Might I have a fake Umnumzaan? (Consensus is not fake)

photoman12001

photoman12001

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May 23, 2008
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I just received an Umnumzaan today and I have mild fears that it might be fake. It's a 2012 and I've been comparing it to my 2010. My biggest concerns are:
  1. The huge detent hole that passes through the blade. My 2010 Zaan's hole is much smaller. The new one's hole is readily visible when pivoting the blade open and much larger than the hole on my 2010.
  2. The blade does not fully close. After I close the blade I can push it down quite a bit into the handle and it springs back up. It sticks up enough that I can catch my finger on the blade tip at the bottom of the handle. I would like to attribute it to the o-rings on the studs but my 2010 closes firmly.
I have not disassembled the knife and won't without talking to the seller first. I did a video to better display what I'm talking:

[video=youtube;YkU3L108bJY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YkU3L108bJY[/video]
https://youtu.be/YkU3L108bJY
 
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Mine has the large detent hole and it is authentic..Swap the orings and see if you have the same experience...the diameter of the orings may be different as they may have been swapped out.
 
I had some fresh #60 o-rings so I swapped them out. The old and new didn't seem to be different. The swap did help a little bit but there is still some sponginess. I can press the blade into the handle and that gets rid of some of it. The lockup was also too early with the old rings and this helped that a bit too. Overall, it's still not acting like I think it should. Without the rings it's nice though. No spongy movement, great detent, and great lockup. Aside from removing the rings I'm not sure what to do with it.
 
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My opinion is that it's a legit CRK. That does not mean I discount the possibility that a blade swap, amateur tinkering, etc could have been done to the knife. Just my $.02 though.
 
Take the O-rings off and see if it seats like its supposed to. That will tell you if it's the O-rings.
Here's my two, they're just like yours. My other Umnumzaan's have the bigger detent hole and seat solidly. Hope this helps


 
Without the rings it's nice though. No spongy movement, great detent, and great lockup. Aside from removing the rings I'm not sure what to do with it.
 
If it is a fake it is the best fake I've ever seen. Looks real to me, but been a couple years since I've handled one.
 
Here's what I'm thinking. The O-rings need to flatten out before the sponginess will go away. I'm looking at mine and can definitely see a flat spot where it seats on the slabs. The lock side of the O-rings are still round. I've only changed out one set of O-rings on the 5 that I've got. That one, if I press hard on the blade does have some sponginess. Never checked until I read this thread.
Learn something new every day. I don't know if a slimmer #60 O-ring exists.
If you have any doubts, either return the knife or send it to CRK to make it like you want.
 
I agree. After feeling it work without the o-rings I don't have a big concern about it being fake. I might try trimming the rings a bit or just removing them. I really like the knife otherwise. I think it looks great with the Scrotchbrite flats and I like it much more with the lockbar that's easier to access.
 
You might try putting the o-rings off your older Zaan to see if it functions to your liking that way. Perhaps the older one would like the "newer" o-rings better since it likely has the smaller detent hole.
 
The older knife does have a smaller detent hole. Both Zaans currently have the same rings in them (#60 from Ace Hardware). Those have always worked fine on the older knife. Im going to call CRK and see what they recommend.
 
Has anyone seen a fake Umnum? I would imagine the ceramic ball lock might not be easy to duplicate without machining the knife to high tolerances.
 
Kyle78 said:
Has anyone seen a fake Umnum? I would imagine the ceramic ball lock might not be easy to duplicate without machining the knife to high tolerances.
Click to expand...

I found this thread while searching last night: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1085864-Real-or-fake-Umnumzaan

I called CRK today and ordered a few sets of o-rings from them. I'll see how it turns out and update here after. I think that perhaps this has to due with the difference between the two versions in shapes of the lockbar where the stud/o-ring sits when closed. The older version seems to have more relief there there would be more forgiving of a ring that is a little too large. We'll see what happens with the CRK rings. Fingers crossed!!!
 
The CRK o-rings arrived and all is well after installing them. The blade sits as it should when closed and lockup is better too when it's open. I couldn't see much difference between the CRK rings I bought and the rings that came on it but obviously there is. A previous owner probably just put generic #60s on it like I did. I also tore it down and all the indicators of a genuine CRK were present. I'm glad it worked out easily. It's a great knife.

I'll do another video soon to compare the two Zaan versions I have and discuss the o-ring issue as an FYI for others.
 
photoman12001 said:
The CRK o-rings arrived and all is well after installing them. The blade sits as it should when closed and lockup is better too when it's open. I couldn't see much difference between the CRK rings I bought and the rings that came on it but obviously there is. A previous owner probably just put generic #60s on it like I did. I also tore it down and all the indicators of a genuine CRK were present. I'm glad it worked out easily. It's a great knife.

I'll do another video soon to compare the two Zaan versions I have and discuss the o-ring issue as an FYI for others.
Click to expand...

Like discussed in our message exchange on your original video - I had a feeling the culprit were the washers. CRK have tight tolerances so it doesn't take much to throw things off - even slightly ticker o-rings (or maybe even denser).

Glad it's back to normal now.

Cheers!
 
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