Will the Ken Onion Edition worksharp electric sharpener work on high end steels?

It will work, and I have used it (successfully) for everything from VG-10 and SAK stainless to 3V and M390. Everything in between. You just have to be careful not to take off too much steel. The hardness of the steel will determine how long it takes, but they are very effective and will put a razor edge on your blade once you get used to using it. My problem when I first bought one, was I thought I knew what I was doing, but in reality I was screwing things up. Definitely best to get yourself acclimated on cheap throwaways. You can always take more steel off, you can't put more back on.
 
I wonder how this electric sharpener compares to non-electric sharpening systems like the Sharpmaker (?)
 
I have one and have used it on S30V, 154CM, 154CPM, 14-4CrMo, and other steels.
I prefer it over the Edge Pro and the Wicked Edge as there's virtually no set up or clamps. No clamps means no marks on the blade, even coated ones.
Choose the belt grit, set the grind angle in degrees in 1 second, and have at it. Extremely quick to get a hair popping blade.
Lots of belt grit options to fine tune any edge. From Xtra Coarse for re-bevels, to 3K-6K grit if a Mirror Polished edge is your thing.
The belts can be changed in seconds also.
Everybody has their favorite sharpener(s). This one's mine for the above reasons.

YMMV...
 
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Works great on all steels for me so far, even higher vanadium steels. I purchased the optional blade grinder attachment kit and love it. I also picked up a leather belt and loaded it with green compound. I am achieving scary sharp results.
 
Wolverine666 said:
I wonder how this electric sharpener compares to non-electric sharpening systems like the Sharpmaker (?)
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I have both, use both, and have great results with both.

The WorkSharp is very quick, and as gzb says, very easy to swap out the belts for a different grit.

The Sharpmaker is very user friendly, and allows you to go until you like the finish. Changing angles is as quick and easy as it gets. You don't need electricity for it either, so set it up wherever you want.

I'd recommend getting used to whichever system you pick. Burn away at a couple Kershaws or something for awhile, and you'll refine your technique.
 
I have a S110V PM2 that I sharpened via WSKO with the blade guide set at 17.5*. It came out great including the chips I put in the factory edge (tip not excluded).

I practiced a bit first, mostly on cheep kitchen knives and a few old beaters.

Now, in the event my PM2 needs a touch up, the 20* Sharpmaker fine rods keep it hair-popping with negligible effort. (On a side note, I wasn't fond of S110V until I paired the WSKO and Sharpmaker together--now I'm a fan!)

The only "bad" I've got to say about the WSKO is that you MUST tape your blade if using the blade guide, or you'll scratch the crap out of it. Easy once you know that.

Also, if using the blade guide it's easy to get the secondary wider on one side than the other if you aren't paying attention. On one side the belt pulls down relative to the blade guide; it pulls up on the other. On the down side it can pull the blade deeper into the belt and make the secondary wider--again, recognizing this potential pitfall is 3/4 of the battle.

I've never had a problem with too much material coming off too fast, but I work slowly.

I have an old thread about S110V and the WSKO, if you're interested. http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/s110v-and-worksharp.1426734/
 
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The optional Blade Grinding Attachment transforms the WSKO into a much better system. With the BGA, you can see exactly what you're doing, and you have complete control over how the blade meets the belt. Of course, this means additional learning beyond the plain-vanilla WSKO -- but IMHO, it's very much worth the investment.
 
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Freehand sharpening takes great skill to be proficient at reprofiling an edge. For someone like me taking a chip out of a s35vn blade took all damn day.

That said touching up an edge freehand sharpening is amazing! Alot of times it isn't necessary to use a powered sharpening tool.
 
KnifeWizard said:
Cool, do you guys think it would be best to get this or just learn to freehand sharpen?
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I spent many years sharpening knives, woodworking chisels, plane irons, axes, etc with Japanese water stones. I always got excellent results, but the process was time consuming. Last year I bought a KO WS with the blade grinder attachment. It's a real time saver & I use it for everything from my finest knives to blades for the lawn tractor. For knife touch ups, I still use a Spyderco Sharpmaker.

A word of caution. If you don't have good basic sharpening skills to begin with, the only thing an electric sharpener will do is screw up a perfectly good blade faster than doing it by hand.
 
Ironbut said:
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A word of caution. If you don't have good basic sharpening skills to begin with, the only thing an electric sharpener will do is screw up a perfectly good blade faster than doing it by hand.
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I only screwed up every one of my knives on my Worksharp. All of my blades have too much material removed from the heel area. I'd recommend practicing heavily on cheap throw away knives to get yourself accustomed.

That being said I can get them fairly sharp, not hair splitting but enough to shave. I only have is the basic Worksharp, not the Ken Onion model. I could probably get my blades sharper with a proper stropping. The Ken Onion model has a better blade grinding attachment which is supposed to work wonders. That coupled with the speed adjustment probably helps.


The KME is in my future though...
 
If you get the diamond belts it will be fine. The other belts will work but some metals will just wear them out faster.

I don't find the convex edge good for high carbide steel. Just doesn't last very long in use.

I find the work sharp requires lots of practice in order to not scratch the blade, dull the tip and get even edge bevels. So I switched to other systems that did v grinds instead.
 
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Wolverine666 said:
I wonder how this electric sharpener compares to non-electric sharpening systems like the Sharpmaker (?)
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The electric sharpener will be much better for doing more major reprofiling work or taking chips out of an edge. Freehand systems are much better for doing little touch ups though without removing too much steel.

Ideally you would use a system like the Worksharp to set yourself a good edge. Then as long as you freehand touch up your edge often enough that it doesn't get dull you will be golden. That's why it is actually possible to spend less time overall sharpening supersteels. If you just keep touching them up so they never go truly dull it can be very quick and painless.
 
BBuser said:
The diamond belts say they're for ceramic, right? Can we just ignore that?
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Yea. Use them on any steel if you like.

I had a d2 blade and none of the work sharp belts were working at all. I went through a bunch of them. As soon as I got the diamond belts it sharpened. I was amazed how great it worked too. Especially since none of the standard belts worked at all. Tbo I think my d2 blade is 60-61 using cryo. In any case the diamond belts are way faster for most steel. Just don't waste them on the lesser steel like vg10 when the standard belts will work just fine. I would use the diamond belts on high carbide steel like the s30v and s90v & D2 but you'll have to experiment with which you like better for m390/20cv/204p cause diamond isn't necessarily required for them, it's just faster.
 
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Lapedog said:
The electric sharpener will be much better for doing more major reprofiling work or taking chips out of an edge. Freehand systems are much better for doing little touch ups though without removing too much steel.

Ideally you would use a system like the Worksharp to set yourself a good edge. Then as long as you freehand touch up your edge often enough that it doesn't get dull you will be golden. That's why it is actually possible to spend less time overall sharpening supersteels. If you just keep touching them up so they never go truly dull it can be very quick and painless.
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Here's the problem with that. Worksharp edges are convex. Guided sharpening is v grind. Grinding wheels are hollow grind and bench stones you can get either convex or v grind. So stick with one or the other for the most part. I would not use one over the other to remove chips. You can do that with any of the systems.
 
Mo2 said:
Here's the problem with that. Worksharp edges are convex. Guided sharpening is v grind. Grinding wheels are hollow grind and bench stones you can get either convex or v grind. So stick with one or the other for the most part. I would not use one over the other to remove chips. You can do that with any of the systems.
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Not really... if you know how each one works, and how they interact... it's pretty easy to "mix and match". For example, many sharpeners will do the "grunt work" on a belt sander, then finish with a stone for the final edge. No big deal... just gotta understand what's going on.
 
Mo2 said:
Here's the problem with that. Worksharp edges are convex. Guided sharpening is v grind. Grinding wheels are hollow grind and bench stones you can get either convex or v grind. So stick with one or the other for the most part. I would not use one over the other to remove chips. You can do that with any of the systems.
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I'm not necessarily saying you should use the WS to profile your edge and then use the SM on the same knife. I know about the convex edge issue all too welll. Just saying that power systems take off alot more steel alot faster, and thus are better for reprofiling.
 
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BBuser said:
The diamond belts say they're for ceramic, right? Can we just ignore that?
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There's good reason for that warning. Diamond is carbon, and the iron in a steel blade has a chemical affiinity for carbon when the two are heated to high temperature (as happens on powered, uncooled sharpening). It's the chemical basis for how steel is made, in combining iron + carbon at high temperatures. The belt will be ruined in the process as the diamond breaks down with heat and gives up it's carbon to the chemical reaction with the iron. Industry generally avoids using uncooled diamond wheels or belts for grinding steel, for this reason, as it kills the tool's abrasive fast and gets very expensive.

Quoted from WorkSharp's own description for the belts ( http://www.worksharptools.com/belts-abrasives/wssa0002970.html ) :
"Do not use diamond belts with metal blades. It won't hurt your knives, but metal blades will clog the belts and render them useless."
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David
 
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