Onion Worksharp

S

Scattergun2570

Joined
Apr 24, 2013
Messages
124
I cannot use my KME system or any other hand sharpening system..I don`t have the patience..takes too long..and once I am done,and have that nice razor sharp beautiful looking blade,,,guess what? I don`t want to use it cause I know how long its gonna take to sharpen it again! So,,I would like to hear from some of you who use the Worksharp.. One of the things I wanted to know is what grit are the belts that come with it,,and are these grits sufficient to get a good edge,and if not,,what other grits do I need?
 
Speed wise, the WSKO is far faster than hand sharpening, but it's not super fast either, unless you run it full speed. Running full speed you can do damage pretty fast. That's why I mostly stick to the middle speed or a bit faster. My speed honestly isn't very good. But I produce very good results (if I do say so myself!) and I don't wear out my arms or any stones in the process. :)

Scattergun2570 said:
One of the things I wanted to know is what grit are the belts that come with it,,and are these grits sufficient to get a good edge,and if not,,what other grits do I need?
Click to expand...

List of belts that come with the WSKO:

P120 - Roughly 100 grit. Pretty abrasive, but I like something more coarse for REALLY beaten up blades. For regular "dull" the P120 rocks.
X65 - Norton Norax, 65 micron (that's what the X means: Micron size). About 220 grit.
X22 - Also Norton Norax. 400 to 450 grit. A great finisher for working blades, or typical kitchen cutlery.
X4 - Norax. 1200 - 1500 grit. Makes quite polished edges that pop hairs and clean slice phonebook paper. Will mirror polish some steels. Most soft-ish blades won't suppor this level of polish for long though.
Purple "6000" - Don't know the grit size on this, but it will mirror polish most steels and produce crazy hair popping edges. Again, most steels won't hold an edge like this, but it's fun to play with and makes pretty edges.

The WSKO is a fantastic system, but there are NO foolproof sharpening systems on the market I'm aware of. You have to do your part. When you do, the WSKO will reward you with great edges in a fraction of the time compared to hand sharpening. I've got a video of me using the WSKO freehand, but it's REALLY long at around 22 minutes, so that tells you how long it takes to do a really good job on a dull blade while trying to describe the process at the same time. :)

Brian.
 
Can't wait till I get my wsko...I have borrowed my friends original ws, and I had some really nice results with it, so really looking forward to the ken onion
 
bgentry said:
Speed wise, the WSKO is far faster than hand sharpening, but it's not super fast either, unless you run it full speed. Running full speed you can do damage pretty fast. That's why I mostly stick to the middle speed or a bit faster. My speed honestly isn't very good. But I produce very good results (if I do say so myself!) and I don't wear out my arms or any stones in the process. :)



List of belts that come with the WSKO:

P120 - Roughly 100 grit. Pretty abrasive, but I like something more coarse for REALLY beaten up blades. For regular "dull" the P120 rocks.
X65 - Norton Norax, 65 micron (that's what the X means: Micron size). About 220 grit.
X22 - Also Norton Norax. 400 to 450 grit. A great finisher for working blades, or typical kitchen cutlery.
X4 - Norax. 1200 - 1500 grit. Makes quite polished edges that pop hairs and clean slice phonebook paper. Will mirror polish some steels. Most soft-ish blades won't suppor this level of polish for long though.
Purple "6000" - Don't know the grit size on this, but it will mirror polish most steels and produce crazy hair popping edges. Again, most steels won't hold an edge like this, but it's fun to play with and makes pretty edges.

The WSKO is a fantastic system, but there are NO foolproof sharpening systems on the market I'm aware of. You have to do your part. When you do, the WSKO will reward you with great edges in a fraction of the time compared to hand sharpening. I've got a video of me using the WSKO freehand, but it's REALLY long at around 22 minutes, so that tells you how long it takes to do a really good job on a dull blade while trying to describe the process at the same time. :)

Brian.
Click to expand...

Where is the video?
 
Since I did that video I've changed things up a bit. Mostly by using different belts and going a bit faster. But it's still a good representation of how I use the WSKO. Here's the video.

[video=youtube;ApyDcJzKBgk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApyDcJzKBgk[/video]

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
Since I did that video I've changed things up a bit. Mostly by using different belts and going a bit faster. But it's still a good representation of how I use the WSKO. Here's the video.

[video=youtube;ApyDcJzKBgk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApyDcJzKBgk[/video]

Brian.
Click to expand...
I am curious as to why you do not use the angle guide system.
 
Scattergun2570 said:
I am curious as to why you do not use the angle guide system.
Click to expand...

1. Not using the guides means I have the ultimate in flexibility. If I want to grind just the middle of the blade, I can. Or just the heel, or just the tip. Or go back and forth from the middle to the tip. With the guides this is very difficult; pretty much impractical. The more blades you work on, you'll probably find what I have: Most need more work in certain spots because they are used unevenly by their owners.
2. I've been told that grit from the belts gets trapped in the guide and can scratch the sides of the blade. I haven't had it happen since I don't use the guides, but that's another benefit for me.
3. I can vary the pressure from very light to very heavy. With the guides, there's not much variation in pressure. I find that light pressure is one of the keys to deburring properly.
4. In that same vein, I can sweep the entire blade across the belt *very* quickly while deburring, just *barely* touching the blade to the belt. You can't do that with the guide.
5. More recently, I've gotten blades with big chips throughout them and other major damage. This has pretty much required me to grind the edge of the blade flat to reshape it. This removes the chips and other deformations, leaving me with a clean surface to start. To do this I grind at an almost flat angle. I start at around 75 degrees per side and then end up at very nearly 90 degrees. Obviously you can't do that with the guide.

I think that sums it up. Though I guess I should say that I bought the WSKO with the intention to not use the guides. For me it's a mini, portable version of a professional sharpening and shaping tool. Like what a pro sharpener or a knife maker would use. If I had the space I'd probably own a 1 x 42 belt sander too.

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
1. Not using the guides means I have the ultimate in flexibility. If I want to grind just the middle of the blade, I can. Or just the heel, or just the tip. Or go back and forth from the middle to the tip. With the guides this is very difficult; pretty much impractical. The more blades you work on, you'll probably find what I have: Most need more work in certain spots because they are used unevenly by their owners.
2. I've been told that grit from the belts gets trapped in the guide and can scratch the sides of the blade. I haven't had it happen since I don't use the guides, but that's another benefit for me.
3. I can vary the pressure from very light to very heavy. With the guides, there's not much variation in pressure. I find that light pressure is one of the keys to deburring properly.
4. In that same vein, I can sweep the entire blade across the belt *very* quickly while deburring, just *barely* touching the blade to the belt. You can't do that with the guide.
5. More recently, I've gotten blades with big chips throughout them and other major damage. This has pretty much required me to grind the edge of the blade flat to reshape it. This removes the chips and other deformations, leaving me with a clean surface to start. To do this I grind at an almost flat angle. I start at around 75 degrees per side and then end up at very nearly 90 degrees. Obviously you can't do that with the guide.

I think that sums it up. Though I guess I should say that I bought the WSKO with the intention to not use the guides. For me it's a mini, portable version of a professional sharpening and shaping tool. Like what a pro sharpener or a knife maker would use. If I had the space I'd probably own a 1 x 42 belt sander too.

Brian.
Click to expand...

When I see other videos using the KOWS,they are using the guide and also stopping before the tip hits the belt..They never discuss how to sharpen the tip..can you discuss this?
 
Scattergun2570 said:
When I see other videos using the KOWS,they are using the guide and also stopping before the tip hits the belt..They never discuss how to sharpen the tip..can you discuss this?
Click to expand...
, they are doing it wrong then ;) You should draw your blade across the belt (keeping the edge as close to perpendicular to the belt as you can, this is VERY important I found) but stopping as the point gets about 1/2 way across the belt. Drawing it fully across the running belt will see your tips rounded off. The Busse BWN above was bough damaged with a nasty chip in the blade and next to no tip left, the edge repair time (following the above process) also naturally formed a new pointy tip on the blade.
 
Scattergun2570 said:
When I see other videos using the KOWS,they are using the guide and also stopping before the tip hits the belt..They never discuss how to sharpen the tip..can you discuss this?
Click to expand...

Like Andy said, you have to get the tip to touch the belt in order to get a sharp point. There's definitely a technique to doing it, but the concept is ridiculously simple: Just sharpen normally right up to the tip and don't go past it. Don't drag the tip on the belt. Just sharpen right up to the tip and then pull it off of the belt. Doing this, the tip essentially "automatically" gets needle sharp.

However, if you're like me, you're not used to adjusting the angle at the end to get all the way to the tip. Color the bevel with a sharpie marker then do a pass or two up to the tip. Stop and look at the bevel and see if you removed all of the sharpie. Again, if you're like me, you'll probably find that you've gotten very close to the tip, but you didn't actually hit it.

This is made worse by tips that are severely blunted from use or abuse and may require some larger adjustments to your angle near the tip than you initially think. Again, sharpie marker and frequent observation of the bevel grind are the keys to success. In fact that's secret #4 of 7: Observation. It's unbelievably powerful and important when sharpening.

Brian.
 
Indeed a marking pen ("Sharpie" is not a term in current use here LOL) run down each side of the edge has told me more about my sharpening (or lack there of) than any other method... ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top