Knife Sharpener

I've done the belt sander, sand paper & mouse pad, bench stones, lansky guided, spyderco sharpmaker, smiths guided, and DMT guided. I REALLY want a KME sharpening system, as far as guided systems go thats the Rolls Royce. If you've ever used a rod system you know about all the little annoyances most have, KME has seemed to remedy all of those but until I stop being such a miser and cough up the dough, the DMT system is my go to right now. I believe that the KME is designed to use the DMT stones its the rest of the rig that your really paying for (not to say it isnt worth it). In short, if you dont wanna drop a ton of dough, in y experience with all these systems, go with the DMT guided system & strop with an old leather belt; its foolproof, inexpensive, and has top notch sharpening stones.
 
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll have to take a serious look at the KME and DMT, plus learn how to properly strop...
 
I bought the works sharp and then strop them and I am very happy. Before using the Worksharp I used the mouse pad and sand paper method and that works great but takes a long time to get them sharp.
 
My wife used to do tons of arts and crafts when she was a stay at home mom, and she did tons more with her girl scout troop. Anyway, has anyone ever had stacks and stacks of different grit sandpaper only to discover that not a single sheet is in any grit that is needed for knife sharpening? LOL this is the story of my life
 
As far as creating and keeping a convex edge is concerned that WS Ken Onion looks pretty sweet. I never really had any desire to procure a WS, not because it didnt look functional because it certainly seems to work well, more because it seemed pointless seeing I have a belt grinder, and various other stones and kits. BUT... leave it to Ken Onion to change my mind...Norax belts, better/more angle choices, and a lil Onion flavoring...now me wants
 
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I've tried tons of different stuff, but to get the edge I'm after (short of a belt grinder); I use orange side of the Norton India with a little oil (dry for kitchen knives) to apex and grind,
and sanding pads with 1000 to 2500 with wet/dry (a la the Tradewater method) for honing/refining --keeps the convex true and polished.
But for day to day use, it's the progressive strops (PC Blue, Dremel red, PC Green, bare leather) and my edge does whatever I ask of it.
I do find a Lansky indispensable for initial sharpening or walking a shoulder back to a known angle (thin is in).

hope this helps.
 
I just closed the deal on a Ken Onion Work Sharp on the river with a pack of extra belts. Free 2 day shipping for the win.
 
sir_mike said:
So who has the best prices on them and the additional belts? :)
Click to expand...

From what I have been able to find so far there are only 3 major retailers that are selling them and all 3 are offering free shipping right now and want $149 to $150 for them. You can easily find these three retailers by going to the Work Sharp home page.
 
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Before I got into knives (other than the kitchen kind), I had and still have some waterstones that I used to sharpen chisels and plane blades. There are guides, I have them. The stones need maintenance to keep them flat, so more stuff. Was never an expert, but got some good results. Problem was, woodwoorking tools need a lot of regular maintenance, so most people who do it regularly have dedicated sharpening stations set up. I never did, and I was (and still am) behind on maintaining those tools, so to sharpen one of them pretty much meant a time consuming effort starting from scratch. I then read about using plate glass and automotive wet/dry sandpaper - cheap and pretty easy, very low maintenance, with a big surface for plane blades and such. Not as hard technique-wise. I bought a DMT aligner setup for doing kitchen knives, and was soon using it on my collection of folders as well. Easy to use for beginners, effective for the more advanced. Then, I got a BK-2. Didn't fit in the DMT clamp, and since it was in need of sharpening, I gave it a go on the waterstones, with pretty good results, but it took a while. Then I chipped the edge a little, and didn't want to spend an afternoon working it on the stones. I started reading about the Worksharp here on BF and finally bought one this past spring. Turns out I had a ton of other knives, tools and garden implements that needed help and I had been ignoring, because I didn't want to spend a week taking care of all of them.

Bottom line is the Worksharp kind of changed my life, because it made the onerous task of maintaining a house full of tools and knives doable. I realize that while I like mirror polished edges, I want to spend my time using my knives, not sharpening them. Whatever you end up with, and my guess is you'll end up with a couple of different systems eventually, it should be fairly easy to use and set up, so you can maintain your edges. There have been a lot of good suggestions here, which I'm sure work great. I'll come down in the Worksharp camp. I won't discard any of my other systems; the DMT is field portable and easy to use for thinner blades, and the WS doesn't work for chisels. Hell, I could probably get by with wet/dry and wood blocks. I'll still use the WS more often, for more different stuff than the other methods. For me, it's easy and takes very little time, which means more time do the fun stuff.
For anybody who read this all the way through, I'm sorry. Longest. post. ever.
 
I am using Norton Crystolon 8 inch bench stones, coarse, medium and fine. I use them with water and dish soap. I keep them flat on a large cast steel flat with lapidary paste. I used to use hardwood blocks with wet/dry sand paper glued down. I am very happy with this set up.
 
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