Maybe this thread is dead, but I'm going to jump in anyway. It's obvious that very few people here are going to start a Ryky Tran fan club, and I get it, but I just wanted to say that Ryky was single-handedly responsible for getting me excited about sharpening again after years of having no interest. I was a decent (not great) sharpener when I got back into it, so I still had more I could learn. I've watched videos by Murray Carter, Cliff Stamp, the kid from Korin, and whoever else I could find on YouTube, and honestly, I think that it would be impossible to learn to sharpen watching Cliff, not easy to learn watching Murray (because he skips over a lot), and I'm not sure that I'd want to learn from the Korin kid. I think Ryky meets a need, for people relatively new to knives, and/or for beginner to intermediate sharpeners. There's no doubt that some of his videos are long, but when people started complaining about that, he posted a shorter/edited version within a few days.
Did he push Dalstrong for a while? Yes, but he stopped abruptly, seemingly at the same time the company started moving from VG-10 to AUS-10V. He recently did a video about VG-10 vs VG-MAX that made me think the VG-10 embargo against Chinese knife makers had something to do with him dropping Dalstrong. Does that speak to his integrity? Maybe, I don't know.
More often than not, it seems that he says that he's not an expert, and his sharpening style is constantly evolving because he's always trying different things.
But as his channel grows, he's unquestionably had the opportunity to use a MUCH wider variety of knives and stones than most people.
I do know that your post discussed his cutting of paper and rope pretty well, and I'd just like to say that depending on your testing technique, there may be no reason to cut anything to know it's sharp. Also, it seems to me that his rope test was much more efficient for testing edge retention than cutting food could ever be. Yes, he's done at least two where he cut lots of food.
Murray Carter doesn't believe in flattening stones either.
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Do I think he's an expert or master? No, but neither does he. I'll say it… I like the guy. He seems to be a hard-working, humble, articulate guy who has a genuine interest in knives and stones, and he's sharing that interest with others, oftentimes better than the experts. Is that so terrible?