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gettin' a WSKTS for Christmas

F

flivver

Joined
Aug 29, 2011
Messages
149
I'm pretty sure I'm getting a Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener for Christmas... What's a good thing to practice on? Any recommendations for "ways" to practice (i.e. specific things to try to accomplish on something sacrificial)?

Why is this in the Becker forum, you ask? Well, the primary thing I want to (ultimately) sharpen with it is my Beckers (2, 9, 14 -- and the 5 and 11 I think I'm getting for Christmas). :-) I don't want to ruin them, though.

I don't really want to ruin any of my knives, though, hence the question.
 
Try to get a decent edge on the $1 wallyworld knives, after filing off the serrations.
Good practice without risking anything you care about.
 
I sharpened a butter knife with mine, and now that is THE most used knife in the kitchen. I also sharpened some of the other kitchen knives up, and those work much better than they did before.

It's a great device. I have now used it on some more expensive knives, and haven't ruined them yet.
 
i had the same worry. bought a $5-$10 knife at big5. worked great. then i beat the edge against concrete, then beat the dulled edge with a hammer. i brutalized it bc i didn't care about the knife and it was great practice/learning. it sharpened back to paper slicing in about 5-10 minutes tops. works awesome. love that thing.
just get a $5 plain edge knife and go to town on it until you're comfortable. won't take long at all.

my 'also' reccomendations:
1) ditch the little guide. that thing made it WAY harder for me. freehand is actually way easier and smoother. just like the Spyderco sharpmaker, hold it vertical(-ish. depends what angle you want) and you're pretty much good to go. and you can feel it when you're at the right angle and pulling across correctly. just drops in and feels right. pretty intuitive.

2) worth it to (eventually) buy some extra belts. you can find them online (1/2" by i think 12" or maybe 16"???). comes with 80, 200, and i think either 2000 or 6000 grit belts. i got some 60's, 120's, then 400, 600, 800, 1000, 2k 4k 6k 8k 10k. those teeny belts are cheap, and when you have to pay $8 already for the shipping, you might as well get a bunch. i went for overkill bc i'm all anal-retentive like that, but it's nice to have some stepped options to work up or down on. especially for the nicer blades.

have fun!
 
Good thread man! I'm pretty sure I'm getting one for Christmas as well. If not, I'll definitely have one by c.o.b. Jan.26
 
I got one a month or so back and I am the worst at sharpening knives. I can keep them sharp but if they ever get dull, it's over. I literally will take one and quit using it when it gets dull. I just don't have the knack for it. Got the work sharp and now all my knives are sharp again. Took me about 5 minutes per knife. This thing is great!
 
I just used mine for the first time. My BK9, BK2, BK11 and a random butter knife are now all shaving sharp! I love it!
 
So what are everyone's thoughts on the Work Sharp vs the Harbor Freight belt sander?

The HF is only $46 shipped, but it seems difficult to find 1" x 30" belts in grits higher than 120.

The only thing that's stopped me from getting one already is that the guides seem a bit obtuse. 50 degree angle for an outdoors knife? I think the factory edge from Kabar is 20 degrees.

I guess it's simple enough to do it free hand though.
 
I think the 50 degree thing is based on 25 degrees per side. Seems like a nice little setup. I've been sharpening all my life, and really don't need one.....but what guy really NEEDS all the toys he has?!:p

I gotta have one of these things!
 
I keep reading posts about how great these things are and for $70 shipped I think I'm gonna have to buy one next payday. and maybe a ka-bar heavy warthog while I'm at it. I can't even get a shaving edge with the lansky's crock stick sharpener I just got. I've had good luck with some of those pocket sharpeners but then the ceramic rods plug up with filings and they quit working, but it's ok for $3.
 
Josh Mason said:
I think the 50 degree thing is based on 25 degrees per side.
Click to expand...

Right, but when Kabar lists 20 degrees they mean 20 degrees inclusive, as in 10 degrees per side, correct?

Same thing with the 30 and 40 degree positions on the sharpmaker if I understand correctly.
 
I can usually get a pretty good edge with a stone but I can never get them shaving sharp. I think I need to pick one up next month too.
 
CCMI said:
Right, but when Kabar lists 20 degrees they mean 20 degrees inclusive, as in 10 degrees per side, correct?

Same thing with the 30 and 40 degree positions on the sharpmaker if I understand correctly.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it is 20 per side, just like ESEE. ;)
 
I still cant really get my points pointy with it yet, having some rounding even free hand.
None the less I love my WSKTS my knives are getting sharper and sharper as i get better with it.
 
So I've sharpened three knives with mine, now (i.e. I did get one :-))... I sharpened a cheap-o folder, and then two thin German-style (perhaps even German) kitchen knives. On all three, one side seemed to get sharper than the other (at least by feel, from running my thumb over it). Anybody else experience this, when they got started with a WSKTS?

P.S. I rounded the tips, too. Dang that's easy to do. :-(
 
I rounded the tip of a Navy mk3 today, but I did sharpen the false edge..I sharpened the false edge of the Kabar Navy combat, and that yielded some seriously sick results! My dad was ecstatic!
 
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