The friend hadn't (in his words) "Paid more than a round of beers" for this knife while away in China.
He knew I "loved them weird knives with the holes in the blade" so it came my way.
Turns out it was a fake Spyderco Military, new in the box and unused....Not wanting to lob the thing straight in the bin, I decided to pull it down and take a look at some of the things that might help you guys walking the halls at this summer's gunshows (Or indeed Instagram, Amazon or Ebay)
In the hand it looks and feels pretty much like a Military- no obvious rattles or off notes, the G10 was a little smoother than I might have expected......until you look closer or take it apart, then things I should have spotted 'kerbside' leaped out at me:
#1 Telltale Torx Heads for clip and body the same size.
On the real deal, the backspacer screws are a size or so smaller.
They were also barely finger tight, which is not something you can tell until you get 'em home.
(not pictured)
#2 Telltale Lockbar Finish
On the face-side of the lockbar there is a 'step-change' in the finish of the lockbar: Yes, it is as pronounced as in the picture!
At the front half, there is a obviously 'linished' or sanded finish. The back end is the stock semi-stonewashed as stamped look....I tend to see a smoother matt bead-blast in real Militaries that I own:
This is something you can see 'kerbside' if you look into the knife with the blade half-open and with a bright light....
This change of finish is almost certainly down to deburring after pressing in the ballbearing.
#3 Telltale Rough edges on the liners.
These are as-stamped and rough as a badger's backside.... The real deal's are much cleaner without all the lumps and crud.
This you can see at the kerbside with the knife locked open.
#4 Telltale Mismatched washers- Fat PTFE oneside and brass the otherside
#5 Telltale Sharpening notch on back of the edge
Both of these are good telltales on the kerbside- all my Militaries have matched washers and they are hard to see in the built knife.
The white washer could be seen with the built knife but you'd really, really need to look for it....However:
All of my Militaries are sharpened all the way to the guard/choil. The fake-o was not and had an obvious 'sharpening notch'....This is a real red-flag item and one that can't be hidden.
(There is also a burnt grinding on the lockbar face and a honking great burr still on it that can be felt- something that Golden would never have passed QC- but they won't all be like this I'll bet, so don't take that as read.)
#6 Telltale Pot-metal back-spacer.
These are G10 on the real deal- and something I didn't pick on first handling.
This is a cast piece of pot-metal, sprayed black....I scratched it with my screwdriver to show it is indeed metal....Why I spotted it was my wedding ring CLINKED against it as I was stripping the knife, when I had expected the dull THUNK of G10.
A good test at the kerbside- tap the backspacer and listen for the ring of metal....hear it? Walk away with your wallet unopened.
#7 Telltale Font issues- outer box
Real on the left- fake on the right.....Notice how close the (r) and O in Spyderco are to the edge of the box. I've checked a dozen boxes from my real ones and it's only the fake that has this issue.
#8 Telltale Font issues- inner box.
Real on the left- fake on the right.....Looks fine?....Look at the very last sentence and look at the size of the gap between the apostrophe in Spyderco's- on the right there is big space. Again, I checked this on my pile of real boxes and it's only this fakey that's got this error.
For reference- these parts are going to stay in my bits box to repair my other non-Spyderco AO folders that I have knocking about...And not back into the wild.
If anyone wants the blade for materials testing or similar, let me know and I'll ship it out to you
