If a knife is very expensive you will choose to buy fake?

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tatfiend said:
IMO the only reason for knowingly buying a fake ANYTHING is to impress other people and if your personality requires that then I pity you.
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Thanks for starting your comment with "IMO". One thing I've learned is to leave words like "only", "always" and "never" alone to the greatest extent possible. I've found that they generally don't apply too well to human behavior. ;)
 
Gollnick said:
If you buy a $9.95 knife at the gas station here in America, know this:

The gas station made $5 on that knife. That's a typical retail markup. That's what pays the clerk, lights and air-conditions the store, pays all of the taxes, etc.

The importer made $2.50. He has a warehouse and employees and bills to pay and the tax man at his door too.

It cost $1.50 to truck the knife from the factory in Rehla Rehla Bahd to the dock in Nounderstan, on the good ship Lee Key from Nohunderstan to Port of Los Angeles, and then from the dock to the warehouse in Compton.

The factory owner back in Rehla Rehla Bahd makes 50 cents profit. Truth be known, he's the only one getting rich on this deal.

And that leaves 45 cents for the total-manufactured-cost which materials, labor, and overhead.

45 cents is what the knife is really worth.

And you're surprised that the washers aren't Teflon, the mother-of-pearl is plastic, the blade which is marked 154CM is actually made of recycled folding chairs, and the heat-treatment consisted of the lack of air conditioning in the factory. And the 78-year old woman who barely supports herself on what she earns as the quality control inspector has never seen an optometrist in her life.

So, now that you know what you're getting for your $9.95, 45-cents worth of knife, do you still want it?

As my sainted father used to say, "Buy quality and you'll only cry once."

The joy of low price is quickly forgotten amidst the disappointment and frustration of low quality.
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Tell that to all of those Wally World shoppers. LOL

But then that would make too much since...
 
Ken44 said:
He asked if we on BF would buy them. He didnt ask us if we thought others would buy them.

If he had asked about what non knifenuts may buy the responces would be different, but he didn't ask that.
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Yeah but the ones who actually post here and are members aren't the only ones who are reading. :)
 
Short answer: No.

Long Answer: No, I usually think that you get what you pay for. The fake is frankly theft of somebody else's original design, and it's a low quality product. I'd much rather save up my money for a really nice knife than buy a dozen fakes of lower quality.
 
Ankerson said:
Yeah but the ones who actually post here and are members aren't the only ones who are reading. :)
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He was asking Blade Forum members that would accually reply.

If he was asking people that only read but don't post he'll have a hard time getting an answer from them:p
 
"If a knife is very expensive you will choose to buy fake?"

Shenny,

No, I won't.

The legitimate designer/creator of the knife did us a service and I feel obligated to pay for what I got in return.

Additionally, if I owned a fake I would be embarrassed should anyone ask me what type of knife I have. I would be faced with a choice: Lie or tell someone I own a knockoff. Neither choice represents who I want to be.

Please use your talents to make awesome "Shenny Knives". If you do, I'd be happy to support you. If you make exact replicas of anyone else's work, no matter how amazing, you will never see a dime from me.

Good Luck using your skills. I hope you create something wonderfully unique.

James
 
Im a little different from most of these guys. If the knife is heavily inspired by another knife that doesnt bother me. What does bother me is the use of company logos. I bought a couple 0777 clones because they are high quality bearing flippers. But if the zt logo had been on them i wouldnt have bought them. So as long as they are replicas and not counterfeits I would buy one. I dont discriminate because a knife is made in china. And I find it funny that many on this forum have a problem with a replica or copy knife if its chinese but if a USA maker rips people off then it usually is forgiven. For me a good knife is a good knife. I just dont like when logos are used.
 
Gollnick said:
If you buy a $9.95 knife at the gas station here in America, know this:

The gas station made $5 on that knife. That's a typical retail markup. That's what pays the clerk, lights and air-conditions the store, pays all of the taxes, etc.

The importer made $2.50. He has a warehouse and employees and bills to pay and the tax man at his door too.

It cost $1.50 to truck the knife from the factory in Rehla Rehla Bahd to the dock in Nounderstan, on the good ship Lee Key from Nohunderstan to Port of Los Angeles, and then from the dock to the warehouse in Compton.

The factory owner back in Rehla Rehla Bahd makes 50 cents profit. Truth be known, he's the only one getting rich on this deal.

And that leaves 45 cents for the total-manufactured-cost which materials, labor, and overhead.

45 cents is what the knife is really worth.

And you're surprised that the washers aren't Teflon, the mother-of-pearl is plastic, the blade which is marked 154CM is actually made of recycled folding chairs, and the heat-treatment consisted of the lack of air conditioning in the factory. And the 78-year old woman who barely supports herself on what she earns as the quality control inspector has never seen an optometrist in her life.

So, now that you know what you're getting for your $9.95, 45-cents worth of knife, do you still want it?

As my sainted father used to say, "Buy quality and you'll only cry once."

The joy of low price is quickly forgotten amidst the disappointment and frustration of low quality.
Click to expand...


The thing is that china is starting to make better knives. And how good you can buy is now being reflected in the price of certain models being made. There is still a lot of crap coming out of china. But some of it is fairly good these days. And I like to think that an item is really worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Is a older PCC handmade knife really worth a G note? Not really but people pay it. So it redefines its worth. China is starting to realize people will pay more if quality and materials get better. And they are starting to respond. And with a few of the products ive had a chance to use and carry Id be a little worried if I was a USA knifemaker. If things keep going the way they have been its gonna be harder to put food on the table making knives. And its been pretty bad all ready. Even you have seen that they have been getting better. I remember you had a pretty favorable review of a CCC balisong modeled after an old red micarta handled bali.
 
I will not buy a copy or fake of anything. It is not fair to the person who came up with the original design and the quality of the fake will ALWAYS not be as good as the original. I also only buy knives made in North America or Europe. I try not to buy ANYTHING from China if I can find a source for the product in North America or Europe.
I know ... I'm writing this on my Chinese made IPad , but I'm wearing Red Wing boots and Round House Jeans that are made in the USA.
 
Just want to put it in here, i own a real BM model 42, and some month ago i had the chanse to poke around with a "china ripoff" and the scary part was it was made from the right materials(titanium handles, 154CM blade all of it) Think it was some grams heavier then the real deal, but it was less then 10. This is in a way alot more scary then ripoffs thats made out of a old rusted wrench since even a idiot can see its not the real deal, but this thing is scary, hell i could have fallen for it if the guy that had it dident tell me it was fake.
 
Never, I have self-respect. If I can't afford the real deal, I'll save up until I can or find another legitimate product to scratch the itch.
 
I don't quite get the point of fake knives. You buy a fake or something presumably to impress people so they think you have more money/style etc.

Who do you know that really knows and or cares what knife you have an how expensive it is when 95% of the people I encounter find anything over $50 to be an insane amount of money to spend on a knife. What is the point of showing off a fake of a $800 custom?

I can honestly understand the notion of fake watches, sunglasses, handbags. Everyone knows what Rolex/Oakley/Coach are and therefore people will recognize the 'value' in your fake ripoff.

I don't see how that plays out with a knife.

A lot of the perceived value in watches, sunglasses and handbags is in the brand, not really the materials, fit/finish, craftsmanship, technology. You can get a Hamilton/Tissot watch with the same movement and materials in an Omega. The Omega has better fit and finish but not really much to justify the 10x cost over the Hamilton/Tissot.

Oakley makes great quality sunglasses but you can get glasses with most of the relevant features for a lot less money.

Handbags are the worst. I have yet to seen one the wife buys that is made significantly better than the other. They are all made in China in the same factory with meh materials and workmanship. I have yet to see anything that makes a $500 bag more valuable than a $50 bag except the brand.

The brand is what adds the value. You can have two identical products in the above categories in every way possible but the one with the 'brand' will always sell for more.


I don't think the brand adds much if any value to knives. The cost is almost all in the materials, fit/finish, workmanship etc. If you had two identical knives in every possible way, it would sell for roughly the same price. Yes, you get a little added value if you are a well known maker vs total unknown but it's not on the level of 10 times the value like in the above examples.

A $15 fake Coach bag you buy on a street corner of NYC is probably 85% just as good as far as looks/function etc as the $200 bag it is ripping off.

That $15 fake Hinderer is not even remotely close to a real one except in looks. Hence why I don't get the point.
 
Before I joined bladeforums/really got into knives, I bought a knockoff 0300 from Big 5. It was by Elite Tactical and had 8Cr14MoV steel. For $20 I figured it was a good deal. hahahaha nope. It was partially serrated and half the serrations snapped the first time I used it. Since then I figured it wasn't useful except as a paperweight. In the end I think I just stripped the knife for spare parts and threw out the blade.

So no, I will not buy a fake anymore. I would much rather get a quality original. So Shenny, if you can do that, then I will gladly buy what you sell. If you sell an imitation, then I will pass over that in favor of the original.
 
Once again, the conflation between "copy" and "counterfeit" has to be made. No response to the OP is worth anything if a poster is unwilling to do so. The word, "fake", is imprecise enough to be interpreted a variety of ways as a responder sees fit.

Counterfeits are frauds. It isn't even a matter is stealing a design necessarily. It's stealing a name first and foremost. I would generally use "fake" to mean "counterfeit".

"Fake" is also used commonly as a synonym for "copy". Which can be a great injustice when folks arguing over one are mistaken about the other.

It can be a very interesting thing to explore. I've found copies to often be completely worthwhile purchases. I bought a CRKT KISS and a Sanrenmu 711 once, curious about the differences, if any. I'd considered the possibility that SRM may have actually manufactured CRKT's knife, as SRM makes knives for many familiar brands in the west. It was very interesting to find that the SRM was definitely not the same knife as the CRKT, despite the nearly identical appearances and design. Here's the twist: the SRM copy was superior in every way. (Well, relative to the original CRKT. The overall design I though then, and now, is pretty goofy). The SRM had clearly better fit, finish. Better steel. And was less than 1/3 the price delivered. And the CRKT was on clearance!

So I'd be reluctant to buy a counterfeit knife, for reasons of personal honesty, practicality, and expectations. It's certainly possible to get a reasonable quality counterfeit knife considering the state of today's manufacturing techniques. But the nature of counterfeit products makes this far from a sure bet.

I'm absolutely a fan of copies. I'll buy any knife that happens to be a copy, as long as it suits my desires.
 
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