The knife market is over saturated with counterfeits

^^^ I think more and more people are happy to buy cheap clones and counterfeits because they are kind of fooling themselves into believing that they are getting something that is much more valuable than what they paid for it.

I don't want to derail someones thread with the whole Walmart business model discussion thing, but you do have a point about where blame could be assigned.

I just refuse to buy their stuff. I think I can find better products elsewhere for a little more money.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mo2
you guys know walmart sells spycerdo, benchmade, and zt knives right? i know that's not the point... but just saying
 
Spysmasher, I agree that is an all to common situation and in that case they are certainly not free of guilt or responsibility. Everybody is always looking for a deal or a steal. I think one thing that makes the whole clone/fake thing so difficult is that people end up purchasing clones/fakes for a quite a few different reasons and the angle of attack on the part of the sellers/counterfeiters varies as well. I also see people pay full price for them on the big auction site. They are just getting duped. This is such a complicated situation.

I try to just educate people, that is the best I can do.

I was shopping for an Ergo baby carrier. It is like a backpack thing for your baby. My wife almost bought one off the big auction site because they were listed at half price. I knew something smelled fishy so I went to their website and sure enough they had a big warning about buying fakes and avoiding that site. Same goes for Otterbox, Nitecore and a bunch of other companies. Nitecore has a scratch off code on the box you can punch into their website to verify authenticity. It is sadly so much more widespread than just knives. Don't buy your toothpaste online, who knows if it is real?

We are knife "experts" ;) but you cannot be an expert on everything nor can you expect everyone else to be an expert on knives. A lot of folks probably google best EDC knife, read a ton of suggestions for a Para2, buy one on the big auction site because it is cheap and never look back. Most my buddies who are not into pocket knives only own one pocket knife and couldn't tell you too much about it.

All we can do is count on reliable supply chains and educate people about how widespread this problem is.
 
Last edited:
I'm so glad I'm a fixed knife person. At this point in my life I can afford to own custom knifes and that is where I choose to spend my money. I do have a collection of folders but almost all were bought from reputable dealers so I feel pretty good about them. It's a sad state we are in where our markets are flooded with cheaper crap because that's what people are buying. I just watched a brand new building get built in record time with a sizable footprint. Guess what sign they put on top......dollar store:( who builds a brand new building to sell dollar crap. That my friends is China eating American lunch and we let them do it to us.
 
bearfacedkiller said:
This is such a complicated situation.
Click to expand...
What confuses me the most is how many clone and/or counterfeit makers seem to also have brands which sell legitimately original designs. Personally, I have decided not to purchase even these associated brands but it has been depressing to learn the degree of association between "legit" makers and counterfeiters.
 
danbot said:
Good read forsure! I think we will be seeing more and more fires and car accidents etc. in the near future that can be directly attributed to things like shoddy counterfeit circuit breakers and such.
Click to expand...
That's the least of it. There are aircraft accidents on record caused by fake parts; not faux perfume in the duty free magazine but fake bolts fixing control surfaces to the fuselage.
 
Wasn't it three or four years ago that during the live fire part of the USAF William Tell exercise that they had some insane rate of failure on the rail with ordinance? Then after that the Canadian Forces found that a huge number of their radar components were not working, and someone found an entire batch of stingers that would test fine but had no guidance when fired. Turns out they were full of recycled chips. You ask someone to cut costs and they will.
When I did lighting there is a moving head fixture called a sharpie, about 200w, high pressure halogen with a bunch of lenses that pretty much make it a laser. You can cook eggs with it at short range, and curtains have been set on fire with the light. They have a blast shield inside to protect against bulb failure because those tend to be catastrophic, and its got a bunch of complex heat management. But I worked for a company that got the cheap knockoff. When the bulb failed, it blew out some of the vent fins on the plastic housing.... No shield, no protection, just a little tin bracket that was very bent after the boom. Turns out safety is expensive.
 
gadgetgeek said:
Wasn't it three or four years ago that during the live fire part of the USAF William Tell exercise that they had some insane rate of failure on the rail with ordinance? Then after that the Canadian Forces found that a huge number of their radar components were not working, and someone found an entire batch of stingers that would test fine but had no guidance when fired. Turns out they were full of recycled chips. You ask someone to cut costs and they will.
When I did lighting there is a moving head fixture called a sharpie, about 200w, high pressure halogen with a bunch of lenses that pretty much make it a laser. You can cook eggs with it at short range, and curtains have been set on fire with the light. They have a blast shield inside to protect against bulb failure because those tend to be catastrophic, and its got a bunch of complex heat management. But I worked for a company that got the cheap knockoff. When the bulb failed, it blew out some of the vent fins on the plastic housing.... No shield, no protection, just a little tin bracket that was very bent after the boom. Turns out safety is expensive.
Click to expand...
Can you imagine the boom if they loaded a Xenon Super Trouper with knockoff parts?
 
Danke42 said:
That's the least of it. There are aircraft accidents on record caused by fake parts; not faux perfume in the duty free magazine but fake bolts fixing control surfaces to the fuselage.
Click to expand...

Yea i saw a docu or something on that a long time ago.

Some fake parts were even found on air force one if i recall correctly.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
Can you imagine the boom if they loaded a Xenon Super Trouper with knockoff parts?
Click to expand...
That would at least take your hands off, and depending on your driving position, your head too. I though carbon arc ones were spooky, that makes me glad I got out.
I'm just glad we are not allowed to use cam-lock three phase much here in Aus. We had some great breakout boxes when I worked in Canada, hand-built units with built in iso. But the mess left behind when something goes wrong on those 400+V lines... The standard 220 we use here is scary enough because they don't tend to use GFI units here, just total ground leakage at the panel...sometimes. Although we did get into one ball-room in Calgary just after a reno, and the whoever the electrician was must have been residential because he used male, unshielded plugs for the hot legs coming out of the wall box. Really glad I had a good lead tech that day, someone could have died, since the main switch had been left on. In Australia its not even knockoffs, its just sub-standard equipment. Like the trucks being sold in this decade with asbestos clutches and gaskets. But it saves you a buck!
 
needler420 said:
clones are bad.
Click to expand...

101692-Mkay.jpg


Mo2 said:
I've never seen a benchmade or zt at any of my local Walmarts.
Click to expand...

neither have i really, but they are listed on the website. i'm guessing they'd probably be sitting in some store somewhere
 
josh yu said:
neither have i really, but they are listed on the website. i'm guessing they'd probably be sitting in some store somewhere
Click to expand...
There online store is like amazon where they offer goods via other sellers. this could be what is going on. but no store ive ever been to has them. spyderco ive seen.
 
Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen a knife over $40 in any Walmart.
 
Mo2 said:
There online store is like amazon where they offer goods via other sellers. this could be what is going on. but no store ive ever been to has them. spyderco ive seen.
Click to expand...

just going to premise, i'm not arguing against you, i'm just looking into it because i'm genuinely curious now.

I thought NJ had similarly strict laws as NY, but it looks like the north bergen Walmart (right across the GW bridge that connects NJ and new york city) has a bunch of ZTs in stock! this is a pleasant surprise. next time i visit the inlaws, i might have to make a detour to handle some knives i'd never get to try out in the metal in new york.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mo2
I'm never sure of what he posts.
My eyes usually bleed whenever anyone posts the word......knifes.
Can't take anything they say seriously after that.

marcinek said:
Are you saying anything different here than you did in the post you opened the thread with? o_O
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top