The sharpener Scam
As someone who has a professional knife sharpening service I have tested many of the sharpeners on the market that you see both expensive, and cheap, as well as customers asking about them on a regular basis in my shop.
What's really annoying is I see people slapping names like "Wasabi" or "Pro Knife Sharpener" on something that cost around $39 bucks and then selling it for $180 or more. If you are on Instagram or FB you can't miss this being done. They advertise it non stop. If you look at most of them the advertising gives away the scam because they don't even bother to remove the names of the company on their own adds and site. The actual name of the real product is "Ruixin" Just look at the stones and the sharpener in their pictures. It's exactly the same even the wording. They just call it by a Japanese name on their websites to make you think it's something better than a cheap Chinese made sharpener. The stones almost always still have "Ruixin" on it.
Here is the proof from just one of the many sites doing this now for years https://wasabi-knives.com/collections/accessories
This is the actual product from Amazon https://amzn.to/47nTU3b
They even have a new version https://amzn.to/469vUz6
This sharpener is not new, They have been around for several years now. They may look similar to a higher end sharpeners like a TS Prof or an Edge Pro, but trust me they are nothing like them in quality.
So is the Ruixin a good product? In my opinion it's not the worst sharpener. I have tested, but it's not the best. It will sharpen a knife and can do a decent job. It's down sides are in my opinion the following:(1) It's awkward to put together. (2) Not simple to use. (3)The sharpening stones or diamonds stones you get with it are not high quality. (4)They don't always keep proper angle after flipping from side to side.(5) Not good for many EDC’s (6) The number one problem most people do not realize when buying this is it takes a good bit of time to sharpen a knife in this manner 30-40 minutes. This is what I like to call manual sharpening. There are many fantastic manual sharpeners on the market
So If you see this and are tempted to buy it, please do yourself a favor and buy it from Amazon. As you can see from the links I provided these other sites are trying to get you to pay far more money for the same product.
I know many people don't have good sharpening services in their area and as a professional sharpener I love to have lots of options and gear in my shop to pick from. I understand that some people may need to have a sharpener for their own knives and many can’t afford a high end one but Please don't get ripped off. If you want or need a good quality sharpener I have several listed on my website that I can highly recommend theyare listed for home users and EDC lovers just scroll down from the top of the page and you will see them. They are all very high quality and perform great. If you have any questions about any of them just ask and I can recommend something to you. Here is a link to all the ones I have owned or used and can endorse without hesitation. Just to be clear I am not saying this is a bad sharpener, but the scams selling it for far more than its worth need to stop and their are many good sharpener that are close in price that are good quality. https://www.alexandriaknifesharpening.com/sharpening
