I'm about to buy a Shiro but I'm worried it's a clones, can anyone take a look?

throwaway

throwaway

Joined
Sep 2, 2013
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135
Hello!

I'm about to buy a shirogorov F95 but this is a huge purchase for me and I'm really worried about it being a clone. The seller seems legit and does sell some very high end customs that aren't cloned but I would appreciate it if a shiro expert could take a look at the photos he sent me and make sure I'm not being duped. Thank you for the help!

https://imgur.com/a/l2nXD
 
Looks legit to me, and I've handles quite a few Shiros. Not an "expert" by any stretch, but I have seen enough of the clones to see them from a mile away. I own a 95 and outside of the CF inlays, yours is identical to mine. The only thing on that knife that I'd be suspicious of is that dimple in front of the screw for the steel insert.
 
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Why not just buy from a trusted source?

There's one on this site, and he's not hard to find....
When you're spending Shiro kind of money, does a little extra for the "for sure real thing" not outweigh all this second guessing?

I will never understand this?!
 
1SHOT1KILL said:
Looks legit to me, and I've handles quite a few Shiros. Not an "expert" by any stretch, but I have seen enough of the clones to see them from a mile away. I own a 95 and outside of the CF inlays, yours is identical to mine. The only thing on that knife that I'd be suspicious of is that dimple in front of the screw for the steel insert.
Click to expand...

I had a Shiro 95 Nudist made in 2016, and it has the same dimple, so no worries with that detail.
 
Because I had a specific one in mind and would have to watch Vlad's page for months and maybe it would show up at some point. I found one at a reasonable price from a relatively reputable guy and worse comes to worse I can use paypal's refund system if appears to be fake after I take it apart.

When it comes to knives like Shiros it's not as simple as logging onto bladehq, picking your model and adding one to cart.
 
Looks like it's good to go, beautiful knife and inlays btw.

And to echo Blues, I've always assumed if I took a tool to a knife I bought it.
 
I'm pretty familiar with all of the Shirogorov clones and none of them are marked with M390, and all of them have the detent ball pressed into the lockbar insert, not the lockbar.
 
I think its real ive never seen a clone of this knife with a particular blade steel marking like m390 on it....
 
It's a real Shirogorov. Look at the detail of the nose on the bear. Most of the fakes don't have the extra detail in the tip of the nose. Plus it has the SRBS mark on the inside that the fakes don't. That document isn't the COA though. From what I've been told it's the customs document to ship a knife out of Russia. I'd buy it if I knew the seller was legit.
 
Corhoff said:
I think that dimple is for the replaceable steel lock insert.
Click to expand...

That hole is for the detent ball, they've moved it to the lockbar because at one point they were pressed into the lockbar insert and they have a few people who had the detent ball fall out. Apparently it's better practice to have it in lockbar itself because it stays put in the titanium better than the steel (someone can give a more scientific explanation).
 
Corhoff said:
It's a real Shirogorov. Look at the detail of the nose on the bear. Most of the fakes don't have the extra detail in the tip of the nose. Plus it has the SRBS mark on the inside that the fakes don't. That document isn't the COA though. From what I've been told it's the customs document to ship a knife out of Russia. I'd buy it if I knew the seller was legit.
Click to expand...

I've bought two Shiros used from BF members and one new from Russia from a BF member on the Exchange. All three had that same certificate come inside the knife's black box and I'm assuming they were the COAs. Wouldn't make sense that the customs document would be both so small and inside the knife packaging of the one from the Motherland.
My Russian and use of Cyrillic characters being a bit rusty however, I can't be sure of that. ;)

Beautiful knife, though. Hope it works out for you and you enjoy many years use of it.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1432744-Shirogorov-Showcase
 
Fairly sure that paper is from Shiro. I've gotten them that did not pass through Russian customs and had it. Although I do believe that recently their papers have changed.
 
throwaway said:
Because I had a specific one in mind and would have to watch Vlad's page for months and maybe it would show up at some point. I found one at a reasonable price from a relatively reputable guy and worse comes to worse I can use paypal's refund system if appears to be fake after I take it apart.

When it comes to knives like Shiros it's not as simple as logging onto bladehq, picking your model and adding one to cart.
Click to expand...

Guys like you make me more and more nervous about PayPal. Good luck with your purchase, I pity the seller.


Russ
 
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