Sharpening (esp via Work Sharp)

Bladite

Bladite

ǝɹnsıǝן ɟo uɐɯǝןʇuǝb
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so, i got my work sharp today...

aside from various neckers at 15 degrees, most stuff is 20 degrees "kitchen knife" category by work sharps standards ;)

i've updated the Blade Database to include a single chart of sharpening angles.

you can find it at: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-(Knife-Specs-and-Data)?p=8961759#post8961759

#

as to the work sharp? wow, it's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO small. i mean tiny. wow. it's cute. easily portable in a bag of storage. course, you need 120 VAC, but there you go.

i intend to put a REALLY nice edge on my best old beater khukri. the steel on that is so nice, but so hard to work. power tools.

nice.
 
Let us know how it worked for you, maybe some before and after pictures?

Jeremy
 
Just a word of caution (this has been mentioned in another thread), sharpening EXACTLY the way the dvd/ instructions tell you will result in "rounded" points:

IMG_0961.jpg


Not too big of a deal on the Kabar kuk, but one of my 9s and a 7 have rounded points too.. Lesson learned the hard way: stop before (or right at) the tip.

EDIT: Rounded 7 & 9:
2011-10-06175204.jpg


More practice = pointier points:

2011-10-06175419.jpg
 
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So this sharpener has had me so intrigued that I just ordered it with an extra set of heavy duty belts. To the issue of rounding tips, is it how you come off the belt that's the problem? I haven't even seen mine yet so I am trying to visualize what is causing the problem. I am really excited to try this out. My sharpening skills just plain suck!
 
practice with kitchen butter knives first.

you need to see what the belt does to the blade in order to learn that you NEED to move the GRIP AWAY from the belt when you get to the point of the blade.

can't keep it parallel to the belt, pull the grip away from the belt finishing the tip off, just look at how the tip edge is and you'll understand why you need to do this.

Best way to understand this, is to sharpen a few butter knives - even a round point will show you how you need to pull away to sharpen just the tip and not the whole tip profile...or if you have junk knives with pointy tips, even better...

Work Sharp can put a nice edge on most knives, even free hand without the guide.
In fact, what i said above, didn't apply to using a guide, as the guide won't let you pull the grip away, it will only allow to pull it UP when you reach the point and that alone will still round out your tips

020.jpg
 
Thanks for the info Robino. So you are the only guy in South Florida with shaving sharp butter knives. Love it!
 
robino said:
practice with kitchen butter knives first.

you need to see what the belt does to the blade in order to learn that you NEED to move the GRIP AWAY from the belt when you get to the point of the blade.

can't keep it parallel to the belt, pull the grip away from the belt finishing the tip off, just look at how the tip edge is and you'll understand why you need to do this.

Best way to understand this, is to sharpen a few butter knives - even a round point will show you how you need to pull away to sharpen just the tip and not the whole tip profile...or if you have junk knives with pointy tips, even better...

Work Sharp can put a nice edge on most knives, even free hand without the guide.
In fact, what i said above, didn't apply to using a guide, as the guide won't let you pull the grip away, it will only allow to pull it UP when you reach the point and that alone will still round out your tips

020.jpg
Click to expand...
I want one!!! thanks for tip....the wife is always asking me to sharpen the practice...uh I mean the kitchen knives :)
 
I just watched their video, and I'm impressed. I can get my knives sharp, but it is very time consuming.

I need one when the funds allow.
 
I have to add to someone's comment above...

sharpening junk knives will in fact clog up your belts...the smoother ones anyway, the steel used in butter knives and junk kitchen knives will be harder to sharpen as well, why, i don't know, but it's harder to get a shaving edge on them.

I've sharpened numerous junk knives before trusting myself to sharpen a knife in O1 (cheap but i didn't wanna ruin it) and was surprised how easy the O1 steel took an edge. It seems the better the steel, at least O1 and 5160, the easier it was to put a sharp edge on them...either that, or i had gotten better by the time i got the courage to tackle my better knives.

I have no idea if i would attempt to put a nice shine on my CTS-20CP Spyerco, because it's already shaving sharp, but I would like a nice shiny edge, don't have the balls to do it just yet.

After going through both my 6000 belts in no time, I have also bought in between belts from: http://www.worksharptools.com/index...tegory_id=87&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=116

Junk knives pretty much clogged the crap out of the finer belts and even after trying to clean them, they seemed to do nothing to the blade.
 
junk kitchen knives will be harder to sharpen as well, why, i don't know, but it's harder to get a shaving edge on them.
Click to expand...

most table knives have some spring to them, which suggests to me that they are generally heat treated to some degree (who knows what the steel is). However, they are probably tempered WAY more than a knife designed to hold an edge, so the steel is softer, but also springier. Or they are steels that simply don't harden as much in the first place. You could produce the same result with O1, were you so inclined, with the correct temper. And what a waste that would be. :-)

Regardless, I think practicing on table knives is a great idea. Just don't expect to be able to achieve the edge you want on your cutting knives.

Another thought on sharpening: the bigger the surface the better.
I have some 6" stones and they work ok. My friend has 12" stones and it is a joy to freehand hone an edge on 'em.

-Daizee
 
I must say...

paper wheels is where it's at.

I received my 1750 rpm bench grinder installed my paper wheels and went to town on a couple junky knives, then grabbed my $40 Maartiin Woodsknife with carbon blade and boy...what was already a sharp blade after having played with it on the Worksharp... It is now MUCH sharper.
It's nice to play with the WorkSharp but man, paper wheels puts an edge on a knife like no other. I stropped it a little afterwards just to bring some shine back to the blade and it's just ... sick.
 
robino said:
I must say...

paper wheels is where it's at.

I received my 1750 rpm bench grinder installed my paper wheels and went to town on a couple junky knives, then grabbed my $40 Maartiin Woodsknife with carbon blade and boy...what was already a sharp blade after having played with it on the Worksharp... It is now MUCH sharper.
It's nice to play with the WorkSharp but man, paper wheels puts an edge on a knife like no other. I stropped it a little afterwards just to bring some shine back to the blade and it's just ... sick.
Click to expand...

if you have room for a full size grinder, sure ... awesome.

course, then you have room for a 70 inch long 2 inch wide slow belt system. a bazillion grit stropping then :> $800 for starters? :)
 
The main advantages of the Work Sharp are it's footprint and the fact that it produces a convex edge. There is no other sharpener, for its size, that can do what the WS does and as fast as the WS does. It is so easily portable too.
 
true, if you're limited to a 1/2 foot x 1/2 foot space, the WorkSharp it is.

but a slow turning grinder with paper wheels won't take much more space and it'll cost about 3 times, but will produce much sharper blades and even faster to bring to their sharpest point.

truthfully, i like to sharpen with everything possible, staring with a Schrade Hone Steel to paper wheels and everything in between.
 
Bladite, are those values inclusive (both sides) or exclusive (measuring angle of one side to the center)? Spyderco's Sharpmaker has angles at 40deg inclusive for the edge, and 30deg inclusive for the back bevel. My experience is that most production knives follow these settings, and that I like more acute angles.
 
robino said:
true, if you're limited to a 1/2 foot x 1/2 foot space, the WorkSharp it is.

but a slow turning grinder with paper wheels won't take much more space and it'll cost about 3 times, but will produce much sharper blades and even faster to bring to their sharpest point.

truthfully, i like to sharpen with everything possible, staring with a Schrade Hone Steel to paper wheels and everything in between.
Click to expand...
Yea well ya lost me a costing three times as much....yea that hope and change thing aint go'in so well for me.
 
i got one too and it works well but can never really get a razor sharp edge on the knivse unless they were semi sharp to begin with =/
 
You're probably using too much pressure if you aren't getting razor edges. I can pop hair easily with knives I've sharpened on the WS. As with all final stage sharpening, a light touch is key.
 
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