Burrfection's New Knives

[ian]

Ok, so what do you all think? I normally try and pay as little attention to Ricky Tran as possible but his new knife pitch came up in my YouTube feed and I was too lazy to change it. It actually sounds pretty decent. He commissioned Sakai Takayuki to make 200 knives. They are 240 KS clones essentially. Half are blue 2 and half are aus-8. Choice of teak or black walnut handle with horn ferrules. I don't know if all the details are finalized, but in the video he said he was shooting for sub $200 all in. Sakai Takayuki obviously makes knives from a variety of smiths and from entry level up through insanely high end. But they generally have a good reputation for quality and value.

Would you buy it?


(Here’s the new plan: each of us now reposts all the previous posts in this thread, as I have done with Stringer’s original post above. After we finish, we repeat again. Easier than generating new identical content!)

 

[DainBramage1]

you guys are funny...

https://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/blogs/media/63836741-knife-sharpening-playlist

OK, I've seen him too, but it's been a while so I watched the first three of his videos that auto played. He sure seems to mention Gesshin stones and knives a lot. Oh, they're made for him? From those three videos it would be impossible to tell that he sold anything else. Maybe Ryky's not the only one you guys should be calling a shill?

I'm not saying Ryky's the best, just saying that if it weren't for him my stones would still be gathering dust, and that I like him. Perhaps opposing opinions are discouraged here.

 

[chinacats]

I'm not so sure marketing your own products makes you a shill...perhaps a dictionary would be in order?

 

[CoteRotie]

I'm not so sure marketing your own products makes you a shill...perhaps a dictionary would be in order?

Yeah, if that's the only thing he did, but there's definitely the possibility of some shill-like behavior in his videos. But I have nothing against the guy for what he does, caveat emptor and all that. There are far worse things to worry about on the internet. (Straight line, please add your joke here.)

 

[chinacats]

Again, YOU CANNOT SHILL YOUR OWN PRODUCTS!!! It's called a ****ing dictionary...

 

[rick alen]

I'm getting a little concerned, can a post cause brain rot?

 

[CoteRotie]

Again, YOU CANNOT SHILL YOUR OWN PRODUCTS!!! It's called a ****ing dictionary...

Of course you can't. But doesn't he do videos praising Dalstrong and possibly other suspect stuff? (Maybe I'm wrong, I haven't watched much of his stuff.) And IS it his own product? He doesn't make them, and a clever shill could claim to have "designed" a product that he's selling to rope in customers.

 

[DainBramage1]

Again, YOU CANNOT SHILL YOUR OWN PRODUCTS!!! It's called a ****ing dictionary...

shill: a person who pretends to give an impartial endorsement of something in which they themselves have an interest.

The only reason I got suspicious about Gesshin was the number of times he mentioned them.

 

[JBroida]

Of course you can't. But doesn't he do videos praising Dalstrong and possibly other suspect stuff? (Maybe I'm wrong, I haven't watched much of his stuff.) And IS it his own product? He doesn't make them, and a clever shill could claim to have "designed" a product that he's selling to rope in customers.

wait... are we talking about me or Ryky here?

 

[JBroida]

shill: a person who pretends to give an impartial endorsement of something in which they themselves have an interest.

The only reason I got suspicious about Gesshin was the number of times he mentioned them.

Gesshin is our house brand, and we work together with a number of different craftsmen and manufacturers to have things made for that series. But aside from that, I think its pretty clear that I'm the person selling the things i am talking about.

also- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill

If i had secretly paid someone to talk about our products, that person would be a shill for us. However, me talking about products i directly sell is normally just considered marketing. Aside from how this pertains to me and my business, i would prefer to stay out of this conversation though.

 

[ian]

I wonder if @CoteRotie thought that @chinacats was referring to Ryky. I think there are some crossed wires here.

 

[chinacats]

Edit: defer to Jon

 

[chinacats]

Edit: see above...

 

[rick alen]

Who would ever have thought that a company called "Japanese Knife Imports" actually sells knives and knife accessories, let alone prefer to promote their own products?

 

[CoteRotie]

Oh, wait, I was certainly NOT referring to Jon, I thought we were talking about Ryky/Ricki being a shill. I've never heard anyone accuse Jon of being any type of shill and consider him one of the most valuable resources in the community.

 

[Stonetherapy]

Who would ever have thought that a company called "Japanese Knife Imports" actually sells knives and knife accessories, let alone prefer to promote their own products?

How dare they!

 

[chinacats]

Oh, wait, I was certainly NOT referring to Jon, I thought we were talking about Ryky/Ricki being a shill. I've never heard anyone accuse Jon of being any type of shill and consider him one of the most valuable resources in the community.

 

[CoteRotie]

I just went back and read the thread again, and it's kind of ambiguous because it started out with Ricky introducing his own knives. So I thought the "can't shill your own products" was about him. Rereading it I can see where it's not clear who I was commenting on. Sorry Jon!

 

[daveb]

Find me a JKI video on Kramers vs KS or ........

I don't think Jon makes vids for the highest bidder.

If you think the kid is worthwhile or fills a niche, then by all means watch his stuff. With apologies to those with fresh popcorn, we're going to end this show - it's going nowhere fast.