I need help identifying if my new knife is a real Spyderco.

[Geno]

Here is a link to a video I took showing the knife, and showing what I am speaking of.

Here is a link to my Imgur gallery of the knife showing what I am talking about the knife.
http://imgur.com/a/WDUzu

I recently bought a new Spyderco Endura 4 FFG. It just got here today and I would like a little help determining if it is a real Spyderco, or if it is a chinese knockoff. I have linked you to an Imgur gallery above showing you the things that concern me about the authenticity of the knife. I have comments on the gallery describing what I've noticed.

I would love for other people on this forum to tell me if my knife matches up with how theirs looks. I appreciate your time greatly :).

[GoldenSpydie]

I'll defer to those with more experience to determine if it is a fake, but I can answer two of your questions:

"There is a gap between the lock and the FRN handle, I don't know if this is normal or not."

Yes, that is normal with all FRN lockbacks.

"Right at this point the knife pulls itself to close against gravity and without me touching it, it feels like some sort of spring or something, I am pretty sure that isn't supposed to happen, I REALLY need to know if this is normal."

Yes, all lockbacks do that. It is an important safety feature that keeps the blade closed (the equivalent of a detent in a liner lock).

[Geno]

Thanks for the reply, it was very helpful :).

[jabba359]

Everything looks normal to me. I haven't seen the printed material that was enclosed, but it's been a few years since I bought an Endura and would guess it's a fairly recent addition.

[quickster47]

Another question is, where did you purchase the knife?

Carl

[Slash]

From what I can tell the box is authentic. Don't see any reason the knife isn't as well.

[Geno]

I got it online from walmart, but I seen some things that set me off.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Spyderco-Endu ... e/17687615

[All-R-Crazy]

I would say it's a genuine endura 4

[Geno]

Thanks a bunch guys. I appreciate your help.

[kennethsime]

I guess my biggest question is this: why is everyone so concerned with whether or not their knife is a chinese knockoff? Is there some website promoting the idea that they are in abundance, and that every online retailer is out to get you?

I have never once encountered a knockoff Spyderco, but then again I also have only bought from Amazon, Howe's, or local stores.

[Doc Dan]

It is real. It is exactly as it should be. It is exactly like mine, but mine is a better color

[Geno]

My favorite color is green though, in love with the blade.

[The Deacon]

I guess my biggest question is this: why is everyone so concerned with whether or not their knife is a chinese knockoff? Is there some website promoting the idea that they are in abundance, and that every online retailer is out to get you?

I have never once encountered a knockoff Spyderco, but then again I also have only bought from Amazon, Howe's, or local stores.

I won't say they're abundant, but they are definitely an issue with some Spyderco models, and for specific models of other maker's knives as well. Spyderco knockoffs are not a problem if you buy from internet dealers who only buy directly from Spyderco and/or legitimate Spyderco distributors and inspect returns carefully before reselling. Knockoffs in general have become a major problem on eBay and Spyderco knockoffs have been at least an occasional problem on Amazon. That may be due to unscrupulous people using Amazon's liberal return policy to swap fake knives for real ones, or the co-mingling of stock purchased by Amazon with that supplied by "fulfillment by Amazon" vendors selling there.

As for the OP's knife, I'm inclined to think it is genuine. Nothing about it looks obviously "off" to me and I haven't heard of any issues with knives from Walmart. I can tell you I have a Stretch with exactly the same date code and the printing on the box looks the same as that on yours. Boxes are printed in batches and, as with any multi-color print job, both the dyes and the registration (placement of the individual colors) can vary a bit from batch to batch and possibly within a batch as well. While I'm sure there's a level of QC involved, I doubt a batch would be discarded unless the registration was off by more than it takes to eliminate the thin white line between the grey arc and the red.

[Knutty]

As best I can tell, it's a legit knife. The video quality and content isn't really conducive to being able to tell from sight. But the clip looks as it should, the closing bias is absolutely normal (and is one of the big reasons I love backlocks; I much prefer that type of closing bias over ball detents). The slight mismatch where the lock meets the blade is normal, too. I have lots of Spyderco backlocks, including many Seki City knives and two Native5 knives made in Golden, CO, and some of them are off in that spot too.

I have had one Spyderco product info sheet that had an error. I can't remember which knife it was, but it said "Thank you for buying a XXXX", then later on, it referred to the knife as a "YYYY" (i.e. the wrong knife name). That knife is legit, though, and it was just human error. I only mention this because errors on the product info sheet don't necessarily mean the knife is a fake.

Congrats on the knife. It's a great knife and I love the color. (Green is my favorite as well.) I have a Delica4 in the same color.

[Donut]

I would say that it looks pretty legit. It's a little tough to tell because the video was focused on your foot the whole time and everything I was trying to look at was super blurry.

The only thing I saw that was suspicious was the Endura printing on the side of the scale. Here is a good picture of that. It is possible that the shape of this marking has changed over the past two years. It has more of an Oval outline on the Delicas.



Other things that usually help us figure if it is a fake would be taking clear pictures of the Seki-City Japan and Spyderco VG-10 and where all the screws are at (and type of screws).

[Blerv]

As much as I hat to say it buying from Walmart online is still better than some places.

[762cal]

It is legit, based on the pics.

[The Deacon]

The only thing I saw that was suspicious was the Endura printing on the side of the scale. Here is a good picture of that. It is possible that the shape of this marking has changed over the past two years. It has more of an Oval outline on the Delicas.

Other things that usually help us figure if it is a fake would be taking clear pictures of the Seki-City Japan and Spyderco VG-10 and where all the screws are at (and type of screws).

Brian, did you scroll all the way down in his imgur gallery link?

There are clear photos in it of the scale markings and screws, and a couple decent ones of the tang stamps. My eyes aren't the greatest, but I'm not seeing any significant differences between your scale markings and his, or anything else that jumps out as being "off".

It's getting to the point where the biggest problem with fakes will not be the fakes themselves, but folks who think any minor difference between the knife they or someone else bought 3 years ago or its box or packaging and the one they or someone else bought yesterday, means that one of them is a fake. Tang stamp dies wear and are replaced, ink colors can vary from batch to batch, printing registration can vary from run to run and even within a run, and I would not be surprised if there are others among the so-called "tells" that aren't really tells at all.

[BOHAWG]

I guess my biggest question is this: why is everyone so concerned with whether or not their knife is a chinese knockoff? Is there some website promoting the idea that they are in abundance, and that every online retailer is out to get you?

I have never once encountered a knockoff Spyderco, but then again I also have only bought from Amazon, Howe's, or local stores.

Since you asked the question.... here's a link to fake Spyderco knives in "abundance"!
http://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-s ... ary-2.html" target="_blank

[Fred S]

That link to the fakes is amazing, I wish the counterfeit police could do something