Influenced by imitation ?

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

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Has some form of experience with a knife that turned out to be a copy of something else ever made you want the real deal ?


As a kid I bought this set of BIG CAT brand lockbacks because I loved the design and the price was right at $10.
I eventually discovered that the design was good because they were drop point Gerber gator lookalikes.
After that I never looked at them the same way or used them, but the grip was amazing and it made me want a real Gerber gator.
I don't own one yet as I forgot all about the gator till recently, but I do plan on getting a standard gator at some point.

The full sized one is long gone, but i do have the little one.

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( At one point I decided to try out different Jimpng on it)
 
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Had a cryo liked it but wanted another Hinderer design but better materials so got the 0566 then stepped up to the 0561 after having it for awhile I really wanted a XM-18 and eventually the XM-18
 
As far as I know, I've never bought an imitation. When I was young, I carried SAKs exclusively (into the early 90s). My introduction to other knives was also my introduction to the vast amount of knife knowledge available out there in magazines (at the time) and on the internet. I've always been a "researcher" by personality and it always carries over into my hobbies.
 
danbot said:
You mean like how people try to justify buying a clone to "try out" and see if they like it enough to buy the real thing?
Nope.
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No I mean discovering a knife you like happens to be a copy of something else.
People are often here asking " is this an original design " or " is this a copy of something else ".
Whether they own it or not, they like the design and want to buy the real deal if it is in fact a copy.
 
SpySmasher said:
As far as I know, I've never bought an imitation. When I was young, I carried SAKs exclusively (into the early 90s). My introduction to other knives was also my introduction to the vast amount of knife knowledge available out there in magazines (at the time) and on the internet. I've always been a "researcher" by personality and it always carries over into my hobbies.
Click to expand...

As far as I know this is the only time I've purchased an imitation because I'm aware of a lot more knives now, and also don't buy knives from places you find them.
At the time my grail was pretty much the Buck 110 and I wouldn't have been caught dead with a 5$ lookalike,I just wasn't aware of the Gerber gator.
 
Hickory n steel said:
As far as I know this is the only time I've purchased an imitation because I'm aware of a lot more knives now, and also don't buy knives from places you find them.
At the time my grail was pretty much the Buck 110 and I wouldn't have been caught dead with a 5$ lookalike,I just wasn't aware of the Gerber gator.
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I understood. I was just recounting my own experience. I've said it a hundred times: you can't blame someone for not knowing any better, especially when they are new to something. It's willful ignorance or uncaring that bothers me but that's not what you're talking about.
 
When I was a kid my Dad took me to a gun show and I picked out a fixed blade that I later realized was a Buck 105 Pathfinder copy. I beat the crap out of that knife, threw it, stabbed rocks, normal kid stuff ya know, haha. One of the first fixed blades I bought myself was a Pathfinder(and eventually lost it in the woods too).

There's been other knives that were cheap Chinese copies I've acquired, fairground type deals, but that's the only one I know I bought the real thing because of a copy. I don't think you can blame children for getting knock off knives.. But then again my morals won't always align with someone else's(that's not to say I condone buying copies when you actually know better).
 
McFeeli said:
When I was a kid my Dad took me to a gun show and I picked out a fixed blade that I later realized was a Buck 105 Pathfinder copy. I beat the crap out of that knife, threw it, stabbed rocks, normal kid stuff ya know, haha. One of the first fixed blades I bought myself was a Pathfinder(and eventually lost it in the woods too).

There's been other knives that were cheap Chinese copies I've acquired, fairground type deals, but that's the only one I know I bought the real thing because of a copy. I don't think you can blame children for getting knock off knives.. But then again my morals won't always align with someone else's(that's not to say I condone buying copies when you actually know better).
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Sounds like maybe a K-98 knife from Japan ( it doesn't appear there are many phenolic Buck copies today, at least I've never seen one before ), I've heard of those actually being advertised over the radio as direct competition to Buck knives

Kids will often buy knockoffs for sure when they don't know, but what bothers me is that I was 15 and knew enough not to buy the most commonly available copycat knives.
But it's long done, I don't buy copies today, and it did at least make me want the real deal which I will eventually own.
 
I had some knockoffs as a kid. Buck 110, a few sak's and something I now believe was a knockoff delica. I didn't know any better at the time but yeah, once I found out they weren't the real deal I wanted the originals
 
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