Help to determine authenticity of PM2

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

Long time Spyderco fan -- I have a custom Police with a plain ATS-55 blade that I bought a long, long time ago (original owner). It's been used very sparingly and has never been sharpened (it's still very sharp). I say the knife is "custom" because it has sheets of sterling silver applied over the scales on both sides which have been hand engraved by my father who was a silversmith. It will be handed down to my son when it's time.

Well, I'm also a new owner of a Paramilitary 2...or so I hope. I was looking around at different sites and although I read about a number of knock-offs floating around on Amazon, I decided to buy from there (black G10 with a DLC blade). The knife arrived just about an hour ago and I wanted to validate its authenticity if it's possible. The following is a list of things that concern me about the knife's authenticity.

1) The Spyderco box was taped on both sides. They aren't strips of basic shipping or Scotch tape but rather clear, pre-sized labels than wrap completely around both ends of the box. I believe I read, somewhere, that Spyderco does not tape their boxes but that could have changed.

2) The box did not include a letter from Spyderco.

3) The jimping on the thumb ramp is not angled as much towards the back of the knife as I've seen in some videos on YouTube. I can see a slight angle at the top of the thumb ramp but I would say that it mostly follows the radius of the ramp although the top tooth of the jimping does almost have a horizontal top surface. The jimping in the finger choil is much more aggressively angled.

4) The lanyard hole is chamfered ever so slightly but not as much as I've seen in some pictures or videos (or on the Spyderco site). It looks exactly like the images on the BladeHQ site (http://www.bladehq.com/item--Spyderco-P ... 30V--10801) which almost looks like there's no chamfering. I've seen other pictures where the chamfering is much more pronounced. Maybe it's just a matter of lighting? Maybe one reason is that the lanyard tube seems to be coated black on the inside also so there isn't a reflective surface. The outside of the lanyard tube is also black (was this a CQI change?).

The knife passes all the other telltale signs of a knock-off. The cutout for the blade release is curved correctly. The edges of the scales are not overly rounded but they are slightly chamfered. The Torx screws all look correct. The right-side liner has two cutouts. The liner cutouts are very well finished. The blade is razor sharp (haven't sliced open a finger yet, though).

Any thoughts or anything else I should look for?

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

By the way, I didn't put much thought in scrutinizing the box label because of the number of variations I've seen for authentic labeling. However, the bar code does not touch the numbers but everything else on the box appears perfect and the condition of the box was also perfect.

[farnorthdan]

Welcome to the forum Micheal, the PM2 is probably one of the most faked pieces out there, hence the buying from a known/trusted vendor. I've heard of the tape/sticker on the box ends before from Amazon on authentic PM2's so not too concerning, also production run pieces don't necessarily come with paper work, usually just sprints, exclusives etc. can you post up some pics of the actual knife you received?

[greencobra]

any knife i've received from amazon has the tape if the box is a slider like the one spyderco uses. i've never really questioned it honestly because since they throw the knife in a padded envelope to ship instead of a box, on single knife shipments, i assumed they didn't want the box to pop open and have the knife slide around the envelope during shipping.

i'd like to see photos of the jimping on your knife, too. i can't quite visualize what you are saying.

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

Here are some pictures of the knife. It wasn't easy trying to get the close-ups with my iPhone (they looked better on the phone). I apologize for the quality. I'm also probably over-complicating the description of the jimping.

[greencobra]

to me your knife looks legit but i guess that door is always open. the logos on your blade, the one that says "spyderco" on one side and "golden colorado" on the other are skewed off center of that grind line. on mine they are centered with that. not to be alarmed with that. i don't know spydercos application process or criteria for those markings or what they use as a guide to apply them. i do have 40 years experience as a manufacturing supervisor/manager and know anywhere i worked, final inspectors are armed with go/no go templates to use when in doubt of the final placement of such markings. most manufacturing companies are very picky of such things but there is a little wiggle room and i assume spyderco is no different. if anything was out of spec it would be removed from the work flow and done over. again, please...i do not speak for spyderco, just my opinion. :)

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

There seems to be some variation of the angle at which "Spyderco" and "Golden Colorado" appear on the blade.

The image of the knife on the Spyderco site shows the markings almost parallel to the grind line. However, the image on the BladeHQ site shows the markings closer to what I have but not exactly. The image on the KnifeCenter site is also a bit different with the markings. The print is parallel with the Spyderco logo on my PM2 though.

The angle of the teeth on the thumb-rest jimping really has me concerned. All of the sites mentioned above clearly show the teeth at a different angle than what's on my PM2.

Does Spyderco monitor the forum and chime-in when they can?

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

By the way, the markings have very crisp edges, have consistent coloring, and cannot be felt.

The clip on my PM2 is also flat black while I've seen a lot of pictures of PM2s with glossy black clips. The edges of the clip are very smooth with no noticeable roughness.

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

Something else I found, after watching another video on YouTube is that the tip of the pocket clip on my PM2 is flat and is on the same plane as the part of the clip where the Spyderco logo is embossed.

The video also adds to the proof that the jimping on the thumb rest of my PM2 isn't correct.

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

Here's a good shot of the jimping on a real vs. counterfeit PM2. Mine looks exactly as the satin (counterfeit) PM2 while the jimping on the real PM2 is almost like a staircase near the crest of the thumb hole. The jimping on the counterfeit PM2 is a simple sawtooth pattern.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nys5lBn4GY0

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

Hope I don't get into trouble for doing this but here's a fairly recent thread on another forum showing a black w/DLC PM2 purchased from KnifeCenter. It looks exactly the same as the PM2 I bought from Amazon (again, Amazon was the seller and shipper).

You have to click each imgur link (suggest starting at the bottom) to see this guy's PM2. The jimping on this particular PM2 is exactly the same as mine. The markings are even at the same angle as mine. KnifeCenter wouldn't (knowingly) sell a counterfeit, right?

Is it possible that Spyderco, with their CQI processes, changed the jimping on the thumb ramp so it doesn't angle towards the back of the knife (e.g. more staircase like rather than sawtooth) as much? If you read the thread, most people believe the knife is genuine but there are also non-believers who point to the jimping.

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

Anybody?

[araneae]

I'm no expert, but this is why it makes sense to buy from a trusted dealer. If you want to be sure, send it to Spyderco.

[ScottieG59]

It is much easier when you have a known real one for comparison. The G10 on the real PM2 has more traction than the fakes I have held. The fakes seem heavier and the plunge grind seems less crisp. The pocket clip Spyderco logo is positioned higher on fakes I have seen. The fake blade sharpens and stops to a polished finish much faster than the real one. These things will vary, with the real and fakes. I would recommend, if you are concerned, having Spyderco verify authenticity. I agree that your knife looks genuine.

[MichaelSpydiePolice]

Thanks, everybody. I feel much more confident now that my PM2 is authentic.

I've been using it to cut through shipping tape and cardboard boxes and the edge is still razor sharp. The DLC coating has also brushed off everything that's touched it. I figure that a counterfeit PM2 would be made with cheap steel and the DLC coating would probably be some cheap paint or something. This knife is awesome.