- Joined
- Aug 24, 2006
- Messages
- 491
Here's my take: for those of you who are tempted to buy a fake (insert brand here): if a foreign company, not bound by copyright, patent or trademark restrictions presented a car called the "Lord Rustang" that not only looked like (almost - real close but not quite) a Ford Mustang but claimed it achieved similar performance to a Mustang but only cost $9,000, would you buy it? Let's say you were able to take a test drive and lo and behold, it did have similar performance to a Mustang. Functionally, it had everything a Mustang has, working doors with door locks, a radio (though the speakers might be crappy), working air bags (which you hope will deploy at the right time), a cheval rampant medallion, even new car smell. Let's go further and say that, as is, it's up to snuff and would pass inspection for import into the US. Sound good, right? But if you did buy it, what happens if a year later, maybe even two or three, the engine block cracks, or the brake line gives, or the dashboard starts to crumble because of poor materials and workmanship? Warranty? Good luck with that.
What does a car have to do with counterfeit knives? They may look good, but you can almost be certain that corners were cut to achieve such a low price point; because they're mostly made to look good there's a good chance that they're both likely to fail when you're using them. In fact, like cars, knives will only fail during use! Caveat emptor: with counterfeits, you have no way of knowing what level or sort of QC is taking place, nor do you have any idea what sort of materials are being used unless you send the item in question out for testing. While a knife may look good, how do you know it is made out a decent steel? That it has been properly heat-treated, if at all? If you do purchase a fake, I fervently pray that you are not injured, especially if you put the knife to hard use, as the originals may have been intended.
This sort of thing ends up hurting both the maker and the consumer. The maker loses profits (even CRKT has a page warning of counterfeits), may suffer damage to reputation, and the consumer loses confidence if enough fakes start to flood the market, especially if they look so much like the real article that it is difficult to tell without testing.
What does a car have to do with counterfeit knives? They may look good, but you can almost be certain that corners were cut to achieve such a low price point; because they're mostly made to look good there's a good chance that they're both likely to fail when you're using them. In fact, like cars, knives will only fail during use! Caveat emptor: with counterfeits, you have no way of knowing what level or sort of QC is taking place, nor do you have any idea what sort of materials are being used unless you send the item in question out for testing. While a knife may look good, how do you know it is made out a decent steel? That it has been properly heat-treated, if at all? If you do purchase a fake, I fervently pray that you are not injured, especially if you put the knife to hard use, as the originals may have been intended.
This sort of thing ends up hurting both the maker and the consumer. The maker loses profits (even CRKT has a page warning of counterfeits), may suffer damage to reputation, and the consumer loses confidence if enough fakes start to flood the market, especially if they look so much like the real article that it is difficult to tell without testing.
