Moving out of comfort zone (Ruike multi)

[J2000E]

By chance I stumbled on what seems to be a really good deal on some knifes. That I had not heard of or seen before. I know... I am late to the game. To my defence I am 1/content with the knives and multitools I have (I just want more of the exact same old stuff), 2/ I am a retrogrouch, 3/ I am not on modern social media.

This has both its merits and downfalls (maybe)... I am not actively looking for anything, I am especially not looking for anything newly built/done/designed - and lastly - I am not influenced by influencers... 

Sooo... I bought some typical retrogrouch stuff and suddenly I got an offer to get theese also. Very, very cheap. And from what I gather they were cheap already before the sweetened deal.

So here I am - one Ruike LD31-B which is a one hand opening, linerlock from China. And a Ruike LD42-B which is the same as the first one but adds a saw.

First impression:

Strangely satisfying and yet being totally outside of my comfort zone. In a scary nice quality sence. And I am not talking about quality vs cost. Just quality. There are some small things I have noticed but then again - there always is...

The three layer LD31 is my prefered as of yet (a couple of days). The four layer LD42 is maybe a bit too thick for me - as the saws on my multitools do not get much use - it feels redundant.

I will not review the knife (LD31) here and now as it would be strange and futile to do so until after some serious time together. I will get back after this summer.



Swedish steel...

[Barry Rowland]

I'm looking forward to your review! 

[IMR4198]

   I have a SRM folder made by the same company.  No need to make apologies for these things.  They are solid.  Best wishes.  G
 

[BPRoberts]

I have one of the smaller Ruikes, the S31 (~70mm). It's no Victorinox, but I'm happy with it for the price.

[Grant Lamontagne]

That actually looked old pretty cool- I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it!

Def

[Vidar]

I'm pretty sure I have two from the same series from some years back, possibly with a different brand name. (Böker? And something else I can't remember).

My experience is that the quality is great except for the scissors. Otherwise I'd say the tools and knife on mine are equal or better than a certain big name brand. The downside to the robust tools are the weight - it costs weight to use thick tough steel. The weight difference is quite noticeable. And I personally never quite became friends with the handle grip and tool opening. But the quality is certainly there.

[J2000E]

Thank you all for the comments. I will update here when I use, discover or experience things with it. When I got home today I could not resist adjusting it a wee bit. Nothing fancy but still.

I believe the pictures tells the story.

Before



During



After

[Farmer X]

It looks a little like a Swiza to me. Looking forward to hearing how well it fares!

[BPRoberts]

Here's mine. Agree that it's mostly good, but the scissors are lacking.

[J2000E]

(edit - as the scissors has been mentioned in the thread I had to try it out.)

I had the opportunity to try out the scissors this weekend - doing small repetitive scissor-stuff in the hobby shop. These are actually very, very good. Second to none in the multitool sector of scissors. Depending on your need and use they are either sturdier or clumsier than for instance Victorinox. If you are in the need of a bit sturdier you are going to like them. As the knife as a whole is a bit bigger the scissors match the knife in that respect.

They have succeeded to make the straight pointing "blade" not moving a la Victorinox and yet having it spring loaded a la Wenger! It would be interesting to take it apart and have a look in how that is done. And the scissor itself is very sharp.

As it is not moving it is easy to flip the scissors over and use the non moving part as a guide on a flat surface - using your index finger. Or with the thumb if you want the opposite.

I rate these scissors at the top of the range if you are in need of a sturdier one. The only thing I would put forward to Ruike is to try to get it to open more. There is a lot of cutting edge that is not accessible as it does not open wider.

[Antti Lammi]

That scissors spring remainds me about Spirit scissors what also has samekind spring.

[J2000E]

That scissors spring remainds me about Spirit scissors what also has samekind spring.

Interesting! I am not familiar with the Victorinox Spirit and when I searched I found out it has the same "not opening up fully"-thing. It might have something to do with the design then.

[Vidar]

My experience with the scissors is that they are lacking springiness to press the blades together at the cutting point. That is what usually fails on scissors, and what few do well. The issue that creates is not related to cutting thick materials but rather having issues cutting very thin materials. The scissors of mine fails at this as so many other scissors do too. Instead of cutting it will turn thin material 90 degrees and get it stuck in between the blades. (Try very thin paper or plastic?)

I certainly agree that the mechanics of the scissors as such are right up there with the best. A bit more springiness in the blades to bring them together and it would likely be amazing. Then again, mine is several years old by now and was likely one their first production runs - it might have been fixed since then.

Scissors can't open beyond a certain angle and still work as scissors. For me question is more why create much more cutting length than used? A bit more for manufacturing purpose I get, and more than that is likely about looks and loosing that tiny bit of weight. (And maybe more to the point - it is likely not more time consuming in production to just use the entire width of the grinding wheel/ belt. In fact not using the entire width might create issues...).

[Sos24]

Here's mine. Agree that it's mostly good, but the scissors are lacking.

I have the same one and agree the scissors are lacking, but I do like the combo tool and the beefier blade compared to similar size SAKs

[J2000E]

I have the same one and agree the scissors are lacking, but I do like the combo tool and the beefier blade compared to similar size SAKs

I found something on Ytube that indicates the smaller versions of the scissors from the same maker (multiple brands) do not have a rigid/non moving blade. That it moves like a Wenger. Is that so?

[J2000E]

My experience with the scissors is that they are lacking springiness to press the blades together at the cutting point. (snipp...)

Late last evening I checked mine again. It is OK - now when new at least. OK as in OK - not excellent and not bad in anyway. When I compared it with a Victorinox - you are right, the crispness(English?) or distinct feeling is not there in the same way.

As a larger scissor and for a larger multi as this is - it is good. But not excellent. How it holds up after a lot of use - time will tell.

[J2000E]

Different sizes - different use.

Comparing a 91mm Victorinox and the Ruike LD31-B

Destroying a card that has just expired. Victorinox - no (works but not OK). Ruike yes (like nothing). Finer work = Vic. Rough stuff = Ruike.




One negative thing I have noticed about the Ruike is that the cap lifter/large screwdriver has a very limp feeling between closed and fully opened. There is no 90 degree stop - just a very vague sloppiness. When fully out it is firm though.

PS - the Vic is a Champion C Plus, 1.6795R, with a destroyed main blade. The scissors are fine.

[Farmer X]

I've yet to find anything better than Victorinox scissors for fine work (which is most of my scissors use). Someday I'll do some testing on rougher materials.

[Vidar]

I tried cutting an old card too, and for me the Victorinox scissor did that just fine with up to 6-8mm done per cut and normal thumb pressure.

Inspired by that I thought I'd give the MiniChamp scissor a go too. It struggled a bit with entering on the first bite, but after that it did ok with up to about 4mm per cut.

Then I figured lets give the scissor the Vic Spirit a go to. No that didn't work. Easily the worst so far. Slipped sideways, and stuck the card in the middle without making a first cut at all. Not impressed at all about that.

Cards might be different so I got the Ruike too. It cuts the card fine but not very different from the 91mm Victorinox SAK. Two differences struck me - the leverage arm on the Ruike is slightly longer. But it is also thinner, so it was slightly less comfortable on the thumb.

Wenger shouldn't be left out. That was narrowly the best so far which was a bit surprising. Thinner blades and thumb and contact than the Vic, but slightly better at cutting it seems. Might be due to the slightly gripping/ serrated blades.

And as it happened to be laying next to the Ruike I also tried a small Ruiss scissor based multi-tool. (About the volume of a Mini-champ - about same length, wider but thinner). Easily the best scissor of the bunch. Which makes sense as it is a scissor based multitool.

[Farmer X]

Some interesting test results here. Adam5 did a scissors comparison a while back. Hopefully he'll update it to include the Riuke.

[Vidar]

It seems likely to me that there is some variation between individual scissors even within the same models. J2000E certainly seems to have a better Ruike scissor than I do, and a worse Victorinox SAK one than the one I tried. (Ruike got some feedback about the scissors at the introduction so I assume they have improved those in the years between). And the scissors on my Vic Spirit  seems to be a particularly bad one as I don't think Victorinox would be ok selling scissors with such lack of performance - it just seems the pin at the fulcrum is too loose. So not sure if one can actually conclude much as it seems to be inconsistent performance even within the same models.

I will say this for the Ruike though - the knifes on my two Ruike models are very good, and those will outperform any SAK I have. Performance wise I think the knife is the highlight of the Ruike.

[J2000E]

It seems likely to me that there is some variation between individual scissors even within the same models. J2000E certainly seems to have a better Ruike scissor than I do, and a worse Victorinox SAK one than the one I tried. (Ruike got some feedback about the scissors at the introduction so I assume they have improved those in the years between). And the scissors on my Vic Spirit  seems to be a particularly bad one as I don't think Victorinox would be ok selling scissors with such lack of performance - it just seems the pin at the fulcrum is too loose. So not sure if one can actually conclude much as it seems to be inconsistent performance even within the same models.

I will say this for the Ruike though - the knifes on my two Ruike models are very good, and those will outperform any SAK I have. Performance wise I think the knife is the highlight of the Ruike.

I agree on the knife blade being very, very good (especially for a multitool). Both of mine do have a small play though. Not sideways but in the linerlock. When fully open I can get maybe a tenth of a millimeter play against the lock. This is not a real problem in use at all. But annoying if you are inclined so. I tried with a very thin paper, single layer, (Kleenex tissue) and it is enough to take out the play. I will try to straighten the linerlock (making it longer) to see if it is enough.

My favourite tool this far is the inline awl.

[Vidar]

Mine doesn't have a liner lock so I can't comment on that. But the blade feels sturdy and without play.

My awl is placed at the backside, not inline. It is very pointy and sharp.