Uneven anvil pin on Paramilitary 2: Still legit?

[Praetorr]

Man, dude, I can't really see it. If everything else is fine with it, IE, lockup and smoothness, I would say you are good to go. I have never seen a fake that has smooth G10 around the lock disengagement or angled jimping, which yours does have. Unless the fakers managed to do this on your example and someone returned it to the specific Amazon store you used, I would say that is legit. The chances of you getting the best fake I have ever seen from Amazon are near zero.

That's more-or-less my inclination at this point. I'm no knife expert (that's probably become quite obvious), but my gut feeling, having gone over the knife carefully, is that it would have to be one hell of a fake. The overall fit and finish seems amazing for $130.

There are plenty of videos on the tube showing the difference between genuine PM2s and knock offs. Take a look and I think you will know one way or the other. If it is genuine, send it back to spyderco if you are concerned. Their customer service is good and I don't think they care where you bought it.

I went through this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrgesqFA_Ko

It seemed to check out. I actually just noticed that if you pause that video right at 7:25, the knife on the left (the legit one) shows the very same off-centerness as mine. Hopefully you guys can see that.

PM2 is real (IMO), Amazon is fine (IMO)and scurvy is a snark (admittedly).

Thanks for your input! As for the perceived snark, I can see where they're coming from. Perhaps I should have posted here prior to buying and asked where to make my purchase, but I've been using Amazon for years and they've always been very good.

 

[PURPLEDC]

Something that I feel needs mentioning is that 1. The stop pin may not be crooked. the way to know for sure is to inspect the stop pin. You should be able to see the contact points where the blade hits it in both the open and closed position. If the mark on it is only on one side and not straight across the pin then it could be off. But 2. even if it is off it may not be improperly made but just a by product of the knife being set up. Despite knives being a precision made tool there are still variances in tolerances. Those variances will give you a bit of wiggle room. This small amount wiggle room will allow you to adjust other undesirable elements such as an off center blade. If the blade has off center someone dialing in the knife very well could have made an adjustment and that adjustment could slightly shifted the stop pin. It could just be a matter of your eyes playing tricks on you. I cant tell you how many times asymmetry has thrown people off and they start convincing themselves of things that arent there. One of these things is an off center blade. I have seen numerous threads where the person thought the blade was off center based on viewing the spine of the blade close to the pivot. When doing this you will always feel the blade is leaning lockside on a frame lock or liner lock because that lock is actually bent towards the inside of the handle and as such will always be closer to the blade than the non lock side. You ask these same people to show where the tip is in regards to centering and its perfect. Im not saying that your stop pin isnt skewed but I dont think its anything to worry about and it certainly isnt bad enough that I would say its a sign of the knife being counterfeit. And to be perfectly honest I dont think I have had a stop pin that was perfectly straight ever.

 

[Landshark99]

looks good to me, but I have bought fake items from an Amazon vendor, nothing big usually something like batteries. They were returned with no issues.

 

[Scurvy092]

Scurvy I'm not going to argue with you but what if the OP has no prior knowledge of fake PM2's? To assume he's a knife nut and make an unhelpful observation based on YOUR knowledge is hardly making a positive contribution. I follow this crap and I'm not up on all the fake pieces out there. I'd think that sort of thing is pretty rare on Amazon anyhow. OP, you got a bum example I don't see any signs it is fake.

If he had no prior knowledge of fake PM2s then why is he 'paranoid about getting a fake'?

If I was trying to be a dick about it, I'd be a dick about it. Was my post snarky, sure, but it's still a helpful observation. If you're paranoid about getting a fake, you buy from an authorized dealer, not Amazon.

 

[Praetorr]

Something that I feel needs mentioning is that 1. The stop pin may not be crooked. the way to know for sure is to inspect the stop pin. You should be able to see the contact points where the blade hits it in both the open and closed position. If the mark on it is only on one side and not straight across the pin then it could be off. But 2. even if it is off it may not be improperly made but just a by product of the knife being set up. Despite knives being a precision made tool there are still variances in tolerances. Those variances will give you a bit of wiggle room. This small amount wiggle room will allow you to adjust other undesirable elements such as an off center blade. If the blade has off center someone dialing in the knife very well could have made an adjustment and that adjustment could slightly shifted the stop pin. It could just be a matter of your eyes playing tricks on you. I cant tell you how many times asymmetry has thrown people off and they start convincing themselves of things that arent there. One of these things is an off center blade. I have seen numerous threads where the person thought the blade was off center based on viewing the spine of the blade close to the pivot. When doing this you will always feel the blade is leaning lockside on a frame lock or liner lock because that lock is actually bent towards the inside of the handle and as such will always be closer to the blade than the non lock side. You ask these same people to show where the tip is in regards to centering and its perfect. Im not saying that your stop pin isnt skewed but I dont think its anything to worry about and it certainly isnt bad enough that I would say its a sign of the knife being counterfeit. And to be perfectly honest I dont think I have had a stop pin that was perfectly straight ever.

Thank you! I appreciate the detailed feedback.

As you probably saw, I pointed out in the previous post (7:25 in the linked video) that it looks like I don't have the only Paramilitary 2 with an askew pin, so I guess it's normal, as you explained.

looks good to me, but I have bought fake items from an Amazon vendor, nothing big usually something like batteries. They were returned with no issues.

That's what I like about Amazon. I've bought a few things in the past knowing that there are the occasional fakes floating around, but at least with Amazon you know that if you determine your item to be fake, they will 100% make it right. Looks like in this case I should be OK though.

If he had no prior knowledge of fake PM2s then why is he 'paranoid about getting a fake'?

If I was trying to be a dick about it, I'd be a dick about it. Was my post snarky, sure, but it's still a helpful observation. If you're paranoid about getting a fake, you buy from an authorized dealer, not Amazon.

Yeah, you've been tremendously helpful.