Spyderco Forums

Hi, I bought co41 at a show and wanted to know if it's authentic? If so what else can you tell me like age and value. Greg88

Dear Greg88:

Welcome to the Spyderco Forum.

That is not an authentic Spyderco knife.

Stay safe,

Mike

Sorry but you have been scammed into buying a fake. First dead giveaway, the knife has a thumbstud and not a Spydiehole. This is already a red flag. C41 Is the SKU designation for a Spyderco Native. This knife represents in no shape or form a Native.
Spyderco never puts the SKU on the knife. And only the SKUs for C01 to C09 have 0 from 10 on there is no longer a 0.

My goodness. There are fakes and then there are blatant scams. Sorry, you got the latter.

The lack of a Spydie hole should've been a dead giveaway... they always put it on their knives, even fixed blades. They have NEVER used a thumbstud. That's sacrilege right there.

SpyderForLyfe wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 03, 2023 9:54 am

The lack of a Spydie hole should've been a dead giveaway... they always put it on their knives, even fixed blades. They have NEVER used a thumbstud. That's sacrilege right there.

They've used thumbstuds on more than one occasion.

The Vallotton and Lil Subhilt both use what could be considered thumbstuds in addition to the Spydiehole. It’s technically a stop pin but Spyderco does refer to it as “Vallotton’s signature thumb stud/stop pin” so I don’t see anything wrong with calling it a thumb stub.

But to your point, no Spydiehole is usually a dead giveaway!

Mushroom wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 03, 2023 10:04 am

SpyderForLyfe wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 03, 2023 9:54 am

The lack of a Spydie hole should've been a dead giveaway... they always put it on their knives, even fixed blades. They have NEVER used a thumbstud. That's sacrilege right there.

They've used thumbstuds on more than one occasion.

The Vallotton and Lil Subhilt both use what could be considered thumbstuds in addition to the Spydiehole. It’s technically a stop pin but Spyderco does refer to it as “Vallotton’s signature thumb stud/stop pin” so I don’t see anything wrong with calling it a thumb stub.

But to your point, no Spydiehole is usually a dead giveaway!

I didn't know that! Learn something new every day! But even on those two models, like you said, they had the Spydie hole. I think a thumb-stud ONLY (instead of a Spydie hole) is definitely a dead giveway!

The Ramco Laguiole didnt have a spydie hole.

Supposedly there some Japanese made knives with thumb studs that were distributed by Spyderco, although I guess that would still not be a Spyderco.

Several of the early Spyderco fixed blades didnt have the hole.

Szabofly and Spyderfly also seem to lack the hole.

But yes, a normal Spyderco folding knife will have a spydiehole and not thumbstuds.

Hearing about the Laguiole remiinds me that I really need to find one, by weird french instinct

Found an old thread titled No holed Spyderco.

Lists more models without the hole, and gives some interesting background on how the hole came to be trademarked.

Was this even based on an old design at one time? I have never even seen a design from Spyderco like it, with this handle shape…

mikey177 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 04, 2023 5:00 am

Found an old thread titled No holed Spyderco.

Lists more models without the hole, and gives some interesting background on how the hole came to be trademarked.

i always enjoy older posts by sal. he used to get quite a bit more spicy in his responses and i kind of love it. i also appreciate what he had to say about the industry and having to protect the brand. those kinds of insights are invaluable for us to better understand what it's like for a company to succeed. kind of like a duck on water... looks calm on the surface, but those legs are kicking furiously under the water.

i found more of these online, btw. looks like they were probably based out of the philippines. i can't imagine having to fight these battles across international lines against people with no accountability.

Over here, there are a plethora of not just knockoff Spydercos, but also imposters, knives Spyderco never would have made. All are made in China. Some say Spyderco, some say Spyder knife, Spider Knife, or other such things. They also come in some interesting colors, too. For example, I can buy a fake Para 3 or Shaman in 440C for $31.

ladybug93 wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 04, 2023 6:13 am

i found more of these online, btw. looks like they were probably based out of the philippines. i can't imagine having to fight these battles across international lines against people with no accountability.

Country of manufacture for these knock-offs would probably be China, as I haven't heard of any factory in my country that is into large scale cutlery production.

Admittedly though, there are online sellers of fakes in the Philippines, and I have reported some of them to the concerned parties. Sadly, the battle against counterfeit products is indeed difficult.

Some products even try to skirt the law by changing the shape of the opening hole and calling it a "homage," like this Para 3 rip-off that was suggested to me by the YouTube algorithm.

Greg88, I hope you didn't pay much. I would consider, if possible, going back to the seller at another show, and explaining things. I find it impossible to believe they thought that was a real Spyderco.

Hopefully you didn't pay more than $10 for that P.O.S. sorry bro you got burned! Use it and get your money's worth. Then, buy an authentic spyderco from a reputable dealer and never look back. Stay away from Amazon too! Caveat emptor....