Own edge Pro, looking into KO Work Sharp

Another option might be the paper wheels,
There`s a complet thread in maintenance and tinkerin bout em ,
got a HF 8in. buffer and a set of 10in. wheels
never lookin back
great adition to anyones sharpening arsenal
 
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banksy said:
Regarding the problem with the heel, is this because the wider belt is too flexible at the edges for precise grinding? If so, have you tried the stiff Norax belts?
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I love the Norax belts and that is what I use---on both units---90% of the time. Yes, the heel problem was with the 1" Norax belts on the BGA.

I know this seems counterintuitive, but as I said, on some very small blades I seem to have better luck keeping an even bevel with the narrow 1/2" original size belts (I was fortunate to obtain some of these in Norax). With these knives, the narrow belts stay flush on the edge whereas with a wider belt a portion of it will flex away from the bevel in places. I'm probably not explaining this very well, but that is what I'm finding on certain small blades.

Andrew
 
AFAustin said:
I love the Norax belts and that is what I use---on both units---90% of the time. Yes, the heel problem was with the 1" Norax belts on the BGA.

I know this seems counterintuitive, but as I said, on some very small blades I seem to have better luck keeping an even bevel with the narrow 1/2" original size belts (I was fortunate to obtain some of these in Norax). With these knives, the narrow belts stay flush on the edge whereas with a wider belt a portion of it will flex away from the bevel in places. I'm probably not explaining this very well, but that is what I'm finding on certain small blades.

Andrew
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Do you find you get just as sharp of edges on one vs the other? There is a very noticeable difference between the 2 for me...while I could get a knife sharp with the standard unit, I never came close to the edge I get with the bga.
 
AFAustin said:
I love the Norax belts and that is what I use---on both units---90% of the time. Yes, the heel problem was with the 1" Norax belts on the BGA.

I know this seems counterintuitive, but as I said, on some very small blades I seem to have better luck keeping an even bevel with the narrow 1/2" original size belts (I was fortunate to obtain some of these in Norax). With these knives, the narrow belts stay flush on the edge whereas with a wider belt a portion of it will flex away from the bevel in places. I'm probably not explaining this very well, but that is what I'm finding on certain small blades.

Andrew
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To be clear, I'm talking about the stiffer Norax belts for the BGA as shown here
 
banksy said:
To be clear, I'm talking about the stiffer Norax belts for the BGA as shown here
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Thanks for that, I've never looked at that chart before, I wondered why they had multiple belts of same micron available...never realized one was stiffer.
 
Bobby3326 said:
Do you find you get just as sharp of edges on one vs the other? There is a very noticeable difference between the 2 for me...while I could get a knife sharp with the standard unit, I never came close to the edge I get with the bga.
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Well for me, and again, this is probably just based on my having more experience with the regular KO unit, I can usually get a sharper edge with the regular. I also have a 1/2" x 12" Surgi-Sharp leather belt, which I've charged with 1 micron DMT paste, which is a very nice finishing belt and helps give the edge, so to speak, to the regular unit.

Bobby, didn't I read that you got some of the new linen belts for the BGA? If so, how do you like them?

Andrew
 
Have the KO worksharp and the BGA. Right now I'm using the worksharp more but still learning on the attachment. Looked at many systems and tried a few but I've been able to sharpen everything on the KO with good results and getting better every time. I don't regret the purchase at all just for the time savings I've had.
 
AFAustin said:
Well for me, and again, this is probably just based on my having more experience with the regular KO unit, I can usually get a sharper edge with the regular. I also have a 1/2" x 12" Surgi-Sharp leather belt, which I've charged with 1 micron DMT paste, which is a very nice finishing belt and helps give the edge, so to speak, to the regular unit.

Bobby, didn't I read that you got some of the new linen belts for the BGA? If so, how do you like them?

Andrew
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Yea I just got em , but I haven't really used em yet...nothing needs sharpened at the moment lol...I did tinker with em briefly, but couldn't really tell anything as the knife was already capable of cutting a free hanging hair beforehand...

One thing thou is it's not exactly clear which side is which, and I'm waiting on a reply from work sharp. The instructions simply said seam side goes in, however there's no discernable difference on the seam from one side to the other...The only thing different I can kinda tell is one sides smoother than the other, and I would've just used em as they came in the package except one was smooth side out the other it was in, so I'm at a loss of the appropriate side to use currently.


I do have some knives being sent in for sharpening this week so I'll get a better idea of how well they work compared to my normal manual stropping routine.
 
Strauss95 said:
Picked up the KO Work Sharp from my local sporting goods store, it was on sale and matched the lowest price I could find it for online :) Already ran an old kitchen knife through it using only two of the belts and the knife easily lazers through phone book paper, and thats straight off the machine without stropping or the 6000 belt! Very impressed indeed. Wasn't expecting to get that good of results on the first knife, even with all my previous sharpening experience. New systems always have a learning curve, but these results speak for themselves.

Think I'll be ordering the BGA next week. For those of you that own the machine and or BGA, any extra belts or other accessories I should get?
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Get the leather belt for sure!
 
Bobby3326 said:
Yea I just got em , but I haven't really used em yet...nothing needs sharpened at the moment lol...I did tinker with em briefly, but couldn't really tell anything as the knife was already capable of cutting a free hanging hair beforehand...

One thing thou is it's not exactly clear which side is which, and I'm waiting on a reply from work sharp. The instructions simply said seam side goes in, however there's no discernable difference on the seam from one side to the other...The only thing different I can kinda tell is one sides smoother than the other, and I would've just used em as they came in the package except one was smooth side out the other it was in, so I'm at a loss of the appropriate side to use currently.


I do have some knives being sent in for sharpening this week so I'll get a better idea of how well they work compared to my normal manual stropping routine.
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Can we get some more info regarding these linen belts?

Thanks
Jason
 
Can any of you with the BGA give me any insight on my previous question, about using the 90 degree side for edge repair on severely damaged blades? Not sure if that is even the correct way to go about it, or if I should continue my current process of just grinding the edge at the given angle long enough to repair the problem areas. Just wondering if that would work better on seriously neglected edges, or if it's even possible to do on the BGA?
 
Not to put words in Austin's mouth, but... I believe when he says he uses the "regular WSKO" he means that he uses it freehand, without the guides. If I remember correctly. That's what I do. I've never used the guides on the WSKO on any blade. I've done them all freehand, which works really well and can produce some very impressive edges.

Brian.
 
Strauss95 said:
Can any of you with the BGA give me any insight on my previous question, about using the 90 degree side for edge repair on severely damaged blades? Not sure if that is even the correct way to go about it, or if I should continue my current process of just grinding the edge at the given angle long enough to repair the problem areas.
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I don't have the BGA; just the regular WSKO. Using it without the guides, you can do a lot of things with it. I've sharpened a whole bunch of just beaten, bruised, and scarred blades. On a few that had really deep chips, I did something very close to what you are describing. Because the regular WSKO does not have a platen or a tool rest, going 90 degrees into the belt is problematic. Instead, I held the blade in one hand, at around 70 degrees to the belt, and rested the blade on a finger of my other hand, using the finger as sort of a guide/tool rest. I did both sides at around this 70 degree angle until I had cut through enough of the edge to remove the severe chipping. This resulted in a nearly flat edge, with very, very narrow edge bevels.

After shaping the blade profile this way, I then cut in new edge bevels by holding the blade at a "normal" angle (around 15 degrees) and sharpened normally until the edge bevels met in the middle and formed a sharp edge. This took a while and I used the coarsest belt I had: A 60 grit ceramic. I was careful about heat and kept stopping to make sure I didn't produce too much.

The resulting edge looked fine and performed just fine on my tests. I rarely saw the owner, so I don't know how the edge worked in the real world, but this guy was really, really hard on knives, so I'm not sure he'd really notice edge retention. He just knew that my edges were much sharper than the supremely dull blades he brought me.

Brian.
 
Strauss95 said:
Can any of you with the BGA give me any insight on my previous question, about using the 90 degree side for edge repair on severely damaged blades? Not sure if that is even the correct way to go about it, or if I should continue my current process of just grinding the edge at the given angle long enough to repair the problem areas. Just wondering if that would work better on seriously neglected edges, or if it's even possible to do on the BGA?
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That area is rather small to be used as a in that manner...thou with some experimenting may work for you..I only use it to square a knife spine... Also the belts get a lil jumpy and it bogs the motor down when you apply any real force against the platen.

I usually just raise the pulley to the highest position and increase belt tension so it has lil to no give when I wanna repair a heavily damaged edge.
 
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