Fool proof method?

[Nocternum]

I was thinking about counterfeits and verification recently. I guess one difference (at least) between a genuine spidey and a fake would be the steel. The counterfeiters wouldn’t use the same high quality steel as is used on models with special steels (cmp3v/vg10 bla bla) because these steels are more expensive and that would eat into the counterfeiters profit margin.

What do you think?

Obviously there may be other differences like the g10 scales and slight design differences.

Anyway, my thinking is that the different steels probably have slightly different densities and therefor different weights. Thus, because of the steel used alone, there should be a difference in weight between the genuine and fake. Right?

The densities of the different steels may not be so different since it is probably only small differences in chemical composition (little more or less carbon, maybe some zinc or tungsten etc) using an accurate weighing machine, I guess, there should be a consistent weight amongst the genuine and a perceptible difference in weight between the genuines and fakes on average.

Come to think of it, all this seems sort of obvious and that I am being unnecessarily verbose putting across a simple idea.

Fair enough. As such, if you happen to own or have access to an accurate weighing machine that weighs to 10ths or hundreds of a G, and you own a Civilian (and even better, more than one) that you know for sure is/are genuine, could you weigh it/them and post the weight please? :)

I’m thinking this may be the best weigh to verify authenticity.

[ferider]

With clip, 135g, 4.76 ounces, that's all my scale can do, unfortunately.

Probably accurate enough, since there are other mods in fakes that affect weight, and the grind is probably different too. And if you go below 1g, you start weighing the frog lube, loctite, etc. :)

[The Deacon]

Your premise is flawed. Sure, a huge weight difference would be a dead giveaway. However, minor weight differences can be attributed to any number of things. Blades are finish ground, serrated, and sharpened by hand, so weight of genuine blades can vary. I suspect there's also a certain amount of hand finishing done on the handles, so again some room for weight variance. There's no guarantee that scales cut from two different sheets of G-10, or even from different ends of the same sheet, are going to be identical in weight. If that's not enough, Spyderco's penchant for improving their knives means there can be differences between a knife produced at different times.

Like it or not, there's only one way to be 100% certain any knife is genuine is to send it to the manufacturer for evaluation.