# Using the RUIXIN PRO III knife sharpener



## kreisl (Dec 10, 2017)

*Disclaimer:* I bought all my sharpening stuff including the Ruixin on my own, none of the items were sponsored. I am no knife nut, don't own many personal knives or multitools, and don't consider myself a knowledgeable fuzzy regarding knife or sharpening topics in any way. This is not a systematic product review but an experience report, share of my thoughts, and presentation of how i do things with it.

*Summary: *I like the (modded) Ruixin better than any other sub-100$ guided rod sharpening system (GRSS), it satisfies all my needs and expectations as a beginner in the world of knives and sharpening. Now that I am consistently able to re-produce a scary sharp edge on my kitchen chef knife —the easiest of all knives duh— with such little money investment, "20$", it seems unreasonable for me to invest either much more $$$ or much more skill'n sweat just to get my few stuff even sharper. If funds weren't an issue, i would exactly know what to buy to replace my Ruixin eco system with; we all have wishlists, don't we? 

*Random thoughts and blabla*

I always had an interest in guided rod budget sharpening because knowing (and doing) the sharpening of an edge is a highly useful and satisfying skill. Guided rods are more consistent and precise with the sharpening angles, very easy to operate, and why pay more as a beginner in the field? This thing costs 20US$ on ebay including 4 fantastic original whetstones and it taught me a lot, alongside the gain of massive experience, about sharpening in general. By now I _really _know what i am doing and why and what should be done next, the next step in the sharpening process and how to know if every step was completed successfully. In the end, imho, it comes down to _seeing_: If every dude _saw _in real-time and 100x magnified what his passing of the whetstone just did to the edge, he would instantly learn if the edge manipulation has been correct and doesn't need correction; he would take instant control, correct right away, if needed, and reach the desired sharpness without detours. It is imho exactly that, being blind and not seeing in real-time, which is the real reason which makes sharpening so difficult. My portable microscope helped me to see at least in stages; and that's where i learned about progress and failure.

This post can't be about the principles of sharpening (apex, burr, grit progression, burr reduction, burr removal, stropping, polishing), so let's move on to the main product, the (now popular?) 'Ruixin'. I got that version (2015 model? also called 'Ruixin Pro V3' or 'Gen3' or 'III'?) in January 2017 and have been using it since, whenever i do a sharpening session, which is not very often or regularly tbh. What can i say, i've come to love this thing, and yadda yadda bla blah.

It's been 7 months or so since my last notable Ruixin session. In the meantime i didn't do any sharpening but procured accessories for this budget sharpening system and got acquainted with the concept, setup, build/make, and beginner's practice of stropping strops (various sizes, materials, and compounds!) to get myself prepared for the ultimate task: improving the factory edge sharpness of my collector's mint multitools by removing the least amount of steel possible and without scratching up the shiny blades!

Finally, i found the time and motivation and followed through, as planned 7 months ago: in the past days I have successfully sharpened the non-serrated main blades of my *LM Surge* (polished edge with secondary bevel removed, slightly reprofiled blade shape naturally due to the Ruixin's inherent workings), *Vinox SpiritX* (arm-hair popping razor-sharp perfect geometrical edge with original angles, symmetric), and *Vinox Camper* (was a prize gift so i used it for learning and practicing the stropping concept ).

The work on the *Surge* was a pita and i am glad that i came through, somehow, with my inappropriate sharpening tools including the Ruixin. For starters, one would need sharpening rods (different grits, different materials), which i don't own and don't plan on buying, something like a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

The work on the *SpiritX*, on the other hand, was much fun, deeply satisfying, easy/fast, without problems or challenges, and led to the sharpest result i ever produced, wow!  And yes, crazy me, i started the SpiritX sharpening process with the Ruixin!! Why? Because the knife edge had grit machining marks on one side near the blade tip, and i preferred to not smooth them out by stropping. And because i wanted to check, if one could use 1 single Ruixin setting (angle, ..) for the SpiritX, knowing that for the Surge one needed omfg 2 different angles on the Ruixin, i.e. my modded Ruixin setup, to match the LM factory bevels.

I do take notes on my smartphone about the Ruixin settings (height of the wing nut, distance of the stainless steel plate, where to place the knife and similar specific comments) of each and every knife which i sharpened on the Ruixin; these notes proved to be very handy for the next sharpening session of the same long kitchen knife, for example.

Sometimes i also use the Ruixin for stropping: i bought balsa wood and glued it on the plastic holders (they are available from Aliexpress for cheap, 4pcs for 3$ iirc), loaded it _most easily_ with compound, and then off i went. Works really(!) great for _just removing_ the burr without any major polishing of the apex. I will definitely recommend the use of *ruixin DIY balsa strops*, especially for beginners or budgeteers:






Again, last but not least and never mind Lansky, Edge Pro Apex, Ruixin Pro III, or similar, the most important step is the final step, the stropping on a nice size leather strop loaded with an effective stropping paste. I am guessing that mostly 'sharpening beginners' (like myself) are interested and use these low cost sharpeners but they probably ignore or don't know that stropping is more effective, more important and must not be neglected. Alternatively one can use the PTS method for stropping plus polishing the edge.

Btw i also own another Lansky knockoff, distributed by Exduct, horrible build quality. Back at the time it seemed like the best budget system due to the lack of other commercial offers and i spent many effing hours with it, trying to learn about progress and learning failure instead ouch. Never mind. I am so glad that i got the Ruixin. It is fantastic, so much better than Exduct (and Lansky i suppose). 

*The good, the bad, and the ugly*

I got full blown motivation to buy it and do similar mods (improvements) after i had watched the following interesting video:


The Pro III (modded) has absolute key characteristics, advantages, which makes it in the end imho superior to many commercial Lansky-style sharpeners. Lansky was the first of this kind afaik, so kudos to them, all designers took inspiration from them and copied the principle. Looking at my modded Pro III, i appreciate the following points:


very stable base, no wiggling movement of the system whatsoever. this is VERY helpful/important/pleasant. also very easy/fast to clean, just wipe off, you could imagine. the base also doesn't slide during operation. 
magnets at the metal frame 90degree-vertex hold the blade in position, quite firmly so. 
typically, i.e. with small to medium length blades, i just leave the blade in that 1 position (as seen with most Lansky-type sharpeners) and don't move the knife back and forth (as seen with some Edge Pro knockoff instructional videos). Thumb and index finger of 1 hand (if needed!) hold the knife fixed in position, while the 2-3 fingers of the other hand move the sharpening rod. 
so sometimes the 1 hand is _not_ needed! then i am sitting back relaxed on my chair and operate the system with the other hand only, single-handedly. 
flipping sides of the blade is super easy/fast, also VERY helpful/important/pleasant, since i don't clamp the blade down with the 2nd stainless steel plate: i simple don't make any use of that plate, because the magnets are strong enough to hold the blade in position. this makes it so convenient to flip the blade side. 
the ruixin blade stopper ("1st stainless steel plate") has the advantage that it can (if needed!) swivel or be swiveled. you do wanna make use of this option with some knives, depending on the shape of the blade. then you would swivel the plate back and forth, whenever you flip the blade side. i should insert an animated GIF here to demonstrate what i mean. 
all parts of the ruixin are made of some kind of metal. sturdy parts, sturdy construction. i was longing for a full metal construction, after tens of miserable hours with the Exduct which is frikking cheaply made. 
thick stainless steel guiding rods, not the flimsy ones as seen on the Lansky or my Exduct. helps the precision of the rod guiding. 
the spring-assisted clamping mechanism of the apex whetstones is really great, loving it!! 
the full length of the whetstones gets used. 
VERY important: this system can handle shorter blades, thinner blades, and narrower blades than systems which use a clamp on the back of the knife. typically some part of the clamp is 'in the way' of the rod guiding action when you try to sharpen narrow blades. as mentioned before, i was able to sharpen my SpiritX blade pretty much single-handedly with the Ruixin, because the magnets would hold the blade/multitool well in position. I don't think that you can sharpen such a narrow blade on a Lansky or a Wicked Edge or any other clamp sharpener. The Edge Pro Apex could sharpen narrow blades but it would be more of a challenge, i can imagine. (Anyway, short/thin/narrow blades should not be sharpened on such systems but simply through a leather strop. Imho.) 
I've seen tons of youtube videos on Lansky-principle sharpening systems, and even though i haven't tested them all, i believe that my modded ruixin is the best and most likable purchase option (ebay 20$ shipped?) in the sub-100$ category. off the top of my head, sure i also went out to buy the wood base, some screws, 3 block magnets, additional apex knockoff whetstones including an expensive 10000grit one, apex knockoff blanks, balsa wood, leather, cheap diamond polishing paste, expensive stropping paste, several glues, a black marker, duct tape, portable microscope, AAA mini flashlight, and leather oil. :sweat: But the total expenses were still under 50$. 
using a portable microscope is VERY instructive. highly recommended! not only for beginners. 
for sharpening 'rather long straight' knives i would separate 2 blade sections with a piece of tape and then sharpen lower section, then upper section, then flip the blade side, sharpen again the lower section, then the upper section, and so on. in any case i would not constantly move the knife back and forth. 
needless to say, Lansky-type sharpeners are, imho, best suited for beginners, or lazy nuts ("single-handedly"..), and for medium sized blades: medium with respect to width(!) and length. my modded ruixin can handle narrow, short, and thin blades, such as SAK or multitool blades, too, which is a real plus. 

2 things which bug me:


the ruixin frame has a chrome-like shiny coating, and that coating is easily damaged/scratched, and once it is, the main material (metal) starts rusting right away. cheap sheet metal material, not a big deal. 
the right angle of the ruixin frame is rounded in the vertex, basically eliminating the vertex through the existence of an annoying radius. having a rounded edge, where your knife is to lie, **cks and causes problems with small/narrow blades. bending a metal sheet to a 90degree angle will always entail a radius ("bending radius"), so i am just saying that a much smaller bending radius (or no radius as with the Edge Pro Apex) would have been much better. cheap production process. 

All in all i am a happy camper here. I would assume that i'd like my Ruixin better than the original Edge Pro Apex because of the Ruixin's sturdier construction and the metal material. For sure i am so satisfied that i am not even interested in test driving the Edge Pro Apex. And from now on i will re-sharpen my Camper, Surge, and SpiritX exclusively through my leather pad strops anyway, so the question whether i'd like the Ruixin or the Edge Pro Apex better is futile.

*I love the Ruixin .. but owning and using leather strops is more relevant!*

Btw i don't believe that the original Lansky (or any other _clamp_-based system) is really suitable for narrow SAK blades or edc-sized MT's like the SpiritX. No doubt that the Spyderco Sharpmaker is .. but it's expensive (main product, additional rods, replacement rods after breakage) and I would be really worried to break or to drop or roll away'n drop such a ceramic rod. Never mind, i am sure it's a highly effective system for just sharpening (but not for re-profiling). The Ruixin comes with a _clamp_, too, but thanks to the magnets i don't need to fumble with the clamping 2nd stainless steel plate. With the Lansky, 1 hand must(!) _hold the clamp_. With the Ruixin, 1 hand can (if needed!) _support the knife handle_, with minimal force; in the below pics this minimal force is illustrated by a brush lol.

One imo annoying problem with Lansky-type of clamps is that it is difficult/impossible to memorize the exact position (_X-coordinate_, _Y-coordinate_) of the clamping tip on the back of the knife AND the orientation (_rotational degree_) of the blade with respect to the clamping tip. This *(X/Y/degree) data set* would be needed, when you came back to the Lansky after having used the knife for months and didn't want to lose patience by guessing about where/how you had clamped the knife in the Lansky clamp; and even if you had noted down such a data set, it would take some efforts to *setup *the knife clamping *exactly *according to this data triplet. Probably a pita, or not very precise in practice!

The Ruixin simplifies things and offers higher precision in this regard: 
typically, i.e. for short to medium-length blades, the magnets function as stopper for the knife handle. Then you'd set the distance of the stainless steel (SS) blade stopper, and preferably in the middle/straight position. For top precision, one could swivel the blade stopper, in order to support ("stop") the blade in an optimal way, but with regular-shaped EDC knives you can just leave the blade stopper's orientation in the middle/straight position, no problem. 

However, the point of the following pics is to demonstrate the blade stopper swiveling. 

Setting up the SpiritX on the Ruixin is done super easy/fast: you only need to set the blade stopper's distance, 11.70mm (including the thickness of the black duct tape):





That's it, you're done, nothing else to take care of! Why? Because the handle is stopped naturally by the Ruixin, perfectly flush // aligned. On one side by the rim of the Ruixin frame:





On the other side by the magnets. The length of the magnets equal the width of the Ruixin frame:





With this 'natural stop', the SpiritX blade is not perfectly parallel to the Ruixin edge but the situation is acceptable because of the circular range of the guiding rod:





Here a pic showing the blade stopper swiveled back to "stop" the blade from sliding down the slope:





And a close-up. If this was a regular EDC knife, the blade stopper would also prevent any _rotational degree_ of the blade; in any case the blade stopper would help to orient the blade correctly at once! Since there is no clamp, no clamping mechanism, there is nothing 'in the way' of the guiding rod, no obstacle. You could sharpen very acute angles and even on such narrow blades:





Because of the circular range of the guiding rods my presented 'lazy method' (i.e. 1 fixed position per knife side) is most suitable for sharpening short to medium-length convex blades. Longer blades or blades with long straight sections would require sharpening in segments; this is valid for all Lansky-type sharpeners btw! Luckily the straight section of the SpiritX blade is short and the natural stopped position is just fine, so the lazy method applies:





Swiveling the blade stopper is often _not really_ needed; instead, starting from the middle/straight position of the SS blade stopper, one could simply turn the knife 1 or 2 degrees to expose the knife edge in parallel to the Ruixin edge. This could be called a 'lazy method' too, because you'd be too lazy to swivel the SS blade stopper every time when flipping the knife side. I find this animated GIF mesmerizing hehe:





Concave blades or concave blade sections cannot be sharpened with flat whetstones; the LM Surge and filleting knives have S-shape blades. So here is another example where i made use of swiveling the SS blade stopper in order to get a single fixed sharpening position per knife side. The lazy method. Note that, because of the length of this filleting knife, i couldn't use the handle as handle stopper. There is no handle stopper with long knives! Instead, i measured and noted down the distance of the tape marking. Coincidentally the width of the tape, 50.0mm, matches the width of the SS blade stopper. Very helpful for aligning the blade along the SS blade stopper:





In my next post i should talk about the Apex knockoff whetstones which i use: RUIXIN (cheap great!), ANSELF (not necessary!), ADAEE (cheap cr*p!).

Back then when i was shopping for a multitool, i chose the Spirit, Model X, expressly because of the ease of sharpening the main blade. I didn't know anything about sharpening but i knew that sharpening the Model X blade would be much easier and straight-forward than sharpening the butter knife. Nowadays it's the same .. when or if i go shopping for a new knife .. If i couldn't imagine sharpening it on my modded Ruixin, i wouldn't buy the knife! S-shaped knives are a no-go for me, for this reason.

Again, the above series of pics was not about How To Sharpen the Victorinox Spirit X , but to demo the swivel functionality of the Ruixin SS blade stopper. The SpiritX treatment on the Ruixin was a 1 step process (1500grit RUIXIN stone only!) and took very few minutes. Then 1min ruixin balsa strop. Then leather strop iirc.

At last 3 more pics explaining visually how a typical regular shaped EDC knife could be setup in a single position on the Ruixin. Note that in all 3 setups the knife, which has a full flat grind, is completely held by the magnets; one could sharpen it single-handedly, in theory. In practice there is tiny wiggle space between the back of the knife and the SS blade stopper, because the back of the knife is curved, not straight. With this in mind, it's best to hold the handle with 2 fingers, while you're sharpening with the other hand. Also, the thumb stud always functions as premature handle stopper, which is welcome.

In the 1st setup, the knife edge (its curvature) is perfectly oriented with respect to the Ruixin guiding rod or the center of the circular range. To achieve this perfect orientation we had to 1) swivel the SS blade stopper and 2) swivel it even beyond the side of the Ruixin, see the crossing lines! This is no real problem, but it would take efforts to swivel the blade stopper back and forth and get its angle (_rotational degree_) always right:





The knife edge is convex at all times. Perfect for Ruixin use then? Yes, but only if you orient the edge as good as it gets with respect to the center of the circular range ("concentricity"). In the 2nd setup, we were too lazy to swivel the SS blade stopper. As you could tell, the knife edge (its curvature) looks off-center, not concentric. This, too, is no real problem, because the blade is not long, while the Ruixin guiding rods are long. You could sharpen this EDC-sized knife in this very position but i would not recommend it. The position is not optimal, i hope you can see and agree:





Personally, i use the 3rd setup. In this setup, i am too lazy, too, to swivel the SS blade stopper. However i do turn the knife a few degrees, until the knife edge (its curvature) looks nicely oriented, concentric. I could mark this position with a piece of red tape on the Ruixin frame but if you have good eyes, you could try to remember the necessary distance (along the Ruixin side) by eye. With this setup, for sure you will need 1 hand (2 fingers) to hold the handle/the knife in this swiveled position. Do you prefer to swivel'n fix the SS blade stopper (see the 1st setup) or, instead, swivel'n hold the knife (this setup)? I prefer the latter because flipping the knife side is much faster this way. And as you know, we need to flip the knife side very often, for example at 1500grit stone, when reducing the burr with the same grit stone in a gradual manner:





*Human one-sidedness*

Apart from tens of hours of practice required for mastering freehand sharpening, being a right-hander makes it difficult to sharpen both knife sides 99.9% equally well. Similar to playing tennis or table tennis, naturally one side (or movement/stroke) comes out easier or better, usually the player's forehand; only pro players have an equally great forehand topspin stroke and backhand topspin stroke. In fact, in table tennis it is commonly accepted knowledge that the backhand topspin stroke is the most difficult (basic) stroke in the sport. Most amateur players have a poor backhand stroke, let alone a backhand topspin stroke.

I am a righty but use my left hand for operating the guided rod on knife side A, and use my right hand for operating the guided rod on knife side B. Body-symmetrical operation, very satisfying feeling! No force, no efforts or concentration needed. My left hand/arm is very weak anyway. It is actually one of the most relaxed physical activities i do in my bedroom . Also relaxing. No sweat. Including the operation of the ruixin balsa wood strops. But then comes the treatment on the leather pad strops: often i would need to stand up for this activity, be focused that my stropping strokes are within the perfect range, and can't let my thoughts wander. There's always some amount of mental concentration needed! Freehand sharpening and freehand stropping are clearly physical activities, body, arms, wrists, mind form a harmonious interplay; your heart rate increases a bit, and some big guys may even start sweating, especially depending on the knife size and the strop size .

In contrast, operating the Ruixin - i always sit on a chair for it! - is as physical an activity as operating a PC mouse on the same _desktop _:angel: and similarly a "single-handed" operation (unless you insist on calling my thumb and index finger supporting some fractional weight of the handle not a single-handed operation anymore). The Edge Pro Apex operation is a bit more physical, most youtubers seem to stand in front of a _countertop _and you certainly make full use of both hands, plus the concentration needed to slide the knife blade back and forth, per knife side. The Edge Pro Apex has a non-swivel SS blade stopper but no magnets, so my super-relaxed lazy method wouldn't be possible. 

Apart from the perfect geometry sharpening result, polished or not, i do enjoy how fun it is, because the process is so easy and exactly re-setting up the knife ( *1. *Ruixin parameter height of the guiding rod wingnut, *2.* Ruixin parameter distance of the SS blade stopper, and for long knifes the *3.* Ruixin parameter distance of the tape marking on the blade ) so fast. And yes i can keep and reproduce the exact factory bevel (angles) .. something which is not possible with the fixed angles of Spyderco Sharpmaker.

Even though the sharpening principle is the same, the Lansky principle, the point is really made by the actual end product: i absolutely disliked re-setting up the knife in my Exduct and operating that sad product. No fun, no joy, and limited results. From what i can see, the Exduct is a 1:1 clone of the Lansky, just with inferior build quality.

I regret having bought the Exduct in May 2012 (SKU:*SP931D* , total US$31.74 shipped) but am honestly happy now with my modded Ruixin. I'd consider it a crime for Exduct company to still offer that @#$%&! Lansky clone, shame on that Chinese vendor. 

If i owned the Edge Pro Apex, i wouldn't be interested in the Ruixin because both are very similar systems. However, if i didn't own the Edge Pro Apex but 'only' a clamp-based system like Lansky/Exduct/Gatco/Vipersharp/Wickededge/etc and liked certain aspects of it, then I'd definitely look into the budget-friendly Ruixin. Interestingly the Ruixin seems extremely popular in the Ukraine&Russia (most Ruixin youtube reviews are in Russian language). 

*Are GRSS an overkill for sharpening SAKs and MT blades?*

I tend to agree that guided rod sharpening systems (Lansky, EdgePro, Ruixin, WickedEdge, Exduct, etc) could be called overkill for sharpening narrow and or thin blades such as SAKs and MT blades. but even before calling names, in many/most cases it is the physical/constructional limitations of the system which simply does not allow proper sharpening treatment and operation of the "small blade" (Def. "small blade" = a blade which is either thin or narrow or both) on the system. For sure it would be overkill to sharpen the short blade of a Vinox Minichamp on any guided rod system. However in the case of *Vinox Spirit X*, as shown earlier, or *Leatherman Surge*, as shown below, the Ruixin is not an overkill but a very apt tool for sharpening and also for guided stropping.

On the EdgePro Apex/Apex Clone, the user typically moves the (medium-sized) blade back and forth on the narrow plastic 'table top'. On the Ruixin, i leave the (medium-sized) blade fixed on the narrow metal 'table top', the 3 block magnets would hold the blade and knife in place; and, typically, i operate the Ruixin one-handedly or use the other hand for minor support, as indicated here with the Surge and my brush. Fixed positions are easy to reproduce and more precise in the operations (angles, movements, sharpening), that's why i wouldn't want to move the blade back and forth on the system's table top.

For fixing the Surge blade position relative to the table top, it is very fortunate that metal elements/parts of the Surge tool help us in 2 ways: the elements serve as blade stopper (in the X-direction) and they serve to set and fix the orientation of the blade!

In the following pic, you can see the green tangent. This tangent line is where the Surge gets stopped at the Ruixin frame, but it also sets the exact orientation of the blade automatically, because the tangent is supported by 2 metal parts, i.e. mathematically 1 straight line defined by 2 points:





On the pics, it says "Way to go", but if you think about it, it is the only way to go and therefore a very lucky constellation in all regards:





So what does the orientation of the blade look like, once the Surge gets stopped at the Ruixin frame? Well, in theory, it is impossible to sharpen a recurve, i.e. a concave edge, with a perfectly flat whetstone (see the yellow oriented imaginary edge line). That's why the resulting automatic orientation —slightly tilted counter-clockwise (see the purple oriented edge line)— is imho perfect enough, given the soft recurved(!) blade shape; the purple oriented edge line approximates the natural circular range of the guiding rod much better (compare with the green circular line). Now the Ruixin stainless steel plate can be moved up to support the blade position and stop the Surge from sliding down in the Y-direction; the user must align the SS plate in such a way that it establishes line contact with the spine of the Surge blade:





When we switch the blade side, we are learning about a potential asymmetry/problem: other elements/parts of the Surge would now serve as blade stopper (in the X-direction):





Once the Surge gets stopped by the Ruixin frame, less of the blade edge gets 'on top of the table top', by a few millimeters. It is simply "Not possible" to use the previous elements as blade stopper again:





The difference of these few millimeters were the reason why months ago i had come to the (wrong) conclusion that the Surge edge had an asymmetrical grind (profile) from the factory, so i had to work with 2 different sharpening angles on the Ruixin to match the factory bevel exactly on either side. But by now i seem to have found 1 single median angle which produces a symmetrical-looking bevel on the Surge, lucky me! Maybe even luckier, the position of the previously fixed SS plate does not need to be changed at all: the Surge blade gets stopped (in the Y-direction) at the correct height, making point contact, and the orientation of the edge is again sloping correctly, naturally, slightly tilting clockwise. Note that the purple line is an exaggerated representation of the slightly tilted yellow line, just to make my point:





The following animated GIF illustrates how to setup the exact position of the SS plate, and it also proves that the SS plate does stay in 1 fixed position during the entire sharpening (and stropping) session on the Ruixin.





Note: i would not disassemble the MT to remove a singular blade for sharpening. nobody does that. a factory can handle singular blade sharpening, the common user cannot. also, i will admit that the most efficient and recommended method of sharpening Surge is by way of the Spyderco Sharpmaker, still. however, i don't own one and a full set would cost me €€€ ouch  no thanks. with my Ruixin i reach an absolutely precise geometrical edge (microscope) with the full bevel polished to any micron *without *convexing it. the PTS method it is maybe the key to success why i prefer and can recommend sharpening and stropping Spirit X and Surge on the Ruixin.

This week i am expecting an Aliexpress shipment with replacement stones, i used up the 120grit and the 1500grit stones because of mal-usage (my bad ). The set of 4 stones, hopefully original Ruixin quality, costs 6usd shipped incl tracking number. I will report if the set of stones are identical stuff.
1.5usd for 1 whetstone! :thumbsup:


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## KITROBASKIN (Dec 10, 2017)

Great to read of your experience.


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## kreisl (Dec 10, 2017)

Oh. 

Thanks!

:wave:

This year the new flashlight designs and releases didn't arouse me. Not a single new light entered my home! In the meantime i learned a new skill: sharpening edges incl edges of lawn mower blades, sickles, shears, classic folding knives, modern folders, multitools, Swiss Army Knives (Camper, Champ, Minichamp), chef knives, all other types of kitchen knives (filleting knife, fruit knife, boning knife, santoku knife, peeling knife, etc). The longest knife which i did on the Ruixin was a Swibo knife with 31cm blade length, crazy.


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## kreisl (Dec 29, 2017)

For my original Ruixin system i bought compatible aftermarket whetstones because the original stones were wearing down, getting consumed, at different rates, and i wanted to have equal quality replacement stones. The original 2 orange stones, lovely dense and smooth ones!, didn't show any wear/consumption; and it is trivial to replace the fast-wearing 180grit blue stone. No, the challenging part was finding a 100% equivalent substitute for the 1500grit white stone (*Stone4*), which is btw a wonderfully performing whetstone other than its unfortunate fast consumption.

In the end i found out that no aftermarket white stone matches the supernice quality of my original stone! And after seeing *Stone3*, which originated from a friend's rebranded Ruixin Pro III copy (clone?), i must come to the sad conclusion that the actual material quality of original retail included Ruixin stones may vary between production batches. My Ruixin set came with 4 supernice stones, his rebranded Ruixin set came with 2 cr*ppy orange stones and 1 inferior hardly acceptable white stone. On the aftermarket, AX vendors may advertise "original Ruixin quality" stones but that's the whole point of this post: You will end up with *inferior quality white* stones, no matter what, you risk you lose! 

The only safe solution or guaranteed recommendation for replacing a worn-down wonderful original Stone4 is buying the ruby stone instead (*Stone6*). 

These are the 6 white stones numbered from left to right. As one could tell from the same white colors, *Stone2* and *Stone5 *are both ADAEE-manufactured stones; and i am suspecting that *Stone1* was made by ADAEE factory too (for simplicity lemme call such suspicious stones "FAKERUIXIN stones" ) since it shares many similarities with Stone2+5 (=official ADAEE stones) and completely differs from Stone3+4 (=official RUIXIN stones):






All pics are in 1080p and use the same magnification. The word "microscopic" refers to what you see in these pics. As mentioned earlier, i am suspecting that *Stone1 *is a FAKERUIXIN stone. And for sure, it is a cr*ppily performing white stone. If you ever order a *Ruixin-labeled/Ruixin-branded white replacement stone from AX*, chances are very high that you'll receive an item equal to this one:






Now look at *Stone2*. Do you see much of a difference to Stone1, no? That's what I am trying to say, i wouldn't wonder if *Stone1* was made in the same factory as the ADAEE branded stones. Stone2's performance is just horrible, it literally tears the bevel, producing wild burr shavings all over the place and creating a monstrous toothy edge. Lmao this was to be a 2000grit stone? No way:






*Stone3* is from my friend's set. The branding and everything looks authentic but it is disappointing that his white stone doesn't exactly match the wonderfulness of my white stone. The Ruixin stone factory seems to have problems with producing identical quality stones



:





*Stone4* is the original Ruixin stone from my knife sharpener set. The material is dense, non-porous, "soft" or fast-wearing, and performs perfectly as finishing stone. Without such a nice quality stone the Ruixin system becomes pointless and worthless, it is imho the key stone of the system. Maybe you could tell from the pic, Stone4 does look finer than Stone3:






Yes i could tell that the ADAEE 3000 (*Stone5*) has smaller pores than the ADAEE 2000 (*Stone2*), and apparently it wears faster, maybe because the material is less hard-bound. But overall it is still as horrible and far from the "3000" grit rating:






I do like some of the *red *ADAEE-branded stones because those are hard-bound, non-porous, and very smooth; in contrast, my post has been clear, all *white *ADAEE-made stones are :green:






Thanks god there's a Ruixin compatible stone which solves the situation. It is the *ruby *stone (*Stone6*). From all i know, there is only 1 kind of ruby stone on the aftermarket, and probably all ruby stones are made in the same single factory. Some vendors rate it as 5000grit but the most common rating, also confirmed by end consumers, is 3000grit. I paid like 2.4US$ shipped, which is a steal considering how this stone solves all your troubles with finding a guaranteed substitute for the fast-wearing *Stone4*. Of course, one cannot replace a true 1500grit with a true 3000grit stone it is a bit big of a jump but erh never mind



:






You're wondering what the white stuff on the surface is? Well, that's pulverized stone. Powder. I cleaned the surface with rubbing motions of my finger, so more of the ruby gets exposed:






*Summary:* Stone1+2+5 are :sick2:, Stone3 is acceptable, Stone4 remains unmatched. Stone6 is a valuable addition to the original set and guaranteed higher grit than the 1500 reference of Stone4. From here on, one would continue with the PTS method and not look back; paper tape stropping supersedes grinding at 3000 or any higher grits. From what i can tell, Stone6 produces the finest grind, whereas Stone2 the coarsest. In a full comparison, the gradation order would be imo as follows, for my reference:
FINEST: Stone6 < Stone4 < Stone3 < Stone1 < Stone5 < Stone2: COARSEST
or translated into names,
FINEST: *RUBY3000 < RUIXINOLD1500 < RUIXINNEW1500 < FAKERUIXIN1500 < ADAEE3000 < ADAEE2000 *: COARSEST

Comment: In a typical sharpening session one would not make any use of ADAEE3000, ADAEE2000, or any FAKERUIXIN1500's. Coming from lower grit stones, one would jump to ADAEE1000 (which is a very smooth red stone, nice!), then use any RUIXIN???1500 available and finally proceed with the PTS method, or jump from ADAEE1000 to RUBY3000 instead and then also proceed with PTS. The white ADAEE-made stones are really coarse omfg! If you have bought them, no need to bin them; you could still use them for other grinding jobs (scissors, cheap knives, practicing) in order to spare the fast-wearing white RUIXIN1500 stone which is hard to source on the aftermarket in the quality of Stone4 or Stone3, unless you buy another new Ruixin Pro III retail set lol. The white ADAEE-made material is hard-bound and doesn't wear; that's the only advantage of the ADAEE-made stones!

( fyi the microscopic pics were taken under great efforts with my phone camera plus a 10$ portable microscope )


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## Macka17 (Mar 11, 2018)

Hi.
Agree with most you say with the Ruixin, I have the original version (Black material) had for yrs.

Only thing I did, was change out the "stones" for Diamond Plates.
it's a completely different quality sharpener then. 
Beautiful Euro and Japanese bevels. And as sharp as you capable of.
I also use Teflon oil (From fishing reel bearings) on the sliding rod.
I just kept the Ruby stone for polishing. Others are, all but 1, unused.
The Diamond plates really Do make them obsolete.

Stones. Tradition. Fine. But Diamond. ceramic and Crystal plates leave them for dead as a job finisher.
Just buy one. and try it first. Med. or fine. You'll never look back.
I persevered for over 50 yrs with multiple stones, hrs of work, plus stropping.
b4 getting properly onto them. 

I started, Just a Diamond, pocket 4in x 1in at first for touch ups.
even just a 600 Diamond 12in steel in kitchen will improve,
and give longer lasting edges. (600=meat. Smooth = vegies)
I usually get my Steels. and heavy work knives from Meatworks supplies.
Mitchell Steels in Aust.


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## lazycarper (Nov 24, 2018)

hello, ive just got this sharpner after reading your post, and im also finding it great, ive ordered a ruby stone for after the 1500, and ive also ben using homemade strops, one thing im strugling with is the speed at which the lower grit stones are going down when reprofiling, please can you sugest a stronger more hardbound low grit stone or diamond plate that will last for a long time, as these need relapping alot and are to soft, thanks for the great review!


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## archimedes (Nov 24, 2018)

Hello and welcome to CPF 

Your post above has been approved, but please do not "requote" massive posts. This is unnecessary, makes the thread difficult to read, and wastes storage and bandwidth.

Also, as a new member here, your first posts need staff approval. Please do not repost while these remain in the queue awaiting moderation.

This does not get your approval any faster, but does create extra work for the mods.

Thank you.


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## lazycarper (Nov 24, 2018)

archimedes said:


> Hello and welcome to CPF
> 
> Your post above has been approved, but please do not "requote" massive posts. This is unnecessary, makes the thread difficult to read, and wastes storage and bandwidth.
> 
> ...



ok, no problem, thanks


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