Three Fine Fakes

A place to discuss & share pictures of counterfeit knives. Please be sure to alert the AAPK community if you spot one. Also make sure to ask questions if you are not certain about the authenticity of a knife you are considering buying or selling. There are plenty of great people here willing to help.
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btrwtr
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by btrwtr »

I don't see any room in the knife collecting world for counterfeit/fake knives. I don't want to own any of them and I don't support the people that knowingly sell them. A lot of innocent and unsuspecting collectors of knives and every other imaginable collectible have been cheated over the years and the trend continues. I am sure many a new collector has been soured and turned away from the hobby after they found out they had been taken. Buying these knives serves to perpetuate their existence.

Collect whatever you like and have fun doing it.

Do your homework before spending your hard earned money. Know what you are buying.

I recently read that federal Secret Service agents learn to spot counterfeit money by studying real bills not counterfeits. The same holds true for spotting counterfeit knives. If you know what is real you will be more capable of spotting a fake.
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Wayne

Please visit My AAPK store https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/catalog/btrwtr
kootenay joe
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by kootenay joe »

Wayne i am saying what you sum up here: "Do your homework before spending your hard earned money. Know what you are buying."
If there were zero fakes there would be far less motivation to "do your homework" because it would not be necessary.
And as you say, fakes exist in every field of collectible objects. It is not possible to get everyone to play fair. There are always some 'cheaters', in this case, those who tamper with or fake, knives. So we have to accept it and use the presence of fakes to our advantage, which means motivating us all to do our homework. There is a lot to learn.
kj
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Dinadan
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by Dinadan »

There is plenty of food for thought in this thread. On one hand I kind of hate to see a quality knife destroyed. On the other hand, when a collector dies, his collection will be sold. Probably be folks who do not know each knife's history. So the fake could go back into circulation.

I still say keep the fakes if you like them. If you did not buy them, then they would still be in circulation. So buying and enjoying them versus not buying them are almost equal choices. Not exactly equal, because since you know they are fake you keep someone who may not know that from spending money on fakes for your lifetime. I guess if a person wanted to really do good deeds for collectors, he could buy up every fake he saw and destroy it, but does anyone try to do that?

The fakes I hate are legitimate fakes where the company has gone broke and the name is now being used on knives made in China. Miller Bros for one. Valley Forge for another. Of course those knives are not really fakes because they do not pretend to the quality of the original brand.
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by Jigslinger »

If a buyer knows a knife is a fake and buys it anyway for whatever purpose, that's his right. But he should take every precaution to ensure it does not get resold to an unsuspecting buyer down the line. I think buying fake knives enables those who sell them to remain in the marketplace which is detrimental to the hobby. Those that know should try to run the disreputable sellers out of business. I disagree with the "buyer beware/do your homework" mentality. The hobby needs new blood to be sustainable and bad experiences run possible future stewards of the hobby out. Don't forget, us older guys won't be around forever to keep watch on this stuff.
"A bad knife cuts one's finger instead of the stick."
kootenay joe
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by kootenay joe »

Quote: "bad experiences run possible future stewards of the hobby out"
That is an assumption. There are no studies to back it up.
The opposite could also happen. Beginning collector gets 'burned' and it strengthens his resolve to 'never let it happen again'.
We have all had a bad experience with something but persisted on anyway.
I think knife collecting is an inborn 'bug'. I have always been attracted to and fascinated by knives, right from my earliest memories. I still feel the same way and i will soon be 70.
I bet the majority of people here can say the same: always liked/loved knives. One bad experience early on would not have deterred me or likely you either.
kj
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montemojo
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by montemojo »

I have seen a bucket full of counterfeits at a knife show. The seller stated that he made the knives. He also had plenty of parts: backsprings, blades, liners, and scales. A freind of mine a reputable dealer told me that the man with the parts table was the supplier to most of the counterfeiters in the south. He also went on to say that most of the collections he buys contain counterfeits. About 1/3 on average and as much as 1/2. I was discouraged at the time after finding out that I had bought some counterfeit knives. I am not going to quit collecting knives! But I am going to be more discriminatory in what I buy. The more knives I inspect the smarter I get. I find that books and AAPK are the best teachers I have. I thank all of you, I dont text too much, probably more than some of you want read but I'm here reading and learning as much as I can.

Thanks for the knowledge

Monte
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by kootenay joe »

Monte, great post. I have heard of this guy with the bucket full of fake knives he has made. His identifying feature is the bucket. Who else carries knives in a bucket ? Quite likely the "Three Fine Fakes" i posted to start this thread came from 'Mr. Bucket'.
One third or more of knives in a collection are fakes ! I hope my collection has a much lower proportion of fakes.
After you have looked at thousands of knives you begin to be able to spot some of the fakes because: 'they just don't look right'. Such knives can show no signs of being apart (or at least no obvious signs) but still your experienced knife radar sends an alert. Never buy a knife that: "just doesn't look right".
kj
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zp4ja
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by zp4ja »

kootenay joe wrote: One third or more of knives in a collection are fakes ! I hope my collection has a much lower proportion of fakes.
kj
Really????????. One third in A COLLECTION? Which collection? Sounds like a blanket statement to cover all collections to me. Hogwash!!!! As you stated earlier to another poster, you have absolutely no proof of that. I think many members would disagree with that statement also. I sure do.
I personally had 0.33333% in my collection which meant 2 knives. Now I have 0% since both of those got shot afts I stated on the previous page. I'm not better than anyone else but that's my opinion. Personally I prefer newcomers not read a comment like that and take it as gospel. That said there may be many collections that had a hundred percent fake who knows but it's not deserving of a blanket statement. Just my opinion.
That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much; who leaves the world better than he found it; who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in other's and gave the best he had.
kootenay joe
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by kootenay joe »

I have never bought a knife collection so i don't know what the incident of fakes averages out to. I see many fakes on ebay all the time, and people are buying them, so they are going into collections. We who read and haggle over minutae of knife factoids are the 'academic' collectors. There are plenty of collectors who don't visit sites like this. They just buy knives. People like that could easily end up with 1/3rd or more fakes.
Anyway my point is that i am not going to dispute something about which i have zero experience.
kj
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montemojo
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by montemojo »

Maybe I should reword that to: in some of the collections he has bought it is not uncommon to find that 1/3 of the knives are counterfeit I beleive that should clear things up. I apologize if I were misleading

Monte
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montemojo
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by montemojo »

Now I wonder what are the causes that make one buy a bad knife. Lack of knowledge, impulsive buying afraid the man behind you will buy it before you, how about those that have so much money it just doesn't matter to them they will buy whole lot. It is kind of an addiction I like it. Besides theres no hangover

Monte
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by kootenay joe »

Monte you are correct. Knife collecting can be addictive for some of us. When the power goes out here it is often for 12 hrs or more. I start feeling a little anxious and restless as i cannot look for knives on ebay or read about knives here. It is not as intense as withdrawl from alcohol but the basic unease is much the same. And as you say there is no hangover, but there can be a 'hole in the wallet' that becomes debt. However you do end up with a knife to enjoy and possibly sell at a later date to recoup at least some of your money. It is not all 'passed' and flushed away and your liver remains healthy.
kj
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montemojo
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Re: Three Fine Fakes

Post by montemojo »

KJ, your email was received. I am currently having withdrawals due to the lay off at the truck parts manufacturing plant that employed me. We dont have power outages like that to much in this part of the country. I used to work for the power co til my knees went bad. We went all over east side of the country fixing powerlines. Some people would be without power for over a month and they would become quite irate to say the least.

Monte
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