Not a CRK Prototype

blade2klean

blade2klean

Joined
Apr 2, 2005
Messages
451
Just a heads up, there is a hollow-handled knife on eBay being advertised as a CRK Prototype -it is not.
The knife in question is a counterfeit knife. We received an email earlier this week asking for information about this knife and we told the person inquiring the same thing. If that person is the eBay seller they are not telling the truth in their description of the knife. If you have any questions about CRK products please email us at crkinfo@chrisreeve.com.
Thanks for reading.
Heather
Chris Reeve Knives
 
Last edited:
thanks for the heads up heather, always nice seeing you pop up here every now and then :thumbup:
 
I don't even look at ebay or craigslist anymore for high-end knives - too risky. Some smart person, maybe Lone_Wolfe, said you don't just buy the knife, you buy the seller. Or something profound like that.
 
None for me either, only reputable folks or CRK dealer's and of course straight from the source!
 
until I joined this site, the thought of a fake knife never would have crossed my mind. Now I am very careful! Thanks for the heads up Heather.
 
This kind of customer service is what keeps me loyal to CRK. Thank you Heather and keep up the good work!
 
Just curious, who makes a counterfeit copy of the CRK hollow handled knives?

I ask because I own a Schrade hollow handled knife that is a copy of the Project, but my understanding, for that make, is that CRK sold the rights (or tooling or something?) to Taylor knives.

This is something that has been on my mind for a while now, and it would be great if you could clear it up once and for all.

Thanks!
 
Strigamort said:
Just curious, who makes a counterfeit copy of the CRK hollow handled knives?

I ask because I own a Schrade hollow handled knife that is a copy of the Project, but my understanding, for that make, is that CRK sold the rights (or tooling or something?) to Taylor knives.
Click to expand...

There are multiple makers of counterfeit one piece knives. To my knowledge, CRK has never authorized copies of the one piece range. The Schrade counterfeits have been around for a long time. I remember being at Blade with Chris in the mid-2000s, and heading over to see the Schrade counterfeits they had at their booth. They were selling really cheap, and it was clear that the buyers were getting what they paid for. I'm sorry you were mis-lead in your understanding.
 
Awesome heads up Heather, EBay is pretty much just scum central now. Buying a knife there is just asking for trouble. Great customer service from CRK once again being presented.
 
I see many of the non CRK one piece knives over here. They are of poor quality as one would expect but they seem to come from at least two different places. Most of the knives I have seen had the blades welded onto the handles with a clear weld line so they are an accident waiting to happen. There is also Microtech OPKs but they are of pretty poor quality also and you pay many times the price of the Chinese knock off knives for one those. I know Tony and Chris have had business dealings in the past (they buy clips from CRK) so they may be legit but they are not CRK designs, just integral construction.

Fooj said:
There are multiple makers of counterfeit one piece knives. To my knowledge, CRK has never authorized copies of the one piece range. The Schrade counterfeits have been around for a long time. I remember being at Blade with Chris in the mid-2000s, and heading over to see the Schrade counterfeits they had at their booth. They were selling really cheap, and it was clear that the buyers were getting what they paid for. I'm sorry you were mis-lead in your understanding.
Click to expand...
 
Fooj said:
There are multiple makers of counterfeit one piece knives. To my knowledge, CRK has never authorized copies of the one piece range. The Schrade counterfeits have been around for a long time. I remember being at Blade with Chris in the mid-2000s, and heading over to see the Schrade counterfeits they had at their booth. They were selling really cheap, and it was clear that the buyers were getting what they paid for. I'm sorry you were mis-lead in your understanding.
Click to expand...

But CRK has never answered directly as far as I know. I'd like to hear it from them. I too would be bummed. As far as getting what you pay for, though the grinds are not perfect, the knife is pretty decent. I have yet to beat on it, but it's made of decent high carbon steel. If it wasn't properly licensed, it will get a hard core beat down this summer while camping, just for being naughty. ;)
 
Strigamort said:
But CRK has never answered directly as far as I know. I'd like to hear it from them. I too would be bummed. As far as getting what you pay for, though the grinds are not perfect, the knife is pretty decent. I have yet to beat on it, but it's made of decent high carbon steel. If it wasn't properly licensed, it will get a hard core beat down this summer while camping, just for being naughty. ;)
Click to expand...

The staff at CRK is very busy, and while they do monitor this forum as much as they can, they rarely initiate posts (like this one), and even less frequently do they reply to a post. (I don't mind their allocation of time -- I'd rather see them making great knives for us! :) ) If you'd like an answer directly from CRK, it's best to call, or ask via email to crkinfo@chrisreeve.com. Heather and the rest of the staff are very good with email responses. Meanwhile, on this forum, you may be stuck with answers from folks like me . . .

By licensing, I'm assuming you mean either patent or trademark. I'm surmising from my discussions with Chris that he never patented the one-piece invention. I can, however, be more analytic en route to answering your question. A patent search reveals that CRK is not named as an assignee on any US patents, and although Chris is named as a co-inventor (with Bill Harsey) on a design patent, this patent does not read on the one piece design. As a result, there are no one piece range patents that could have been licensed. OTOH, the CRK logos are trademarked. From my experience with Chris and Anne, I'd bet a Sebenza that they have never licensed their logos to any other manufacturer for the purposes of producing knives.
 
@ Fooj, wow, thank you for your research. :)

My understanding from another member here was that CRK actually sold the tooling that was used to make the handle (maybe the whole thing?), which would explain why they are so similar.

Here's a pic of my copy:

IMAG0781_zpse93596d1.jpg


I did a review on initial impressions over on the review forum, and a member was kind enough to post pics of his CRK knives to compare. I could actually see how an unscrupulous seller might trick a prospective buyer into believing that the Schrade is the original knife.

I'm sure that you're right about them being busy. I was hoping that they might see this and reply, but I'm not so curious as to bother them with a call or email. :)
 
Strigamort said:
@ Fooj, wow, thank you for your research. :)

My understanding from another member here was that CRK actually sold the tooling that was used to make the handle (maybe the whole thing?), which would explain why they are so similar.
Click to expand...

For much of the one piece range production life (perhaps all of the full production, for all I know -- that was before my time), Chris and Anne had the handle / blade blank machined by a company owned by a close friend in South Africa. As the supplier was considering retirement, CRK was already ramping up its military line of fixed blade knives (Green Beret, Neil Roberts, Pacific), and decided to discontinue the one piece range coincident with their friend closing his business. I don't believe any custom tooling was sold to another manufacturer for the purpose of producing Chris's design.

You can read Chris's post about the Taylor Brand knives. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...rade-s-one-piece-knives?p=9284077#post9284077
 
Last edited:
Very good!

I guess the only thing left is to get Taylors side of the story. I had seen in another thread that they (he?) was very easy to get a hold of, and was happy to answer questions regarding the steel used to make the knife.

The Al Mar collab at the end of the posted thread is lovely btw. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top