I assume these are "designer" knockoffs of the original RSK Mk5. Beware if you order any Mk5s from bargain sites or eBay.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/steel-mini-pocket-knife-with-strap-4-5cm-blade-82055

Thanks for the head's up. Deal Extreme is known for its knock-offs and avoids issues with U.S. Customs by shipping individual orders direct from overseas, so they are damn near impossible to stop as they cannot readily seize large orders or go after a U.S. based importer, so their exposure is minimal. They have the concept of rip-off down to an art form.

The metal listed is different. The DealExtreme one is "513 Steel" vs. the 2CR13 of the Ritter. I am not a metallurgist, so I do not know if they are the same or not. I would tend towards believing "No".

They have a lot of gall putting the CRKT logo on a knockoff. Somebody needs a trip to the woodshed.

Gee, and what about the Doug Ritter logo. Am I just chopped chicken liver?

The reality is that this crap happens all the time. Look around and you will see that they rip off all the major knife manufacturers, including their trademarks and right down to their packaging in many cases. The Chinese have shown themselves to zero respect for intellectual property or most any business ethics.

It gets even more annoying when the idiots who somehow think they can get something at a price that's too good to be true send these POS knives into the legitimate manufacturers for warranty and are upset to discover that they bought a fake. DOH!

I'm glad I haven't bought anything from them. While something like the RSK is a little out of my price range I still do try to stay away from the other end of the range.

Assuming the following business model;

Specialist knife - RRP $25 - Wholesale - $14 - License $2. Distributor margin 50% i.e $6. Manufacturer price (China) to US distributor- $6. Manufacturer Subcontractor $4. Cost of manufacture $2.50. BOM cost $1.

Out of the back door from the same sub contractor manufacturer. $2.

Deal extreme margin and distribution cost across the planet $3

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And many involved in the global business of 'made in China, retail in the USA/Europe' etc will secretly allow a limited number of 'fake' and 'imitation' product (which will sometimes cost more to produce to ensure a non identical product) to get the public to buy into the premium product idea. Thats what I call sharp business practice. This is especially prevalent in the luxury and fashion markets.

Any way I've ordered one of the MK5 knock offs before the 'Trade Mark' legal injunction goes ahead. POS it might be, but I won't hold my breath for $5 even if I need get the Fallkniven DC3 out.

This really disappoints me. I've made many purchased from DealExtreme for non-branded, generic type items and have always been satisfied. It's a shame to see them stoop so low as this.

I couldn't have said this better myself.

Of course its possible these are the real thing and were bought by deal extreme in bulk at low cost. Seems about the right time in the business cycle for this.

NOT!

So I have to ask ... when searching for the Mk5 on the web, how do you know when you're looking at the real Mk5 and a fake Mk5?

I've purchased several knives from Knifecenter.com, and have faith in them, but if I find a good price from an unknown knife dealer ... now I start to wonder.

BTW, I've already purchased several Mk5's when they first came out. I just asking in case I need to give recommendations in the future.

If you buy from knifeworks.com fakes are not an issue.

Without one in hand, it is difficult to state with certainty, but based on the image on the site, the multi-colored fob.lanyard would be a dead giveaway. As this point all of the original run the original run of RSK Mk5 with the multi-colored fob have been sold and all the new production has a black lanyard with a slider on it. Not that most web sites have updated their images, but you can always email or call.

Not sure if they are packing it in a tin as the original is, but we should know that by next week.

Buying from an authorized CRKT dealer is the surest way to be certain. And, if the price seems to good to be true, it probably isn't real.

Yes But Couldnt Someone greedy Be selling the cheap fakes for the same price as the real ones to get more cash? Like others have said it looks near identical so how could you tell your getting the fake for the real price?

I suppose so, though generally that's not how they work. Once we have one in hand, we may be able to provide more useful information.

But, the bottom line is very simple. Buy from reputable and authorized dealers and you are not going to get taken.

I have received a sample of this knock-off. First off, it is very clearly a knock-off, not the same knife going out the back door. At first glance, it is a pretty good knock-off with all the logos and such reproduced very well, the sheath looks the same, though it is far lower quality and barely holds the knife in it, worse even than the few problem sheaths that some folks got on the first production run.

There is no CRKT tin, comes in a plain white box, and it has a poor quality imitation of the first production version multi-colored knotted lanyard.

For the moment, we have decided not to provide too much detail as to the differences, because then they go fix those making it even harder to identify the knock-off. However, that shouldn't impact anyone who wants to get a real RSK Mk5 vs. a knock-off

To avoid getting taken, here are some tips:

Buy only from reputable dealers or sellers, even better if they are authorized CRKT dealers. And, there are plenty of such dealers that sell at very competitive prices.

Here are just a few major online dealers:

• www.KnifeWorks.com
• www.KnifeCenter.com
• www.1sks.com

If the item is shipped direct from Asia somewhere, you can be pretty damn sure it's not genuine. If the price is too good to be true, it probably is. These are not expensive knives to begin with.

Current production RSK Mk5 knives come in a CRKT tin with instructions for assembling your own PSK using the tin.

Current production RSK Mk5 knives have a black lanyard.

(NOTE: Most dealers still have images of the original production version with a multi-colored lanyard. If it's a reputable dealer, don't worry, but if there is any question, contact the seller and ask if there is a tin.)

Got mine - yes its a knock-off. ( and no tin) And took forever to get here. Stick with quality