I have purchased 3 "knock off's" from China in the last couple of weeks. Cost is a major consideration as they are a fraction of the real thing, sometimes as much as a tenth of the cost. Being in the UK is also a consideration as there are very few if any UK retailers who sell the really top end blades and the American manufactures and retailers will not mail out to the UK amyway. The really cheap one I have is a Medford Praetorian Clone which I will straight up say is "cheap" quality with a very sloppy pivot hole but for less than £20/$25 it goes into the work bag. The other two cost around the $90 mark and are for the money very good products. I spent a couple of hours with my Lansky stones on one of them yesterday and it takes a very good edge (I'm a carpenter & joiner so know what sharp is) so it will be interesting to see how it performs and lasts. I guess the main question is for a knife is how the blade holds up, I can't answer this yet. But I am pleasantly surprised with the overall quality. I agree with the shelf queen thing too, I want to use the stuff I buy and a $600 blade just wouldn't get used.
Hi All, newbie from the Uk here. I'm on a couple of other forums and been recommended this one by Willy Digger. here's a couple of pic's to get me started