Is my AD 10 fake? Help please.

Joined
Aug 11, 2020
Messages
1,711
Hi gang

I bought it from the river website for a great deal. I thought for sure it was legit until I watched a few videos on fake AD 10's last night, which caused me to look at this guy a little harder.

I noticed the clip side's font looks muddled. Now I'm upset, because I feel like this has to be a fake now.

If you have an AD 10, saber ground, may I please see the font on both sides? And what do you all think, is she fake?



Handle and clip shot.



Here's a glamor shot of the show side.



Spine shot. Are there any other pictures I could take for you guys to determine if it's fake or legit?

 
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It looks identical to mine, font and all. It doesn't have any of the tells I know to look for (wonky lettering, clip, hardware). IMO you're in the clear. :thumbsup:
 
How much does it weigh exactly and can you wiggle the blade a tiny bit ?
The real ones i've measured on a fine digital scale weighed exactly 200 grams and did not have any blade play, while the two clones weighed ~198 grams and each one had a minute amount of up-and-down blade play.
 
the fakes have smaller screws on the pocket clip and the blade is shinier.

looks like you got the real deal.

enjoy your knife

edit: also the g10 is much smoother on the fakes


around 1:40 mark
 
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How much does it weigh exactly and can you wiggle the blade a tiny bit ?
The real ones i've measured on a fine digital scale weighed exactly 200 grams and did not have any blade play, while the two clones weighed ~198 grams and each one had a minute amount of up-and-down blade play.

I can't weigh it, but thank you
 
Hi gang

I bought it from the river website for a great deal. I thought for sure it was legit until I watched a few videos on fake AD 10's last night, which caused me to look at this guy a little harder.

I noticed the clip side's font looks muddled. Now I'm upset, because I feel like this has to be a fake now.

If you have an AD 10, saber ground, may I please see the font on both sides? And what do you all think, is she fake?



Handle and clip shot.



Here's a glamor shot of the show side.



Spine shot. Are there any other pictures I could take for you guys to determine if it's fake or legit?

Sharpen it on natural stone, not diamond. S35vn will give you different feedback than the inexpensive Chinese steels fakers use. The River will still take it back if you are not happy with your purchase. I paid $110 for a genuine one from them if that matters.
 
Sharpen it on natural stone, not diamond. S35vn will give you different feedback than the inexpensive Chinese steels fakers use. The River will still take it back if you are not happy with your purchase. I paid $110 for a genuine one from them if that matters.
Hey there franco,

Does your font look like mine?

Our friend Dadpool Dadpool Says his font is the same and he thinks it came from Amazon. Maybe the Amazon batch has muddled font?
 
Here's a pic of my AD-10, Billy.

9ZTXxbkh.jpg


Here's a snap of the blade in open-position. The 'black screws' are a mod that I did. When I bought the knife from Grand Prairie, it was missing a single clip screw. Not a big-deal.

4ip6JG1h.jpg


Here is the other broadside-view:

fQQPK91h.jpg


A few more for good-measure;

2qKRMOAh.jpg


4bvM3zyh.jpg


Sorry to break the news to you, but in my opinion: you have a real Cold Steel AD-10 dude! :thumbsup::cool:
 
After seeing all pictures in this thread plus my AD10 right in front of me, I still don't understand what a "muddled font" is like. If I enlarge every picture 10 to 20 times every word/letter is blurry :cool:

I feel this entire "people buy real deals from Amazon and then return fakes" thing is blown out of proportion. I have bought 10+ knives (priced each from $30 to a bit less than $200) and so far have been all good. Yes - one or two came with an off-centered blade but that happened to authorized dealers as well even when I specifically noted to them to check everything.

Why would someone chance on not being caught to replace a legit knife of less than $150 with a fake? I just don't understand.
 
Here's a pic of my AD-10, Billy.

9ZTXxbkh.jpg


Here's a snap of the blade in open-position. The 'black screws' are a mod that I did. When I bought the knife from Grand Prairie, it was missing a single clip screw. Not a big-deal.

4ip6JG1h.jpg


Here is the other broadside-view:

fQQPK91h.jpg


A few more for good-measure;

2qKRMOAh.jpg


4bvM3zyh.jpg


Sorry to break the news to you, but in my opinion: you have a real Cold Steel AD-10 dude! :thumbsup::cool:

Thanks brother!! The muddled, thick font freaked me out.
After seeing all pictures in this thread plus my AD10 right in front of me, I still don't understand what a "muddled font" is like. If I enlarge every picture 10 to 20 times every word/letter is blurry :cool:

I feel this entire "people buy real deals from Amazon and then return fakes" thing is blown out of proportion. I have bought 10+ knives (priced each from $30 to a bit less than $200) and so far have been all good. Yes - one or two came with an off-centered blade but that happened to authorized dealers as well even when I specifically noted to them to check everything.

Why would someone chance on not being caught to replace a legit knife of less than $150 with a fake? I just don't understand.
You can't see my font on the knife? It's definitely not like most AD 10's.
 
Thanks brother!! The muddled, thick font freaked me out.

You can't see my font on the knife? It's definitely not like most AD 10's.

I think I now know what you're saying. You are right that the edges of these letters do not seem to be crispy clear. Like on my AD10 the two E's in the word STEEL do not tough or stick to each other.
 
Hey guys.

Yeah, my font is thicker. The placement seems spot on, though.

I guess I won't know until I really work out the steel. What's the chances of the factory fudging up the font? Isn't this lasered?
 
It's a real deal. Don't compare with the fake one because it doesn't tell you whether it's genuine even if it's different from the fake one. There could be multiple variation of fakes. Also don't look at fonts since CS change it all the time, especially with the latest logo changes. You have to look at the construction and if you have owned many CS folder produced in Taiwan you'll see some consistencies in the way they are manufactured.

Here's a few things that tells me it's real, some are technically flaws that's hard to fake, but present in most CS folders due to the way they make their knives:
1. If you look at the lockbar where you unlock the blade, one side at the end is slightly rounded than the other. This is because the lockbar is stamped. Most triad lockbar has this unevenness, ranging from very subtle to very obvious.
2. The satin finish is spot on. Always horizontal on the spine and vertical on the bevel and swedge. Another thing that's on all satin finished CS folders made in TW.
3. The blade grind has some subtle flaw right below the thumbstud. See your 3rd picture, there's always a slight uneveness at the very beginning of the blade grind near the handle right below the thumbstud. There's a little "smile" or upward curve. This is present in many AD10 and AD15 model. CS has gotten a lot of complains about the shitty blade grinds from these 2 models, and yours is consistent with that. See Z Zephyr One/Zero 2nd picture of his post also, his AD10 blade grind also has a slight "smile" towards the handle.
4. The G10 "weaves" has the right density. High quality G10 is hard to get. Even very high end Chinese manufacturer like WE knives is using shitty quality G10 with lower "weave" count. This is why peel-ply Chinese G10 is never as rough as the ones used by American companies i.e. CS, Spyderco & ZT. One of the very obvious sign of fake is the low quality G10. When you machine lower quality G10, it'll appear more porous and you see more holes like the surface of the moon, due to the lower weave count. Your G10 looks good, just like the real one.
5. Look at your last picture, the aluminum liners are very rough, it's consistent with the real one. CS just didn't bother to clean it up.
6. Hardware sizes are all consistent with the real one. Probably not a good indicator of real/fake by itself, but it's another point.
7. Can't tell from this pic, but the blade should have a very very subtle(hard to tell, unless you have other satin blade to compare to) yellowish/straw color sheen to it from the heat treating process. Sometime you may see a distinct region in the blade that's more yellow than others. Many CS satin model has this, including the AD10, AD15, the Ultimate Hunter etc. Also very hard to fake.

All of these things above, including the flaws are consistently present in most CS folders, include the AD10. 1 or 2 things might be easy to fake, but it's hard to fake them all together. So you got a real one.
 
It's a real deal. Don't compare with the fake one because it doesn't tell you whether it's genuine even if it's different from the fake one. There could be multiple variation of fakes. Also don't look at fonts since CS change it all the time, especially with the latest logo changes. You have to look at the construction and if you have owned many CS folder produced in Taiwan you'll see some consistencies in the way they are manufactured.

Here's a few things that tells me it's real, some are technically flaws that's hard to fake, but present in most CS folders due to the way they make their knives:
1. If you look at the lockbar where you unlock the blade, one side at the end is slightly rounded than the other. This is because the lockbar is stamped. Most triad lockbar has this unevenness, ranging from very subtle to very obvious.
2. The satin finish is spot on. Always horizontal on the spine and vertical on the bevel and swedge. Another thing that's on all satin finished CS folders made in TW.
3. The blade grind has some subtle flaw right below the thumbstud. See your 3rd picture, there's always a slight uneveness at the very beginning of the blade grind near the handle right below the thumbstud. There's a little "smile" or upward curve. This is present in many AD10 and AD15 model. CS has gotten a lot of complains about the shitty blade grinds from these 2 models, and yours is consistent with that. See Z Zephyr One/Zero 2nd picture of his post also, his AD10 blade grind also has a slight "smile" towards the handle.
4. The G10 "weaves" has the right density. High quality G10 is hard to get. Even very high end Chinese manufacturer like WE knives is using shitty quality G10 with lower "weave" count. This is why peel-ply Chinese G10 is never as rough as the ones used by American companies i.e. CS, Spyderco & ZT. One of the very obvious sign of fake is the low quality G10. When you machine lower quality G10, it'll appear more porous and you see more holes like the surface of the moon, due to the lower weave count. Your G10 looks good, just like the real one.
5. Look at your last picture, the aluminum liners are very rough, it's consistent with the real one. CS just didn't bother to clean it up.
6. Hardware sizes are all consistent with the real one. Probably not a good indicator of real/fake by itself, but it's another point.
7. Can't tell from this pic, but the blade should have a very very subtle(hard to tell, unless you have other satin blade to compare to) yellowish/straw color sheen to it from the heat treating process. Sometime you may see a distinct region in the blade that's more yellow than others. Many CS satin model has this, including the AD10, AD15, the Ultimate Hunter etc. Also very hard to fake.

All of these things above, including the flaws are consistently present in most CS folders, include the AD10. 1 or 2 things might be easy to fake, but it's hard to fake them all together. So you got a real one.

Thank you very much for the detailed response. I definitely feel better about it. I did notice and wonder about the unfinished aluminum. I wasn't sure if that was a good tell, or a bad one.

While I'm relieved I have the real deal, I'm even more upset about the fact I dropped the knife last night on tile and smooshed the tip! Ahh! Still a great knife, and it's not like it excelled at piercing to begin with! Haha
 
Loads of pictures of fakes directly from China, on eBay. Over half of the listings there are fake.
 
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