That's How It Happened

Telling Fake Global Knives From The Real Thing
I bought my first Global knife after the recommendation in Kitchen Confidential. They look great, they feel great, and they stay sharp. Unfortunately they are also quite expensive, at £30-£80 each. Recently counterfeit Global knives have been appearing, sold on eBay, and by unscrupulous door-to-door salesmen. One of the medical students working for my team recently tried to sell us this fancy 12 knife set, in a rather glam chef's carrying case. I took the opportunity to compare the fakes with my real knives, and they really are extremely close to the originals. After intense scrutiny I have a few tips for spotting the frauds:

1. The real Globals have a very even pattern of black dimples, with each dimple neatly and symmetrically pressed from the steel. The base of the dimple is an even black colour, that exactly meets the edge of the dimple. It isn't painted, it is an actual colour "corroded" onto the steel. The fakes have rather variable dimples, and the base has been airbrushed black, with obvious spills.

2. The logos "printed" on the blades of the real knives have crisp edges, and when new, have a very dark colour. The logos on the fake knives have printing errors, and look faded.

3. Obviously the edge of the blade on the real knives is incredibly even. The edge looks like an engineering miracle with it's micrometrical accuracy. The fake knives are very sharp, but the edge is visibly flawed. It doesn't even look straight to the naked eye, and is ground down with a wildly varying width.

4. The most obvious give-away though, is the price. If an internet bargain looks to good to be true, that's almost always because it is. eBay is an open market, and things tend to find their real value.