Guys...how goes it?
I wanted to post this in the event that it might help someone else.
I caught the Shiro bug, which in other words translates into buying four knives in the span of roughly a week. With some exhaustive research and help from some new/good friends here and abroad, I felt pretty equipped to discern the real from the fake and ventured into the secondary market in order to place some orders.
I managed to find four F95s (the model I resonate with, I bought a few configurations) on Ebay that looked good, were sold by solid sellers, and were backed with Ebay's buyer protection. I messaged Chazzy and Vlad in order to verify my first arrival, a M390 95T that was purchased in December of last year from Recon1 (seller showed me his receipt, I contacted Chazzy and Vlad just to be sure.) It was legit. Awesome.
Well, today I got in my Russian 95T in Vanax 37 (from 2017.) Out of the box, it was awesome! Everything looked good. The hardware cut outs came full circle, came with the white COA and the Russian customs paper, the box was good, the pattern was correct, the dimple was present, and the inside of the knife had "mrbs" which I hear many of the fakes forget. All was well.
Until I compared it to my 2018/19 Recon1 95T. Every single thing was EXACTLY the same....I mean down to the smallest of details. Every single thing save for three very minor details. First, the stonewash was ever so slightly darker on my Russian Vanax knife, second the Vanax knife was .05 oz lighter, and finally the dimple on the lock bar insert was larger. I was so dissapointed. Figured I'd gotten a fake. Couldn't believe how exact it was though...fit and finish was perfect....99.9% of the knife matched up exactly. To the naked eye, you couldn't discern the two unless you went over it with a fine toothed cone...which I did.
Well, as it turns out after scouring Google for images that the 2017 Russian Vanax 95T does indeed have a considerably larger lock bar dimple and it looks like the stone washing from that year was slightly darker. Not sure about the .05 oz weight difference but I figured that was just the density of the steel or something of the like. I ascertained this information off of Rusblade.com
Correct me if I'm wrong, of course, but I think the Russian knife is indeed legit. If this helps anyone verify their purchase/future purchase, I'm happy I could help.
That is all!
I've got my old user orange G10 HaTi which I love, but have always hated the matching orange backspacer. Let me know what you find for a standoff so I can do the same.
