to turn this thread into back and forth explanations who said what and why...
You wrote this:
I can be mistaking but I read it as this was always their design and also manufactured by KJ.
I brought up someone else's observations about Venom II having exactly the same internal stop-pin mechanism as the DAMM flipper (also almost the same blade shape), which is copy of the Slisz' knife.
My point is that Venom II and in this regard, Venom are still copies of some other designs. KJ is a company known
only for manufacturing blatant copies of US designs, those two knifes are presented as their own attempt to create a successful model, but in fact are also copies, more or less remote to the two other knifes, but still copies.
My sour grapes with KJ are the fact that they cannot
create a new design, they are putting together a list with what the target market likes and then combine the elements of the Venom line... If they were creating something, they would make the studs useful, they would think about the way the tritium vials should be in a well thought knife, they would round up the edge of the cut off of the lock so it'll not bite on your pocket since they are attaching clip right there and so on small details... The fact that they are releasing the knife in Russian site, who is showing it btw as Daboia and not as Venom II ( Why ?) and they don't have any name on the knife on the picture, a market who is known for the primary purchaser of KJ's copies, tells me that this is marketing trick and not much else. Yes, it was listed in another site but where it is now ? Why they don't sell it anymore there ?
Let's not get extremely excited about the technical execution of the knife, this is completely different thing than the design, I'm not surprised at all that they've done it so well, but here is another thing: This knife was originally listed in the Russian site for over $230 if I'm not mistaking, why they lowered the price ? Why KJ sells the same Strider copies that used to be $30 for $160 now ? They use the same materials, same machines and programs, why the higher price ?
Because it's still a good deal, compared to the $4-500+ originals, they are coming up with their "own" designs as Venom line so they can slowly get to justifiable higher price and in the future to be able to put their foot on the US market.
Again, don't get me wrong - the knife is outstanding, visually, mechanically and as sum of materials, I'm not against Chinese manufacturing their own designs, I'm for knife done with some sense, not for target market, for profit, that's my thing with KJ. And also, as I stated in my previous post - it's my opinion, I could be wrong... The only thing that matters is that you like your knife and I'm enjoying reading your and Lost Cosmonaut reviews, pictures and observations are great reference materials, thank you both for taking time to post it.
For me example of well made Chinese knife that is not direct copy of something else is Kizer's 4403A, mentioned by the Lost Cosmonaut. The only thing that was stopping me from purchasing it was the position of the clip but someone in another forum sent me a link with this same model, released with tip-up mounted clip so this will most likely be my firs decent Chinese design...
In regard of the tritium vials - yes, having it on your knife will help you find it in the dark. Having those done properly will help you identify the site your knife is lying on and help you grab it accordingly.
In fact, I would never carry a knife with tritium on the clip, I don't want everyone to stare in the little shiny thing that hangs from the corner of my pocket and to wonder what is it...
Again, my personal preferences, my personal opinion, just as I stated before, I'm not trashing the knife but the company and I didn't want to spread up a lot because this is not the subject of the thread...
You don't have to agree with me, and I'm not expecting to change your mind, that's why we are all different...