Did I buy a knock off or is this a Spartan?

[Zephyr One/Zero]

I have to agree with The Whip's assessment on this one. Actual Spartan's have eleven grooves on the thumb-studs, and eleven on the scales.

Here's the factory-clip for the left-side orientation. As you can see, its in plain black.

As you can see in the bottom photo, eleven-grooves in the scales.

There can be some minor-variations in production-runs, but that's it.

 

[deadzonepatrol]

MTHall720, I went through The Whip's pointers and indeed your knife is missing the last groove in the handle. I'm counting only nine grooves in the thumb stud too. On mine, I do have 11 grooves in the handle and I think I'm counting 11 in the thumb stud,. (My eyes are bugging out from trying to count those tiny grooves.) And on mine, there is no CS logo on the pocket clip, as The Whip affirms should be the case. And the clip screws are black.

So, unfortunately, it looks like I have to overturn my verdict on appeal. Sorry, but I think your knife is a counterfeit, as The Whip says. That really sucks, those counterfeits are top notch, pretty stunning! They had me fooled too. Your does look like one of the photos in The Whip's post above.

 

[hermit dave]

Completely fake!! Missing a scallop at the butt of the knife (both sides). Pivot screw is too small. The thumbplate is poorly machined and has fewer grooves. I don't believe Cold Steel ever painting their logo on any pocket clip. The gap between the thumplate and the spine is too small and would be difficult to wave open...

 

[MTHall720]

MTHall720, I went through The Whip's pointers and indeed your knife is missing the last groove in the handle. I'm counting only nine grooves in the thumb stud too. On mine, I do have 11 grooves in the handle and I think I'm counting 11 in the thumb stud,. (My eyes are bugging out from trying to count those tiny grooves.) And on mine, there is no CS logo on the pocket clip, as The Whip affirms should be the case. And the clip screws are black.

So, unfortunately, it looks like I have to overturn my verdict on appeal. Sorry, but I think your knife is a counterfeit, as The Whip says. That really sucks, those counterfeits are top notch, pretty stunning! They had me fooled too. Your does look like one of the photos in The Whip's post above.

Thanks very much for your time and effort. I'm still really shocked at how much this has the feel of Cold Steel. One thing I have noticed is that it was super stiff opening at first but after lots of opening and closing it seems okay to me now.

 

[MTHall720]

Completely fake!! Missing a scallop at the butt of the knife (both sides). Pivot screw is too small. The thumbplate is poorly machined and has fewer grooves. I don't believe Cold Steel ever painting their logo on any pocket clip. The gap between the thumplate and the spine is too small and would be difficult to wave open...

I have learned a painful lesson but will use this experience to be better prepared to pay attention before buying something in the future. Don't know what I will do with this thing long term but I have put some effiert into it trying to get it more like how I like my blades to be.

 

[killgar]

The Whips detective work convinced me too .

I always consider the possibility that older knives can have slight differences than more recent ones, but looking around the internet I found a Knifecenter Youtube video from 2010 that shows 11 handle grooves, same as the one on Cold Steels website today.

As long as the knife is useable, and not a threat to your fingers, I would just use it (for whatever one might use a Spartan for). You've already said that you won't attempt to sell or trade it, so no issues there.

 

[MTHall720]

Thanks again to everyone for all your time and work you have put into helping to solve this mystery. Lots of good folks here in our family at Blade Forums.

 

[Zephyr One/Zero]

I'm glad that the brain-trust in the 'Cold Steel Forum' helped you out, MT.

 

[MTHall720]

Thank you. This is Mike, your brother in Maryland.

 

[AF]

Fake. Only buy from a trusted seller or do your research.

 

[MTHall720]

This has been a painful lesson learned. Just wish I could remember who I got it from. It has been awhile. I may just turn into a practice knife for a little "experimentinf" in hopes I can make more to my liking.