Sage 5 LW with ball bearings ?

Bladefisher

Bladefisher

Gold Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2019
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300
Just a curious question. Bought what looked like a Sage 5 LW on the secondary market. It had a little lock stick which I thought was from a mis-adjusted compression lock. Took it apart to see if I could adjust and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but ....

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So the question ... is this an experimental or test version that got off the ranch or just the efforts of another Spyderco fan trying to improve an already awesome model? My guess is the latter based on among other things the presence of a sharpening choil. What's your thoughts?
 
Interesting..
Both my S30 and M4 are on Phosphor bushings.

If it is not a clone. Suspect previous owner
of upgrading to bearings.

I would ask previous owner.
Find out out where they got them
from and a Part# as I and probably others would like to go that route too.
 
Based on what I see in your pictures, I'd have to go with "counterfeit". The bug on the blade looks like what I see on Chinese fakes, and I doubt many hobbiests have the equipment and skill to machine a bearing race in a hardened tang.
 
uxo2 said:
Interesting..
Both my S30 and M4 are on Phosphor bushings.

If it is not a clone. Suspect previous owner
of upgrading to bearings.

I would ask previous owner.
Find out out where they got them
from and a Part# as I and probably others would like to go that route too.
Click to expand...
Yes, I am going to reach out to the seller and get as much information as I can.
 
yablanowitz said:
Based on what I see in your pictures, I'd have to go with "counterfeit". The bug on the blade looks like what I see on Chinese fakes, and I doubt many hobbiests have the equipment and skill to machine a bearing race in a hardened tang.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about it being a fake; however the parts look genuine and I am unsure why someone would choose to make a fake knife with machined races and a ball bearing rack instead of just throwing in a set of washers without having to machine any races. The washers are cheaper and would fit flush against the blade tang just like the original.
 
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The only way to be certain is send it to Spyderco for authentication. I'm not a fan of the comp lock, so while I have a Sage5, I never bought the lightweight. However, the "SPYDERCO CPMS30V" on the tang looks wrong to me, and I already mentioned the bug logo. My money would be on at least the blade being a knock off, and probably the whole knife.
 
yablanowitz said:
The only way to be certain is send it to Spyderco for authentication. I'm not a fan of the comp lock, so while I have a Sage5, I never bought the lightweight. However, the "SPYDERCO CPMS30V" on the tang looks wrong to me, and I already mentioned the bug logo. My money would be on at least the blade being a knock off, and probably the whole knife.
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Yeah, I just took a close look at the "SPYDERCO CPMS30V" lettering, and it does look a little wonky. I sent photos and questions to Spyderco via email and hopefully I'll get a quick response.
 
Yeah, after more looking I can tell that the blade markings are all suspect. The lettering on the other side of blade is also not centered and there is no maker’s mark. If I get a reply from Spyderco I will update the post.
 
It's missing the internal stop pin. It also appears to be missing the pivot bushing, which was first debuted on the Kapara and then into other Taichung folders. The Sage 5 LW used a pivot brushing, and the standard Sage 5 was later upgraded to follow. Also, the liners are not polished nearly enough. That's another quality found in Taichung Spydercos.

That's 3 certain red flags that it's a fake, sorry to say it bud. But it sure would have been cool if it was a prototype.
 
There is a stop pin; however, it has no pivot bushing as you point out. Also, good to learn about the ‘polish’ difference on the liners from Taichung factory.
 
I was reviewing https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/spyderco-fakes-knock-offs-info.796442/page-69 this morning. Take a look at the Mar 21, 2023 entry and you will see a knock-off of a Para 3. Guess what ... same ball bearing setup. Clearly my knife is a counterfeit Sage 5 LW. Even though it is a fake I did learn a great deal in the process. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, insights and observations.
 
Bladefisher said:
There is a stop pin; however, it has no pivot bushing as you point out. Also, good to learn about the ‘polish’ difference on the liners from Taichung factory.
Click to expand...
It's missing the internal stop pin. All Sage 5s use a second stop pin that rides inside the blade, on the opposite side as the detent hole.
 
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