Kershaw Leek real or counterfeit?

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I've been to some good knife shows and haven't noticed any unscrupulous dealers. I get the feeling other dealers would spot them right away and run them out of the hall.
chevyrulez1 said:
Yeah, this was at the The Greater Shenandoah Valley Knife Show. It was my first time there, seemed like some nice people and really impressive collections on display. After my experience with this purchase however, I will say that it will probably be my last visit. It was nice, but too far of a drive for me to repeat, especially if I cannot trust the stuff there to be legit.
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chevyrulez1 said:
Answered my own question, went to Ali Express and saw this exact knife, same box, etc. (and the exact three styles he had on the table) for $22
I got ripped off, sucks.
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Well; it happens all the time; if not with knives we get ripped off with something else.
Don't throw it away. Wait a few days till your anger cools down.
I would regrind it one or two times to remove potential burned edge from the factory.... I would be curious (despite all) how much effort they put in steel and heat treat.
 
19-3ben said:
I was at an outdoors show with EngrSorenson EngrSorenson and found a table with a mix of real and fakes. I was tempted to buy one of the real ones, because it was a good price, but I didn't want to support the guy who would sell fakes even when not all of them were. They're certainly out there!





Medford displayed himself as an ignorant dirtbag with that move.
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He's protecting his brand from counterfeiters. You know, cheaters, liars and thieves? Like a rancher protecting his brand and herd, Greg has to protect his business.

You can buy from whomever you want. I'd rather support an American and his way. Even if I have to sign up for overtime in order to pay for it.
 
Night Rider said:
The 22 bucks doesn't even cover the cost of the pocket clip but don't feel bad, I got burned at my first Gun/Knife show at the very beginning of my collecting and that's how I discovered this board while doing some research after the fact and now I just stay away from showspiriod. I tend to hold on to grudges sad to say.
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Unfortunately it is for sale on Ali Express for $22, but I paid $60 for it thinking it was a real Leek. If he had been selling it super cheap, then it would have alerted my suspicion, but it never even occurred to me until I started looking closely at it after I got home. I must say it is a well done counterfeit, the action, lockup, and feel in the hand feels legit. I could never carry it now because it makes me mad to think about it, and I cannot sell it to someone else in good conscience, so for now I threw it on the shelf. I paid cash for it and don't have any way of identifying the dealer, so I dont really know how to report him. Like I said, lesson learned. Any new purchases will be from a reputable dealer going forward.
 
chevyrulez1 said:
I must say it is a well done counterfeit, the action, lockup, and feel in the hand feels legit.
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Is it possible this knife is not totally fake?

Let's make a sci-fi story:
Kershaw has a factory in China where some of their knives are manufactured. Here and there some quantity of knives is ''lost'' – disappeared from the factory unknown way. Sometimes finished knives and sometimes knives with small errors like blurred etching or similar. Those knives are suppose to be put in scrap but …. then; all you need is a box similar to original. Those knives are then sold on Aliexpress and similar places.

Here is another possibility:
Could also be that Kershaw is doing something similar as Bosch company and other western EU companies and also companies in our country. For example; for western Europe and USA a washing machine is manufactured on production line with better parts and more thorough final inspection. The same washing machine which supposed to be sell in eastern Europe, Turkey and similar countries is produced on cheaper production line with cheaper parts and less final inspection. It also gets different cardboard box. I know this from first hand.

So; it could be you've got a Kershaw knife made for eastern Europe or middle east or perhaps Africa market.
It sucks you payed $60 if you could get this knife for $22 but…. I would say, forget it and move on.

Anyhow, let it sit on the shelf for a few days and then regrind it once or twice and try it how it holds the edge. There is a chance you will be surprised (one way or another).

chevyrulez1 said:
Unfortunately it is for sale on Ali Express for $22
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I was just on Aliexpress and search word ''Kershaw knife'' didn't find any Kershaw knives not just the one you bought. What did you type in search box?
 
TheOne45 said:
Is it possible this knife is not totally fake?

Let's make a sci-fi story:
Kershaw has a factory in China where some of their knives are manufactured. Here and there some quantity of knives is ''lost'' – disappeared from the factory unknown way. Sometimes finished knives and sometimes knives with small errors like blurred etching or similar. Those knives are suppose to be put in scrap but …. then; all you need is a box similar to original. Those knives are then sold on Aliexpress and similar places.

Here is another possibility:
Could also be that Kershaw is doing something similar as Bosch company and other western EU companies and also companies in our country. For example; for western Europe and USA a washing machine is manufactured on production line with better parts and more thorough final inspection. The same washing machine which supposed to be sell in eastern Europe, Turkey and similar countries is produced on cheaper production line with cheaper parts and less final inspection. It also gets different cardboard box. I know this from first hand.

So; it could be you've got a Kershaw knife made for eastern Europe or middle east or perhaps Africa market.
It sucks you payed $60 if you could get this knife for $22 but…. I would say, forget it and move on.

Anyhow, let it sit on the shelf for a few days and then regrind it once or twice and try it how it holds the edge. There is a chance you will be surprised (one way or another).


I was just on Aliexpress and search word ''Kershaw knife'' didn't find any Kershaw knives not just the one you bought. What did you type in search box?
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Now that I go search for it again it looks like it has been pulled off their website. If you Google it you can see the images where it was on their site, but it is not there anymore. Maybe it got removed in the natural course of things, or maybe because I brought attention to it here? Interesting....
 
Sorry you got ripped off, OP. It could happen to anyone, and that’s why I look at those “here today, gone tomorrow” tables skeptically. The red flags I look for are impulse buy stuff, things that look like cheap, curb-appeal tactical gear, or brass knuckle “belt buckles” or anything that looks like it’s got appeal to a high school kid, or high school kid equivalent adult.

Yeah, 19-3ben 19-3ben and I were looking at this table, and he had the stones to straight up ask the guy if one of those knives was counterfeit. The guy said “yeah, but I priced them as if they were”. So on one hand they guy owned up to it, but on the other hand he probably knew we figured it out. There was nothing about the product that said “not a real microtech”, for instance. He had, what appeared to be, a real Becker harpoon at a decent price, but I respected 19-3Ben’s decision not to support the guy. Seemed like a half honest salesman, which is still a dishonest salesman.

Delgadonine said:
He's protecting his brand from counterfeiters. You know, cheaters, liars and thieves? Like a rancher protecting his brand and herd, Greg has to protect his business.

You can buy from whomever you want. I'd rather support an American and his way. Even if I have to sign up for overtime in order to pay for it.
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It’s on topic- clones and fakes are a real problem. The way Greg Medford chooses to “protect” his brand through t shirt sales makes no sense to me. I’m sure there’s plenty of last year’s shirt left over, if you still want to support the cause. Turns out Greg Medford’s bare keister wasn’t as popular as a bunch of Chinese Stereotypes.

The only way to protect yourself from knockoffs is knowledge. Show them how to find the fake. If people knowingly buy clones, show them how the clone is inferior… but let’s face it, if someone really wants a clone of a Kershaw, they don’t actually want a Kershaw (or Medford, in Greg’s case). I don’t want to buy fakes- I want to know how to spot the fake.
 
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As I discovered people around here where I live are not familiar with knife names, brands and makers and they don't know about original and fake knives. They also don't know about steel. It sure looks like as long as the blade is not made of plastic it's OK.
I was looking some internet stores in our country and I listed folding knives by ''popularity'' (how much of them were sold) …. most of them were those cheap ''tactical'' folding knives and cheap hollow handle ''Rambo look'' fixed blade knives in the range of up to $35 or so. Yes; those stores get some of those knives at very low prices 'oversea' and resell them at up to 4x or 5x the price.

Here is an example; I needed a simple digital-to-analog sound converter to hook my new Smart TV to my amp – it's an old amp without digital input. So I looked at our ''most popular'' internet store. Such converter was $24 + $3.5 shipping costs. Just for fun I looked at Aliexpress and exactly the same thing was less then $5 – same company, same box, same housing, even the same photo of the product.
So here is an important question – do you think I should buy from them and support ''our country'' internet store – to import cheap and multiply the price by factor 5 or more?
Or should I just buy from Aliexpress?
 
Delgadonine said:
He's protecting his brand from counterfeiters.
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Nonsense. Selling t-shirts that make fun of Chinese accents and portray Chinese people like a caricature does not protect his brand. If you really thought that it did, it means that in your mind, you think that some counterfeiter in Chins said "Oh no, Medford made fun of our accent. Let's stop making clones of his knives."

Do you really think that's what happened?

Or, rather than me making a statement, allow me to make it a challenge. Back up your assertion. In what way did that t-shirt protect Medford's brand?


Delgadonine said:
You know, cheaters, liars and thieves?
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Yes, they are. I have no patience for counterfeiters.


Delgadonine said:
Like a rancher protecting his brand and herd, Greg has to protect his business.
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Ranchers are smart. If they are going to protect the herd they do it by chasing off the predators in an effective way. Making crude jokes about a wolf never stopped a wolf from attacking a calf.


Delgadonine said:
You can buy from whomever you want.
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You already have my answer on that. I didn't even buy real knives from a guy who also sold fakes because I found it so distasteful.
 
19-3ben 19-3ben just imagine all the guys right now, face palmed at their desk.
Before them lays a knockoff they were conned into buying.
Their only thought... "I wish I'd read Greg Medford's 2022 T shirt".
 
Oh ali express.. too late to post anything of relevance I guess. But as others said, it's best to be boring and safe. Bhq, dlt. There are authorized sellers on ebay, and it doesn't take long to run into their listings, big and have been there forever --- Be Thankful it was just a leek and some wallet-murdering sumb%ch of a knife
 
The weight started it.

In a video, Greg talked about people who came to his booth at a show. They wanted to take pictures, measure and weight his knives etc. Not there to buy anything. Obviously, suspicious. When he said 'No', they didn't take it well.

I'm not going to shows and let the counterfeiters win. If you do, carry a magnet. It will help you differentiate between cheap steel and titanium.
 
In the realm of cons and counterfeits, I wouldn't be too bummed about this. It could have been much, much worse.
 
Keep the knife and use it as a trash cutter, because that's what counterfeits are, trash.
There are people on YouTube who go out of their way to buy fakes, especially spyderco fakes, stating they are so close to the real thing, and some of them even have "better fit and finish" but at a fraction of the cost of a real one.
I say, if you buy counterfeits [knowingly]👈 you're apart of the problem. Counterfeits hurt the actual companies, and they are almost always made out of inferior materials
 
Delgadonine said:
In a video, Greg talked about people who came to his booth at a show. They wanted to take pictures, measure and weight his knives etc. Not there to buy anything. Obviously, suspicious.
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lol, Greg thinks people were coming to his booth at a show to take measurements to make counterfeit Medfords?
What's more dumb, a guy who thinks he could counterfeit a knife based on measurements he could publicly collect, or a guy who thinks someone collecting measurements publicly is the person making convincing counterfeit Medfords?

Someone making a counterfeit wouldn't waste their time or money going to a show.
They'd just buy a Medford.
 
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