So, I sold my Wicked Edge...

Comeuppance

Comeuppance

Fixed Blade EDC Emisssary
Joined
Jan 12, 2013
Messages
4,765
... Because it took so damned long to do anything. Too finicky. Too tedious. Yeah, I could get a knife to a degree of sharpness where I didn't want to move it too quickly in case I split an atom, but I didn't even want to -use- the knives because of how freaking long it took to set up. Where exactly did I clamp it? What angle was that again? Whoops! Scratched the finish in the clamp. Oh well, I'll just spend forty-five minutes to an hour sharpening this knife, looking like I'm pedaling a tiny bike with my hands, or doing an impression of the world's least enthusiastic rock'm-sock'm robot.

So, what should I be looking at? I've been looking at the Work Sharp. I know it's just a belt grinder with an angle guide, but that's okay! I don't have a workshop, as I live in an apartment and will for the forseeable future. I need something that isn't incredibly time-consuming and tedious, but gives me more control than one of those god-forsaken pull-through sharpeners that I abandoned years ago.
 
The worksharp KO can get more done than any hand powered sharpener you're likely to find. I dislike their angle guide for a number of reasons and prefer to use it freehand. I've said this quite a few times here, so apologies if I sound like that guy that tells you the same story EVERY TIME you see him! :)

The WSKO will be a world different than using the WE. You've got to be careful with it; it's a belt sander. If you are, you'll be rewarded with great edges fairly quickly.

Brian.
 
I have a Ken Onion work shop, it works well and sharpens quickly! I can take a knife from butter knife dull to phone book paper slicing sharp in about 10 minute including changing the belts. Just be careful with the low grit belts, they can chew through a lot of steel.
I found that it works better and faster without the guide, but of course your results may vary:)
 
I'm definitely seriously considering one now. I have the fine motor skills and keen eye to trust myself with that kind of power - and I like that the retail price point is less than what I sold my WE for (225).

How loud is it? Are the belts particularly pricy? Can one get non-proprietary belts for it, or am I stuck with licensed accessories? This is a concern of mine primarily for longevity reasons. I don't want to pick up a nice bit of equipment and then find that replacement parts have dried up because it has been discontinued. I tend to keep my sharpening equipment for some time - heck, I still have my knivesplus strop block from 2010-ish.
 
I have a DMT Deluxe Aligner system. Works great but it too can become tedious to use, especially when working with multiple knives. I now only use it to repair/restore/reprofile edges.

I now use a Spyderco Sharpmaker for most tasks. Works great and is quick-n-easy to setup, use, and be done.
 
Sharpmaker. You want quick setup and use? Pssssh, none faster. It takes no time at all to set up. It's damn near as fast as freehand sharpening.

If you learn how to freehand, just get a few nice stones.

I'd also recommend a smooth steel to align the edge, and a coupe of strops to help maintain it between sharpenings (one with compound, one without).
 
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The WS will produce a convex edge (unlike your WE) and will not produce the same 'exhibition qulaity' edges. If those are not important factors to you, then I highly recommend the WSKO with the blade grinder attachment.
 
Belt sander is the way to go my friend, to me the Worksharp KO is not that stable (more like a toy)
get a 1x30 or 1x42 belt sander and never look back
I use a modified bubble jig for angle guidances so I can sharpen edge trailing, vary fast and easy to use
 
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Maybe a set of Paper Wheels ?
With a little practice you will also be able to produce exhibition grade edges, not only in less time, but also completely cooled so no overheated edges.
 
foxhunter2 said:
Belt sander is the way to go my friend, to me the Worksharp KO is not that stable (more like a toy)
get a 1x30 or 1x42 belt sander and never look back
I use a modified bubble jig for angle guidances so I can sharpen edge trailing, vary fast and easy to use
Click to expand...

The problem I found with the 1x30 is that the belt is slack at the edges, so does not fully contact the blade at the ricasso end unless you're using the platen. May not be an issue for a user knife, but not ideal either, and not really suitable for the OP's apartment.

How have you modified the bubble jig? I found it gets in the way when sharpening smaller blades.
 
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I am considering selling my edge pro after many years and a lot of accumulated stones, strops, diamond plates, films, yadadayada....
If I do, I am going to subsist on my dmts, shaptons, and maintain with sharpmaker that has proven to be the best investment for sharpening I ever made.
I have a harbor freight 1X30 that I only trust for chitty kitchen knives and axes.
The only thing holding me back is the nice, consistent bevels produced by the edge pro but my free hand are getting closer and closer. I am not a kid anymore and feel the freehand experience is where I want to be at this time.
This probably is little help but those are my thoughts.
Russ
 
banksy said:
The problem I found with the 1x30 is that the belt is slack at the edges, so does not fully contact the blade at the ricasso end unless you're using the platen. May not be an issue for a user knife, but not ideal either, and not really suitable for the OP's apartment.

How have you modified the bubble jig? I found it gets in the way when sharpening smaller blades.
Click to expand...

HF. is the bottom of the barrel, there are very nice well build belt sanders out there
To fix the slack is to get better wheels that flat where the belt is running, the better sanders have them
The “Vail” sander is nice and small would fit in a apartment maybe
Mod. for B.G just drill and tap extra hole above the originals and use the higher one for edge trailing sharpening.
 
It all comes down to whether you prefer quick and dirty (Sharpmaker, WSKO, 1x30) versus something that does require a bit of setup, patience, and learning the tricks to get the best results (EP, WEPS). There is no doubt that mirror polished bevels are the gimmick that have sold A LOT of sharpening systems...it sold me on the EP that I had before I sold it for a WEPS. I personally have no use for them or spending that much time, but if people pay for them, I'm glad to churn them out (though enjoy it less now at roughly 2 hours a pop that I don't have).

I view the WEPS as a reprofiling system and keep a Sharpmaker and strop as a touch-up system although if I want to keep my 15 or 18 dps edge or whatever, I find the WEPS not too terrible to setup for a few touch-up strokes. However, the setup takes longer than the actual touching up because I have to be anal about it. So I'd say either Sharpmaker or WSKO if wanting a quick solution otherwise I'd say try freehand sharpening.
 
Comeuppance said:
How loud is it?
Click to expand...

If you set the speed to something like 5 or 6 out of 11 it's quiet enough to have a conversation while using it. Not loud, not quiet. Just a small power tool running. If you set it to speed 11 (the top), it's high pitched whine is loud-ish and unpleasant. You wouldn't choose to have a conversation while using it, though you could shout above it if you wanted to. For these reasons, I rarely use mine above speed 6 or 7. But that limits it's effectiveness too. I think I could probably sharpen in something like 1/2 the time I usually do, if I ran it at full speed, at least with the coarse belts.

Are the belts particularly pricy? Can one get non-proprietary belts for it, or am I stuck with licensed accessories?
Click to expand...

The factory belts are something like $5 each, plus or minus a dollar. There's a nice wide range of different belts from Darex (worksharp), including my favorites, the Stiff Backed Precision Norax belts. I use these for almost everything now. Third parties make 3/4" by 12 belts. There are some threads discussing them here in MT&E. Based on my research, I decided to use the originals only. The micromesh seem like a waste of time. The regular old aluminum oxide belts available from one or two other companies were reported to be "ok", and not particularly long lasting. That's what I remember anyway, but it's been a couple of years since I researched it.

Two final points:

1. "The WSKO is a toy, get a real sander!". I somewhat agree with this statement. A 1x42 is really ideal in my opinion. The problem is the space and the dust. Unless you have a shop area, you can't really practically set up a 1x42 on, for example, a dining room table, and then tear it down and put it away when you're done. I mean you *could*, but it's not practical. A 1x42 is certainly much faster and more cost effective. I think you can buy one for around the same price as the WSKO. Some day I plan to own one.
2. WSKO setup and teardown time: It takes me about 5 minutes to set up, including running a power cord, and putting down my silly cookie sheet (to catch dust). Teardown takes a few minutes longer because I wipe down the machine with a wet rag (cleaning the metal dust off) and rinse the cookie sheet in a sink and dry it off. Then put everything away it the bag I store all of it in. So there's probably a 15 minute time investment in setup and teardown. Not too bad. But certainly WAY slower than whipping out my sharpmaker, touching up a few edges, and putting it back away. Setup and teardown on the sharpmaker is maybe 2 minutes total. Maybe.

I hope this helps give you a little more understanding of the platform and some considerations.

Brian.
 
KME is very quick once you get past the short learning curve. It is very reasonably priced as well.
 
Ditto, especially the blade grinder attachment. Banksy where are you buying belts? I bought a pack on Amazon but wasn't super impressed with their durability

banksy said:
The WS will produce a convex edge (unlike your WE) and will not produce the same 'exhibition qulaity' edges. If those are not important factors to you, then I highly recommend the WSKO with the blade grinder attachment.
Click to expand...
 
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