Update: Fake PM2 at Cabela's?

craytab

craytab

Joined
Jan 26, 2012
Messages
29,050
Hi all,

Last weekend I was at Cabela's getting some camping stuff. When ever we go there I always check out the Guns and Knives. I was looking at a Manix 2 and I took out my PM2 to compare side by side. One of the clerks sees my PM2 and mentions that they just got a bunch of them in but they were not on display yet. He asked if he could see mine and was impressed with how smooth it was. He said the ones they had were very tight and couldn't be flicked open. He then brings the fact that I have a PM2 to the attention of the head knife guy who also wants a look. I have talked with this head guy before and he knows his stuff fairly well. So he goes and grabs one of the PM2s they have to show me how bad the opening was. When I got it in hand I could tell immediately that it wasn't right. It failed on the classic PM2 knock off tell tail signs. The jimping was not angled, The curved part of G10 that allows access to the compression lock disengagement was not smoothly rounded but rather sharp. The G10 felt off. The Spyderco CPM S30v stamp was touching the plunge line (I think that is what it is called, the line where the grinding starts). The pocket clip seemed blocky. The knife was not even close to smooth. I told the guy all this stuff and he wrote it down and said he would check into this. I also told him to inquire where these came from as this is a huge clue to authenticity. He then asked me who is making the knock offs and I said China. Then came a clincher, the only reason the knives were not on display and ready for sale was because none of the boxes were labeled with UPC or anything.

Based on what I know and my own research on confirming the authenticity of my own PM2, I would not buy a PM2 like the one they had at Cabela's. So what do you guys think? Is this possible for a big chain store to get a big shipment of knock offs? I may be able to get back to Cabela's this weekend as I will be in the area for more camping. I will be curious to see what if anything came of this.

Oh, and just because I like pictures in threads, here is my real deal PM2!
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You need to go back to Cabelas, take a pic, and post it.

Your description is great, but we need to see the goods.
 
I'm fairly sure a company the size of Cabela's would buy directly from Spyderco centrally, then ship to their stores, especially since they're listed on Spyderco's website as a dealer. So, if the knives you saw are fakes, the most likely scenario would be a dishonest Cabela's employee, either at the warehouse or the store, switching them out.
 
Thanx much Craytab,

We'll follow it up. Can you tell us which store you were in?

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Thanx much Craytab,

We'll follow it up. Can you tell us which store you were in?

sal
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Like Dave asked it was at the Hamburg Pa store. Hope I am wrong but like I said I wouldn't have bought one based on what I saw, even if I needed one and even if the price was realistic.
 
Wow great catch and I'm happy that you spoke up. Who would a thunk it :confused:
 
RayseM said:
Wow great catch and I'm happy that you spoke up. Who would a thunk it :confused:
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Yeah, I thought about posting this for a couple days but started to second guess myself. Could I really be that much of a knife nut? Or am I just paranoid?

I did a little more research on these fakes from China and it just got to me too much to not post it. What really started to bug me was the word "Spyderco" touching the Plunge Line. I guess I just couldn't imagine that making it through QC. Also, why would Spyderco send it out so tightened down that it couldn't be flicked? And with no UPC? Then the other stuff just pilled up: non-angled jimping, G10, clip. I probably spent 7-10 minutes talking with the guy and comparing the knives. I hope I am wrong. In the least, maybe one slipped into a batch of real ones like what some times happens on the rain forest river site.
 
For all our sakes I hope you're wrong however when your gut says something you should usually listen. Mine just normally gurgles...;)
 
sdjay78 said:
You need to go back to Cabelas, take a pic, and post it.

Your description is great, but we need to see the goods.
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This! ^^^^ Any chance you can get back to the store Craytab? This is a very serious situation and thread. Pics would add alot of credibility to it. I'm in shock. Need to see these fakes.
 
Ulf Krogstad said:
This! ^^^^ Any chance you can get back to the store Craytab? This is a very serious situation and thread. Pics would add alot of credibility to it. I'm in shock. Need to see these fakes.
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I will be in the area this weekend for another camping trip provided the weather holds. It is an astronomy trip so if it rains we won't go. Looks like it will happen at this point though. Further, the only reason I got to look at the knife was completely by chance (see story). If the one knife guy doesn't mention to the head knife guy that I have a PM2 on me this doesn't happen at all. That said I will make every effort to go back and ask to look at the knife again. Hopefully though Sal can vet this out before I can make it back on Saturday. And yes, this does appear quite serious. Fakes making it into a big name outdoors box store like this is just insane. That's why I almost didn't post this. It seems ludicrous.
 
craytab said:
I will be in the area this weekend for another camping trip provided the weather holds. It is an astronomy trip so if it rains we won't go. Looks like it will happen at this point though. Further, the only reason I got to look at the knife was completely by chance (see story). If the one knife guy doesn't mention to the head knife guy that I have a PM2 on me this doesn't happen at all. That said I will make every effort to go back and ask to look at the knife again. Hopefully though Sal can vet this out before I can make it back on Saturday. And yes, this does appear quite serious. Fakes making it into a big name outdoors box store like this is just insane. That's why I almost didn't post this. It seems ludicrous.
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Glad you did post it though, as unfortunate as it is. Fingers crossed they still have them so you can take some pics. At the same time hope they got shipped back to whoever they got them from and haven't sold any to anyone. If you say their fake i believe you but this really needs to get looked into.
 
Ulf Krogstad said:
Glad you did post it though, as unfortunate as it is. Fingers crossed they still have them so you can take some pics. At the same time hope they got shipped back to whoever they got them from and haven't sold any to anyone. If you say their fake i believe you but this really needs to get looked into.
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I cannot say if they are fake or not. What I can say is that they appeared fake to me and I would not buy an example of which I saw because it appeared fake for all the reasons I stated. I believe Sal is looking in to this because as what you pointed out earlier, this would be a serious incursion of fakes given the retailer and scale. My god I don't know if I hope I am wrong or not at this point. One way means I am a paranoid knife nut who jumped the gun, the other means this is really happening.
 
craytab said:
I cannot say if they are fake or not. What I can say is that they appeared fake to me and I would not buy an example of which I saw because it appeared fake for all the reasons I stated. I believe Sal is looking in to this because as what you pointed out earlier, this would be a serious incursion of fakes given the retailer and scale. My god I don't know if I hope I am wrong or not at this point. One way means I am a paranoid knife nut who jumped the gun, the other means this is really happening.
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Well, a few more paranoid knife buyers would sure slow down the counterfeiters. IMHO, you did exactly the right thing by informing this community - which got Sal involved. Asking questions will expose the bad guys where appropriate and never hurts a thing. Being quiet does nothing. Thank you! :)
 
Anything's possible considering what a pitiful job the U.S. Customs has done to stop these fakes and counterfeits from entering the USA..
 
skyhorse said:
Anything's possible considering what a pitiful job the U.S. Customs has done to stop these fakes and counterfeits from entering the USA..
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I remember an interesting news report done on all the counterfeit goods pouring into the US (Think it was CBS). It's not as easy as it sounds to stop them, we receive millions of containers a year at our seaports. Customs does what they can with current resources but you can't expect them to open and inspect every single container, that's impossible. The counterfeiters try their best to hide the true nature of the cargo, it's not like it says "Fake Spyderco Knives" on the shipping documents or the boxes inside the containers. What would be better is if China actually worked to stop the productions of these fakes at the source, but that's not going to happen.
 
Man, this is worrisome. I've been stopping in to the Cabela's in Richfield, WI about once a week to see if they have any of the PM2s on display. I haven't seen any there yet - maybe a good thing, as I'd be tempted to buy one. I've never seen/held a PM2 (yet), so I wouldn't know how to spot a fake. :(
 
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