Fake Okapi knives???

[robinpeck]

I've been happily (and obliviously) using this Okapi butcher knife in the kitchen for about three decades. I didn't even know they made folding knives! I also thought the handle was some sort of bakelite, but I see on their website that they still make this knife, or something very similar to it, and they claim the handles to be made of "resin impregnated wood".

 

[5K Qs]

That "resin-impregnated wood" is one of my favorite things about my Okapi folders! Sounds kind of sexy!

- GT

 

[KuduCuckoo]

It really is strange that there is a counterfeit supply and demand for such an inexpensive knife. How much cheaper can they make it??

There are a number of Youtube videos reviewing counterfeit Okapi knives. Some compare the fakes to real ones side by side. I can only guess what language they are speaking in most of them, but you can kind of get the gist of what's being communicated.

Most of the obvious counterfeits I have found online are of the ring lock ratchets. Many use what appears to be a stainless steel blade with a bevel on the face. Okapi blades have a flat grind on that side while the bevel is on the opposite side. The logo lettering on counterfeits is often from an older version that Okapi no longer uses. The new Okapi logo uses wider character shapes with darker, more angular lettering. Also, I have noticed that many counterfeit handles have harder angles than the originals and are a brighter color than the cherry wood Okapi uses. It would be entertaining to see how long some of these counterfeits hold up to hard use compared to a real Okapi.

Not my image:

Mine:

 

[Sevensixtwo]

I know this is resurrecting an old thread, but just found by googling fake Okapis. I’ve owned a few genuine Okapis over the years and although I prefer the Douk Douk as the overall best inexpensive beater, Okapi are still good cheap knives for hard utility use. I recently went to buy a couple new ones and used eBay, apparently foolishly assuming nobody would counterfeit knives this cheap... I didn’t look too closely at the description pics, but when they arrived they just felt and looked “off” from what I was used to, came with mediocre edges and had awful impossible-to-sharpen edge profiles.

In reference to KuduCuckoo’s post right above, the top image is identical to the ones I just bought and most definitely fake. Upon inspection these aren’t difficult to spot:
- Odd Blade logo, smaller and very lightly stamped without darker infill
- Blade has very obvious, conventional ”sabre” grind bevel, whereas genuine are almost a chisel type with fully flat ground front (ie; logo side) and slight bevel on the opposite side. This is the easiest difference to spot at a glance.
- All the steel including blade, lock-bar and the moon/stars decoration has a dull, almost matte finish, whereas genuine have bright, highly polished blades.
- Often some type of soft stainless, whereas genuine use 1055 carbon steel
- Handles have defined edges, flatter on the sides whereas genuine are fully rounded.
- Handles apparently made from a single solid piece of wood, whereas genuine use two halves bonded together with an obvious seam along the entire length.
- Handles also have a very thin slit just wide enough for a tight blade fit down the entire length when closed, whereas genuine have a wide ~5mm slot to accommodate the blade that’s usually a few degrees off-centre when closed

Flaws and rough workmanship are present in both genuine and fake, so unlike many knives you can’t go by the relatively bad fit & finish to spot a fake. The fake ones, at least the ones I ordered, also came with standard Okapi cardboard boxes. These were spot on for the printing, but used a lighter, thinner cardboard.
As above, look for the blade bevel on the facing side to quickly spot a fake; handle ridges and dull, matte steel being the next most obvious tells.

The fakes aren’t even worth $5 IMO, the steel and wood are both crap. Buy original and save the genuine brand!! They are in significant danger of going under due to high volume of dirt-cheap fakes flooding the market. Buy from reputable dealers and be very careful on eBay — particularly any Chinese seller (so far on a quick look I only found a handful of African or North American sellers with fakes, the vast majority are Chinese).

I hope that helps, and if anyone is interested I’ll be happy to add a few side by side comparison pics of my own.

 

[Just Tom.]

I’m pretty sure all my Okapis are genuine. I purchased my first one in Africa in the early 90s, and while I don’t still have it to compare, my newer ones seem pretty much the same as I remember. I also sent some pictures of some of my re-handle jobs to the company, and they gave me a really nice reply and didn’t mention anything about possible fakes. The last one I ordered from the Bay was from a South African seller I had purchased from once before, and while the blade steel seems slightly different from the earlier ones (it has a polished spine), everything else seems genuine, so it may just be a recent change in the manufacturing process. The fakes look pretty obvious if you compare them to photos on the company website (search Okapi Knife and Tool), and take a look at the manufacturing process here:
http://www.sablade.com/forums/showthread.php?2723-Okapi-visit&s=7edb76a2e552025320a254e12ad7373b
(looks like the images got downgraded or something but you can still kind of get the idea).

Here are my un-modified ones (the toothpick and spear-point were NOS):

I really hope Okapi survives as a company. It would be so sad to lose yet another iconic brand. I imagine the owners could move on with their lives, but think of the impact on the employees and the local economy.