I find the notion that they're easy to spot to be preposterous. Half the time you see someone asking if one is a fake, someone will come in saying, "That's the most obvious fake I have ever seen! Look at the Spyderco logo, it's tilted half a degree too far to the left, how could you not tell it's a fake?!" This for a knife company that's known to practice "CQI" where differences from one manufacturing iteration to the next are to be expected.
I bought a counterfeit just to be able to see the differences between a fake and what I was reasonably sure was a genuine article, and the differences were not only incredibly minute, but when I told people one was fake and one was real and asked them to tell which was which, most people thought the fake was the genuine article.
So I kind of take issue with the notion that the fakes are obviously fake because I know how many people I know personally that would be fooled, and wonder how quickly someone would insist it's their fault.
Fit and finish quality: Real ones have precise engraving (e.g., "Golden, CO" alignment is spot-on), smooth action without grit, and no rough edges around the Spyderhole (their trademark round thumb hole, which is patented—fakes often have off-center or uneven holes).
The pocket clip on authentics is typically tensioned just right and engraved cleanly; fakes might feel flimsy or have burrs. From my experience. Like you did, getting a known real one helps highlight the minutes—like font kerning on the blade or the exact hue of coatings.
There are YouTube breakdowns that zoom in on these for specific models (e.g., Para Military 2 or Tenacious). Good luck.
Sometimes I hate talking about how well the Manix 2 fake I received was made, because it's almost like an unintentional endorsement, but when it came to the laser etchings and the logo engraving on the clip and those things, I could tell a distinct difference between the genuine one and the fake, but it wasn't as if the fake's were bad looking. If I didn't know I was looking at a fake I would have just chalked the differences up to CQI changes.
Where things begin to fall apart--literally and figuratively--were with internal features. Instead of bronze washers the fake used nylon, and it was quite easy to see without disassembling. Similarly the area of the tang that the ball bearing interfaces for the lock was also very crudely milled, and the bearing ball itself had noticable signs of wear and was clearly a soft carbon steel (if it was even steel). The pivot bushing was also much differently manufactured, with very coarse threads and no captive interface on the scales. I didn't really use or carry it much, but I am fairly sure that if I had it wouldn't have lasted long before the lock-up went bad or the action got rough. In fact at one point while fidgeting with it, it did start grinding in a weird way once or twice, but then it smoothed back out and I never figured out why but I suspect it would have kept occuring intermittently--at that point though I had learned what I needed to learn and decided to destroy it. All I can say about that is they appear to actually harden the blade, because it snapped instead of bending, but otherwise I just smashed it with a hammer in a vice until the entire area of the pivot was too destroyed for it to be put back together. I was just curious to see how those pieces would break, and most of them seemed overly soft because they warped and twisted instead of snapping. The pivot screws and pivot bearing weirdly "stretched" out and bent like nails rather than screws.
I don't know what they were using for the handle material but it didn't seem like G10. Some kind of fiberglass possibly, but it was much softer. I mean, when you really think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some hazardous materials in it--the "steel" ball bearing looked more like lead to me. It was too hard to be pure lead, but I have seen enough leaded alloys for airgun ammunition to know the texture and color. It's not really a stretch to say that one good reason not to mess around with these things is because we don't know what they're putting in them.
:That’s a really detailed breakdown—thank you for sharing it. I appreciate how you pointed out not just the cosmetic tells but also the internal flaws and even potential safety concerns. It’s a good reminder that while fakes can look convincing at first glance, the real issues show up in performance, materials, and long-term reliability.
I've noticed that if you look at the sellers info, sometimes there are little give aways. A good example I saw, was a rare sprint run priced way too low. Then I see they have sold dozens of that particular knife. I've seen similar listings like this several times. Hmmmm...something seems fishy about that.
Collector of Spyderco and different types of steel
Fake Edgerati on the Dutch Marketplace. I reported the ad and it got removed. Only about a third of the ads I report get removed. Still I suggest to report it and mention trademark infringement or whatever legal term fits. Can't stand this stuff.
You certainly have to do more wading through them to find the good stuff. I find that much of my Spyderco knives I get off ebay have come from Canada and it takes forever to get through customs...
:That’s a really detailed breakdown—thank you for sharing it. I appreciate how you pointed out not just the cosmetic tells but also the internal flaws and even potential safety concerns. It’s a good reminder that while fakes can look convincing at first glance, the real issues show up in performance, materials, and long-term reliability.
Knife nut & Spydie aficionado 
