Hi everyone, I did my best to find answers but couldnt find a thing on this older looking military. Having never owned a bigger spydie I have no frame of reference here. So is it a fake, obscure small batch or factory frankenknife? Takin all bets!
Pre-CQI black blade combo edge Military. The only thing that strikes me as off is the printing on the blade. It should be "Spyderco CPM S30V" on the front and "Golden, Colorado USA Earth" on the back. Aside from that, it looks okay to me. If you have doubts, you could send it to Spyderco for authentication.
I’m suspicious about the label that’s cut off by the spyder hole and the pivot protruding from the scale. The serrations look short like there should be one more in the line.
I have almost the same knife, pre-CQI all black Millie but in PE. Here are some photos to compare. If it wasn't for the stamp and also the missing black by the hole (kind of looks like paint rather than DLC by how clean it scraped off there, but the flat look definitely seems like DLC--can you verify?), I'd say for sure real. Probably have to still say real. Even down to the sand blast on the lock it looks too similar. Let me know if you want any other photos
Thanks for the input guys, I am also not sure why the USA, Earth isnt etched on the proper side. With the positioning of the text, it's as if the knife were sitting on the wrong side when receiving the etching. the sides of the pivot werent visible until I loosened the torx slightly, this thing is very stiff even after a few days of open/closing and cleaning/vaseline. I'll probably be sending this in soon on account of the roughness, who knows it could be rusted inside. Thanks for those really detailed pics kreole, they really do look identical aside from logo/etching location. The missing black by the hole is a relatively deep dent, I tried to show the depth in these 2 pics
The pivot is just loose, yeah? You can push in the non-screw side? I've never seen a Millie with a pivot stick out like that (unless loose) out from the handle. You can see mine doesn't.
That "dent" is a factory second mark. Probably because the blade was marked backward, it was sold at the annual Seconds Sale with no box and no warranty. Sending it in won't get you anything but confirmation that is is a real Spyderco. I hope you didn't pay more than $65, that's about what they were going for when that one was current.
Aye, I overdid it cuz I was anxious to do the spydie flick again. Still too stiff. Yeah I can believe this, I was thinking the blade came from a bin of misprints for when they do complimentary blade swaps but this sounds much more likely. As for how much I paid, it was an unspec'd item in an auction. Whether it's worth $60 or 600 that one is still burning a hole in my soul. Also, this would mean I can't even send it in for a free fix on the stiff opening?
That's what it means. No warranty. They won't work on it. And so you'll know, there is no bin of blades for complimentary blade swaps, they don't replace blades.
Yep, factory 2nd with loose pivot that is sticking out too far. I have a factory 1st just like that, but with proper markings. Vintage around 2003-2004 most likely. If the action is too stiff, especially with the pivot like that, it's probably got old oil that's varnished and/or other crud in the pivot area between the blade/washers/scales. A good cleaning and very light oiling would probably fix you right up.
After tightening it up the pivot doesn't stick out anymore and it's actually becoming flickable. I think loosening it and letting the vaseline get worked in helped.
It could be a real factory second, but I've never known of Spyderco sending a second's knife out that ugly. I think it is a fake. It has several things that make me think that. One is the missing letters, the hole drilled through them. Two, the words are on the wrong side. Three, the pivot seems to be out too far. Four, the jimping seems a bit odd or something in that last picture. Five, the blade looks out of proportion (but that could be the camera angle). I can see Spyderco getting one thing wrong, but not that many and some of these are big mistakes. My verdict: fake being passed off as factory second.
I've been to six or seven of the seconds sales and I've seen worse. The pivot sticking out is because the OP loosened it working on the action. The missing letters, the overlap on the hole, the offset toward the spine instead of the edge and the words on the wrong side are what you would see if the blade was laying on the wrong side when it went through the laser etch. The jimping looks weird in the last picture because of all the lint/fibers stuck on it.
