New Southard is 'quiet'

Fish30114

Fish30114

Joined
Jan 5, 2014
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I just got in a spyderco Brad Southard flipper in Carbon Fiber. Question to those of you that have, have handled one--mine is very 'muffled' when opening. Not the reassuring snap I get out of my other flipper knives. I am just wondering if this is the general consensus on these. It seems to function fine, although the detent is a little wimpy.

Just curious what others experience is.
 
I don't believe that the Southard is produced with carbon fiber. Sounds like you may have a fake.

Tom
 
Assuming you have a genuine southard with after market scales, they are a bit on the quiet side. Its more smooth and reserved than the snappy openers like the spyderco domino or crkt eraser for example. Nowhere near as loud as those.
 
Good feedback gentlemen. It was actually a gift from a fellow knife nut friend in Cali. It came in a Spyderco box with the typical warranty info and all, it was listed on the box as Brad Southard Pln and the number was C156GBPN for what it's worth, he told me he got from a brick and mortar store out there somewhere. When I scan the bar code with my I-Phone it says 'Spyderco Brad Southard flipper in Earth Brown' which is curious. Everything about it seems legit from an appearance and packaging standpoint though.
 
Could you post some clear pictures? The fakes are very convincing, down to the packaging.
 
Chinese are imitating everything even the box on the Southard with amazing detail, just check Aliexpress and you'll see the carbon fiber handles. This is so bad with many popular models now, I wouldn't buy any Spyderco unless it comes from a very reputable dealer.
 
Check out the Spyderco forum....



evilgreg said:
I have a few quick and dirty photos I snapped yesterday, if I get time I'll shoot some proper photos with good light of a comparison.

The copy is very similar, in terms of dimensions, but there are some obvious dead giveaways. The real thing has a stone washed blade and stone washed finish of some sort on the frame as well, the clone does not, for example. Also, the edges of the blade spine and flipper are rounded, as are many other very small details better in the real thing. The blade tang ramp is much steeper on the clone, and the lock was initially sticky. The blade was also slightly off center on the counterfeit, and it doesn't feel as smooth when flipping or closing it (though it does flip very well). The font used on the counterfeit for SPYDERCO and CTS-204P is also thinner-stroked than the bold-looking real thing.

That said, it comes with very authentic looking box and paperwork:

QZ8jswa.jpg


Here is the clone with two real Southards. Top is my pimped, slimmed down LSCF original first Southard. Middle is the copy. Bottom is a stock Southard with a second gen shorter STR clip:

bfiMn18.jpg


Here are a couple of side by sides (copy is the middle knife):

W31VQCp.jpg


lEasQdu.jpg


Here you can see the difference in color and finish to the titanium frame (copy is the middle knife):

qIX4kxH.jpg


The bearings ride in metal rings, and the scale side of the frame is drilled out, much like the real thing:

QLwhbz2.jpg


I was offered a really good deal on a used Southard (which turned out to just be a really good deal, incidentally) and that set me to thinking about how close these really were. Now that I've seen the fake, I'd know it in a instant if I ran across one again.

I wanted to get the word out, though, in case anyone ran into one in the secondary market. I've seen examples of that with the Chinese PM2s being sold as real to folks in used sales.
Click to expand...
 
grownstar said:
Wow...that's scary.
Click to expand...

Not gonna lie... a lot of my knives come from the Bay.... So far dealers seem reputable with extremely high rating though, and I buy NIB from knife-specific dealers whose whole purpose is selling knives.... it does worry me though.
 
Here are the pics I took, they aren't great but it gives you the idea.



 
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Fish30114 said:
Here are the pics I took, they aren't great but it gives you the idea.


Click to expand...

Per Jill Jackson's cited post.. I would say that the fake's spyder logo looked 'thinner' than the real ones. Your's seems to have the proper bolded look... but doesn't mean its 100% real.
 
Doesn't look good to me. The titanium doesn't seem to have a stonewashed finish as it should. Really bad if an actual dealer is selling the fakes! Sorry if it is a counterfeit Fish, at least you aren't out any money.
 
Is your lockside stonewashed? Jill's pics show that the clones don't sport that "roughed up" look.
 
Thanks Kniferbro, if it is a fake they got two very experienced knife guys. I can't begin to think it is a fake given the packaging, accurate bar code etc. but I guess one can never really know if the knockoffs are getting that good. I will check with my friend to see who he got it from and check if they are real Spyderco dealer, but it sure looks legit, it's just a quiet one!!! I'm tending to go with spketch's call, and just say it is a little on the 'muffled' side. It functions very well though.
 
Argh, just saw spketch's current post, the lock side scale does seem stonewashed to me, compared to other knives I have with stonewashed blades or whatever...
 
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