Fake Starbenza I ran across

[Officer's Match]

Actually I find the Exchange here to be a very good place to purchase, as the knowledge base here is voluminous and this community does a bang up job of ferreting out fakes. Sure it could happen that a bad one gets through, but the feedback scores many have built here are good enough for me to feel secure in evaluating sale opportunities here.

 

[hhmoore]

True enough; but, while I meant no offense to the sellers OR the ferret, the Exchange is often a time sensitive market. Waiting for somebody to confirm authenticity would likely mean losing, as would trying to gather legit images for comparison. I'm not saying fakes are common on the Exchange; but there's a lot of flipping going on, so it isn't inconceivable that somebody might unwittingly post one.
(I'm not trying to be argumentative, so I'm letting this go - thanks for the responses)

 

[TechDoc]

After thinking about this some more, I've decided that I will list out the reasons I knew this one was a fake. As mentioned, I don't think counterfeiters are unaware of their differences and it would be helpful to many to know what to look for in identifying a knock-off.

Here are the differences as I see them:

1. The rays should go much closer to the alignment hole.

2. The belly of the blade looks different than a real Sebenza. The primary grind may differ as well.

3. Missing the "Idaho Made" wording.
4. The screws on the clip-side scale should be like the ones on the other side with wrench holes.

5. The rays should go closer to the hole.
6. Missing the Wilson Combat logo from the pocket clip.
7. This hole at the back of the lock bar should be beveled.

8. The thumb stud profile is wrong and it sticks out farther than on a real sebenza. Also the Starbenzas come with silver and not blue thumb studs (although these could replaced)
9. The jimping is different. A real one has many more cuts which results in a larger number of ridges.

 

[Lennyo3034]

Can someone email me the differences? I'm new to CRK and I'm looking at the pictures while holding my Sebenza 21 and seeing just a few items.

ETA: posted too late. Just got it.

 

[Haze]

Actually I find the Exchange here to be a very good place to purchase, as the knowledge base here is voluminous and this community does a bang up job of ferreting out fakes. Sure it could happen that a bad one gets through, but the feedback scores many have built here are good enough for me to feel secure in evaluating sale opportunities here.

I agree, the exchange is safe. I also believe if someone did sell a fake here they would get banned for it or at least heavily infracted. There is little to worry about buying from here as far as fakes, you could still have a number of other problems though of course.

The differences you are looking for on any of these knives is, well, everything. If you look at a picture of a real CRK you will quickly see that nothing is "right". The blade shape, grind, finish, jimping, furnishings and even geomety betray the fake knives. The handles are again glaringly different to a genuine CRK from hardwear to clip to finish to overall exacution of the piece.
I realise it's easy for some of us having been so familiar with CRK for so long. The difference can be subtle to new eyes, but just look. CRKs from CRK are generally all exactly the same and the diffences you're looking for in the fakes become very obvious.

 

[Nrthfce]

Did Crk ever use torx headed screws? All mine are Allen wench heads...

The blade centering also looked way off to me as well as the bushings next to the blade looked super thick with the blade being too thin...

 

[magicblade]

Another giveaway would be the spine of the blade, it is stone washed and not polished, in case it wasn't mentioned before.
I've reported fakes to CRK at least a dozen times but they seem to be a persistent problem and now I see them pop up almost everyday on a popular auction site. :barf: