First impressions of the Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition>>>>>>>>

Rolex John

Rolex John

Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
1,029
Got it in yesterday, watched the DVD and read the manual. So far I've sharpened some steak knives and my old Gerber utility knife on the Work Sharp. I really, really like it. I was able to put a gorgeous polished edge on the knife and get it shaving sharp with ease.



I may have rounded the tip on my Gerber a tad...but it was a bit that way to begin with. The steak knives I had no problem with. I did four in like 15 minutes. To do one knife right on my Wicked Edge takes a good hour...and just touching up an edge on the Sharpmaker can run 20+ minutes.

I'm not quite to the point where I want to use it with my most expensive knives. But heck, even if I only use it on my kitchen knives it's worth the price. And I'm sure I'll get better with practice.
 
Hello Rolex John, I am not in love with mine just yet. I probably need more time with machine. I still am getting better edges off my Edge Pro. I am pretty sure it is user error at this point. Glad you are having great sucess. Stay sharp.
 
I'm about the same place Rolex John- very happy with the device, not sure I'm ready to tackle an expensive knife yet. I too have a Wicked Edge, and the time saved on kitchen knives alone makes the KO a worthy purchase. I really don't care about polished edges, but I can get an acceptable edge for kitchen work in much less time with the KO than with any other device that I've tried.
 
rutcrazed said:
Hello Rolex John, I am not in love with mine just yet. I probably need more time with machine. I still am getting better edges off my Edge Pro. I am pretty sure it is user error at this point. Glad you are having great sucess. Stay sharp.
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At the end of the day, I'm not necessarily sure that (assuming equal skill being applied to both) one is any more or less capable of getting a sharper edge. Time seems to be the key advantage of the Work Sharp.
 
Rolex John said:
At the end of the day, I'm not necessarily sure that (assuming equal skill being applied to both) one is any more or less capable of getting a sharper edge. Time seems to be the key advantage of the Work Sharp.
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I would have to agree with your statement.
 
I got braver today and tried the Work Sharp with some knives that are more important to me.

The first two were a couple of Kershaw Skylines....still firmly in the "cheap and easy to replace category" but good test knives. Again, I'm extremely pleased with the results...both aesthetically and functionally. Here's one of the Skylines:



The big leap was to use a "custom" Benchmade Griptilian (ordered on their website with my choice of handle and S30v blade steel). This one came out REALLY well....gorgeous polished edge as sharp or sharper than anything I could accomplish using my other systems with FAR more time:



I think tonight I'll try my Spyderco Sage 3 and one of my favorite EDC knives....a ZT 0550.
 
Rolex John said:
I may have rounded the tip on my Gerber a tad...but it was a bit that way to begin with. The steak knives I had no problem with. I did four in like 15 minutes. To do one knife right on my Wicked Edge takes a good hour...and just touching up an edge on the Sharpmaker can run 20+ minutes.

I'm not quite to the point where I want to use it with my most expensive knives. But heck, even if I only use it on my kitchen knives it's worth the price. And I'm sure I'll get better with practice.
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Did the WS cause that indentation at the heel of the blade? That's the problem I found with my original WS - even taking care, that divot would appear over time.
 
banksy said:
Did the WS cause that indentation at the heel of the blade? That's the problem I found with my original WS - even taking care, that divot would appear over time.
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No...that was a first-timer mistake. You can see metal is polished well past the blade edge. Polishing/grinding past the blade is something that's easy to do with the Gerber,but I was more mindful in the other knives I sharpened (see photos above) and didn't experience any problems.
 
Do you think a person could use this in a small apartment or would it be too loud? I have a crabby, senile, hears-polka-music-in-her-head neighbor who complains about everything. I'm thinking of getting one of these but my I'm not sure about it given my living situation.
 
joeymoey said:
Do you think a person could use this in a small apartment or would it be too loud? I have a crabby, senile, hears-polka-music-in-her-head neighbor who complains about everything. I'm thinking of getting one of these but my I'm not sure about it given my living situation.
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Should not be a problem unless it starts sounding like polka music... then there's a problem with your neighbor and your machine. :)
 
joeymoey said:
Do you think a person could use this in a small apartment or would it be too loud? I have a crabby, senile, hears-polka-music-in-her-head neighbor who complains about everything. I'm thinking of getting one of these but my I'm not sure about it given my living situation.
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The noise isn't bad at all....particularly at low to medium speeds where you will most use it.
 
OK - last night I sharpened a Spyderco Sage 3 and a ZT 0550. Both came out perfect. I think I've sharpened enough knives that I'm comfortable using this product on any knife I own:

 
MerryMadMonk said:
Should not be a problem unless it starts sounding like polka music... then there's a problem with your neighbor and your machine. :)
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The real problem I have with her is that she thinks the polka music is coming from my apartment, not from inside her head. She complains to the landlady at least once a week about it. Its a long story. I'm just afraid the music in her head is going to escalate to voices telling her to "kill the polka music playing man! Kill him while he sleeps! mwahaha!"

Rolex John said:
The noise isn't bad at all....particularly at low to medium speeds where you will most use it.
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That's good to know that I will be able to use it here. Thanks for the help you guys ~
 
Hey there Rolex John, Nice job on those knives. Are you using the blade guide or are you free handing it
 
Are you rebeveling or just resharpening the knives? If just resharpening, what are you using them to do that takes an hour with a WEPS to resharpen it?
 
joeymoey said:
Do you think a person could use this in a small apartment or would it be too loud? I have a crabby, senile, hears-polka-music-in-her-head neighbor who complains about everything.
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I can tell you that I've had conversations while using the WSKO at speed 5 to 7 and had no trouble with hearing the other person, or them hearing me. Past speed #7 it gets loud pretty fast. By speed 10 it's quite loud and 14 (max) is another notch louder. Loud enough that I feel like my hearing will be damaged by sustained exposure to it and I want noise canceling headphones or at least ear plugs (or over the ear muffs) to dampen the sound.

At speeds 1 through 3, it's almost not even making noise. The WSKO has a very wide range of speeds and noise levels. I hope you enjoy yours despite Katy Krabby Kakes down the hall from you! :P

Brian.
 
me2 said:
Are you rebeveling or just resharpening the knives? If just resharpening, what are you using them to do that takes an hour with a WEPS to resharpen it?
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One of my big problems with the WEPS is that it doesn't seem to keep the knife stable in the vice. I add loads of tape for more "grip" but invariably the handle end will eventually drop. So that takes a few minutes to reset. Ultimately though, what often happens is I'll start with the heaviest grit stones, work up a nice bur, and by the time I get to the end, the knife just isn't sharp....and I have to start all over. That doesn't happen every time, but sometimes.
 
I tend to distrust power gear for sharpening, but that seems like a lot of work with a WEPS. I can see why you changed.
 
me2 said:
I tend to distrust power gear for sharpening, but that seems like a lot of work with a WEPS. I can see why you changed.
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Believe me - have this idea ingrained into my head too that all electric sharpeners are bad. But most knife manufacturers use large belt grinders to create their blades...and that's really all the WSKO is...a miniature belt grinder.
 
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