Congratulations NMcN, I’d considered the salt but decided for the cheapest DF I could get, a Spyderedge in black FRN. I’ve got a few Byrd knives but no actual real Spyderco’s (loads of clones though).
The Spyderco-fake arrived today (got it from Aliexoress for ~23€). What can I say? I love it. It is heavy and it feels veeery good in hand. I like it so much better than the Enlan.
It just does not feel as long as the Enlan and that´s what I like about it.
Thank you very much 
I’m EDC’ing my ganzo G717 now for a week and I love it.
But now I’m looking for another knife.
A budget flipper with ball bearings and liner/frame lock.
Budget would be somewhere around 20-30 bucks.
I really like this G717 style knifes, very simple and straight forward.
Was looking at this one, really like this style.
Though I like it a little bit cheaper… :bigsmile:
With ball bearings you won’t find on ganzo, enlan, sanrenmu, harnds etc. But there are some well done fakes in aliexpress, but i don’t like fakes, i can buy knives with design copies but i don’t like very much fakes.
F3 it looks like one I bought a year ago, and still like
Thnx, that’s a nice one!
If you can stretch the budget by 10$ look out for Twosun knives on Ali Express. they have really nice knives in original designs and great quality.
I bought mine from here: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Newest-Small-stonewashed-version-F3-ball-bearing-Flipper-folding-D2-blade-knife-G10-handle-EDC-camping/32508462190.html
Relatively fast shipping and no issues with the knife. Note this is the “small” one. Very nice size for me (19.5 cm)
I’m not much in to the fakes but that one looks nice. What do you think the chances are that it’s actually made of D2? Especially since the other link says it’s made out of 9Cr18MoV.
Same knife model with different versions at Aliexpress
D2 or 9Cr18MoV, it may be different batches … hard to tell
I doubt very much it is D2. On the blade of mine it says Cronidur 30, which seems to have much lower carbon content. https://www.boker.de/us/blade-steel.html.
I have not used mine enough to give an objective comment on how good the blade is.
I’m afraid the laser printing on the blade are there to replicate the original - both logo & steel - and has not much to do with the actual knife 
If seller states D2 or 9Cr18MoV then I try to evaluate the seller
Low price often means lower grade of steel
High price … then its up to the sellers reputation (if there is any)
That is the general problem, when buying replicas
NuggetMcNugget, how about the quality of that russian bear F3 knife?
They are really affordable.
Isti made a http://steelreviews.blogspot.se/2014/11/total-ko-top-notch-flipper-with-bearing.html of the same, and I agree on his statements
Note! There are different versions floating around
The seller I bought from don’t have it now, but these are the stats I had on mine:
| Overall Length: | 192mm |
| Blade Length: | 82 mm |
| Closed Length: | 110 mm |
| Blade material: | 9CR18MOV |
| Hardness: | 58-60HRC |
| Surface: | Stonewash |
| Blade Thickness: | 3.0mm |
| Handle Length: | 110mm |
| Handle Material: | Black |
| Net Weight: | 125g |
Of all knives, this gets pocket time (due to size and performance)
I definitely love the F3, One of my favoriet knives I have bought. Well worth the money
Where did you find it. Only place I see is AliExpress. I've never ordered from them . No PayPal accepted I believe. Is there a preferred vendor?
Streamer,
I have made over 50 orders from AE, i use western union as mode of payment and I didn’t have a single issue. One delivery took over 1 month due to an error of the vendor but it all worked very satisfactory in the end. All other deliveries arrived within 8 and 18 days to Switzerland.
Payments are made through AE and you have buyer’s protection just like with PayPal.
+150 orders from Aliexpress and no problems. Just a couple of cases that the bought item was damaged or DOA. Their buyer protection works REALLY WELL! Never had any problems. I never had to wait Aliexpress to resolve anything bcos vendors do it their own. Ali is 100% reliable!
Just ordered this one: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Russian-Bear-Small-Pattern-F3-440C-Stain-Finished-Blade-Black-G10-Handle-Outdoor-Camping-Survival-Bearing/32553770684.html
2 Knives in 1 month… 
:bigsmile: