So... this popped up on Instagram

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He started from a very honest and opened "I don't know how to cut and use a knife" and ended up overnight an authority on knives.

Hardly overnight. Took him years of hard work and creating content to become accepted as some sort of authority to (some) people. Before that, he was just a guy putting out his opinion/experience to share with others. No different to being a forum member for years and sharing your thoughts and experiences.
He definitely comes off as a bit of a shill these days, however for the most part he probably still sees it more as a hobby than a 'job' and is trying to be honest with his content.
Good luck to him - he reminds me a little of Chris (nightwing2303) who has been reviewing basketball shoes for years. Started as just a dude doing the occasional review to someone who was able to do his own collabs and start branding his own gear. I still watch Chris and think he remains very down to earth, more so than Ricky appears, however they're very similar in that their hobby has grown into a job - be it primary or secondary.
 
ryky is my god. whatever chinese cheap ass knives he recommends i go out and buy. i know they have to be good otherwise he would simply not recommend them.
i also learned a lot about sharpening. i usually just buy the stones he think is good. done! i mean who would know better right?

i think i can sharpen knives about 5-10x faster than him though somehow. i guess the apprentice have surpassed the master! ha!
 
Hardly overnight. Took him years of hard work and creating content to become accepted as some sort of authority to (some) people. Before that, he was just a guy putting out his opinion/experience to share with others. No different to being a forum member for years and sharing your thoughts and experiences.
He definitely comes off as a bit of a shill these days, however for the most part he probably still sees it more as a hobby than a 'job' and is trying to be honest with his content.
Good luck to him - he reminds me a little of Chris (nightwing2303) who has been reviewing basketball shoes for years. Started as just a dude doing the occasional review to someone who was able to do his own collabs and start branding his own gear. I still watch Chris and think he remains very down to earth, more so than Ricky appears, however they're very similar in that their hobby has grown into a job - be it primary or secondary.

That was actually overnight. I followed him since when he wasn't today's channel, all he said, he did. I remember his first cuts and follow-ups and so on.
 
ryky is my god. whatever chinese cheap ass knives he recommends i go out and buy. i know they have to be good otherwise he would simply not recommend them.
i also learned a lot about sharpening. i usually just buy the stones he think is good. done! i mean who would know better right?

i think i can sharpen knives about 5-10x faster than him though somehow. i guess the apprentice have surpassed the master! ha!

With an audience is always 5-10x harder :)
 
i guess its the cameras that actually slows **** down. they suck out all the photons out of the air and into the camera so the steel wont abrade as fast. photon depletion syndrome.
 
yeah its also me that is stalking ryky on redtube and youporn, there i confessed it. i guess it a guilty pleasure.
 
Back to the topic. I've skimmed his stock. Only the Takayuki and surprisingly a Yoshikane are branded by him, rest is just simply sold. He talked about wanting to sell knives and kind of become a vendor as far as I know but he is pretty high priced. I know he is just starting and only has small stock so he doesn't get good prices by makers but this isn't his main job yet so he should lowball first and not make much profit, so he can establish himself and grow. He seems like a nice and genuine guy we'll see how he develops. Maybe he gets something interesting in stock.
 
IMO, don’t think it would work well in Ryky’s favor to court the four digit market, as it would mean alienating his crowd where most of them use Dalstrongs and think KS is the holy grail.

Plus those people who are stupid enough to drop 4 digits on knives are already here and I believe most of them don’t think too highly of him anyway 🙃
 
He said "stamped". If price was right I would buy the perfect Denka from Ryky. Stamped means "I can get it off with no harm done to the finish".

What grinds my gears (thank you Peter) most about Ryky is how he basically "recommended against" thinning, not of ill spirit, but also not explaining the necessities of it to his followers, just basically shrugging it off. And looking at Ryky this is what he does. He sharpens. Make a rectangular prism of steel on a handle with a a Japanese maker kanji on it, and you'll probably see him sharpening it edge down on the stone without asking questions.
 
Maybe he doesn't teach thinning because he expects his viewers to just buy more knives from his store when the knives don't sharpen well anymore.
 
Well, he is a huge brand right now. And if he would say anything about anything, lots of people would consider that the norm to follow. But there is more to it. The only norm. Turned into some sort of cult. That's the interesting part.
 
Well, he is a huge brand right now. And if he would say anything about anything, lots of people would consider that the norm to follow. But there is more to it. The only norm. Turned into some sort of cult. That's the interesting part.
IMO, don’t think it would work well in Ryky’s favor to court the four digit market, as it would mean alienating his crowd where most of them use Dalstrongs and think KS is the holy grail.

Plus those people who are stupid enough to drop 4 digits on knives are already here and I believe most of them don’t think too highly of him anyway 🙃

Firstly, I've never had the pleasure, nor wanted to, watch any of Ryky's videos, don't know much about him other than reading snippets of other's apparent disdain for him.

At the end of day, he's just a knife enthusiast, with an ambitious entrepreneurial spirit. His aim, obviously appears to be creating a brand—what he's doing is not much different from what JKI, K&S, KNS, Hitohira and CKC have done. Makes perfect sense to monetize a dedicated following in an attempt to make a living dealing with something he's passionate about. Why not?

I respect him for having the balls to launch a business—which isn't easy. Launching a small business is scary stuff—many small business owners (including myself) invest everything into it, like $$$, research, and countless hours of hard work without pay—a huge gamble. It's much easier working under someone as an employee for a company.

I really don't have an opinion on Ryky one way or another—but his website is nicely designed and functional, a much better site than some established dealers IMOl; with a well curated selection of knives. Hope he succeeds, I'm all for cooks upping their game on kitchen knives.
 
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Maybe he doesn't teach thinning because he expects his viewers to just buy more knives from his store when the knives don't sharpen well anymore.

The cap I’m referring to is older, before he started to commission knives. His (viewers) main worry was about the finish and possibly messing up an expensive blade. But in his way of explaining this, from a guy that reviewed a lot of knives without ever talking much about geometry, I think he’s unaware that the sharpest you can get a knife to doesn’t necessarily correlate with it performing to its best, or even correctly for that matter. Also, that he projects himself on his viewers: his knives are all new or about, many of decent quality going upwards, yet those guys who listen to him, what if they have a Laguiole for ten years that was dulled to a plateau and will need to be sharpened in the thick? Even there they might be happy with the results, but that’s saying something that after so many years in the game, where he even repaired and resharpened knives from his viewers, he still doesn’t do much in showing real knife maintenance or making them understand how a knife performs. If he had taken any one of those knives from cutting paper to the cutting board with some carrots or celery, he may have understood that for himself and wouldn’t be so proud of the job he sent back to his viewer before going on with things as if any knife just needed sharpening.
 
The cap I’m referring to is older, before he started to commission knives. His (viewers) main worry was about the finish and possibly messing up an expensive blade. But in his way of explaining this, from a guy that reviewed a lot of knives without ever talking much about geometry, I think he’s unaware that the sharpest you can get a knife to doesn’t necessarily correlate with it performing to its best, or even correctly for that matter. Also, that he projects himself on his viewers: his knives are all new or about, many of decent quality going upwards, yet those guys who listen to him, what if they have a Laguiole for ten years that was dulled to a plateau and will need to be sharpened in the thick? Even there they might be happy with the results, but that’s saying something that after so many years in the game, where he even repaired and resharpened knives from his viewers, he still doesn’t do much in showing real knife maintenance or making them understand how a knife performs. If he had taken any one of those knives from cutting paper to the cutting board with some carrots or celery, he may have understood that for himself and wouldn’t be so proud of the job he sent back to his viewer before going on with things as if any knife just needed sharpening.

Being an expert on sharpening or knowing the nuances of knife geometry a perk, rather than a prerequisite for selling knives IMO. I buy knives from vendors that carry what I'm interested in, and deal in an ethical manner. TBH, I've no idea about the sharpening ability or knife knowledge of half the people I've bought from, my research before purchase is mainly focused on what I'm buying. If Ryky starts selling Katos, TF, Takadas, sure I'll take a gander. His videos—which I've not watched—have seemed to be effective in giving traction to his brand, a good thing for him. All vendors have an interest in expending and finding new audiences—if not, then they're doomed as a business, or stagnate. A fresh face in the knife marketplace is a good thing.

Gotta get plugged into the millennial and Gen Z market.
 
Well, he is a huge brand right now. And if he would say anything about anything, lots of people would consider that the norm to follow. But there is more to it. The only norm. Turned into some sort of cult. That's the interesting part.
But his studio was robbed! Luckily he just happened to have some nice cameras laying around to hold him over while the GoFundMe is going on.
 
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