Work Sharp Ken Onion edition is FREAKIN' AWESOME! Long Post

Here's my video on the Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition:

[video=youtube;-on0bNF7tfQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-on0bNF7tfQ[/video]
 
Great video!

I'm surprised noone here has latched onto the "Blade Grinding Attachment"... I've been using it for a while now, and it's great. I'd do a video, but WorkSharp just came out with one, and it's pretty simple to use....

[video=youtube;dQv_tVLVSMo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQv_tVLVSMo[/video]

... and gives excellent results.

If you're into the Ken Onion Sharpener.... definitely something you should consider adding in my opinion.
 
The blade grinding attachment looks awesome to me. But I have a hard time justifying it in terms of money. It turns kind of an expensive portable system into a really expensive portable system. For the same money I could buy 8 Harbor Freight 1x30 machines that grind much faster. Or perhaps a complete Kalamazoo grinder. Neither are portable, but I think I'm already at the point of diminishing returns for this product. Don't get me wrong: I think the WSKO is AWESOME, and I've done a TON of work using it, saving me a lot of work that I would otherwise do by hand.

Brian.
 
John, what is with the ka ka angle of the sharpening belt? You have it set so the belt on one side is plumb with the guide off. Run it with the guide, in a pyramid configuration.

In the pyramid configuration, the blade is plumb, going against the belt, at apx a 20 degree angle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the "Blade Grinding Attachment"... is on back order, I have one purchased, waiting to be shipped. This gives more options for belts, including a 12,000 grit and a leather strop.

This smokes the Harbor Freight belt sanders, because of the angle settings, and especially the infinite speed settings. I guess it is the Harbor Freight sanders that smokes, to put it correctly. Smokes the temper out of the knife blades! lol

What this system does not do, it precisely set the grind angle, like Wicked Edge, Edge Pro, KME, Lansky, and others. Not yet. I am building a jig, like is used on wet sharpeners. I will post pics as progress continues.

Yes, this WorkSharp system will give you a near perfect sharpness, but what it will not do, is give a museum quality magnified edge with no dings to the sharpening areas, like a true jig sharpener system does. If you want anal, no magnified detail missed, no unwanted areas touched with a rub of abrasive, a true jig system is needed. I think a true, detailed jig can be made for the WorkSharp system.
 
bgentry said:
The blade grinding attachment looks awesome to me. But I have a hard time justifying it in terms of money. It turns kind of an expensive portable system into a really expensive portable system. For the same money I could buy 8 Harbor Freight 1x30 machines that grind much faster. Or perhaps a complete Kalamazoo grinder. Neither are portable, but I think I'm already at the point of diminishing returns for this product. Don't get me wrong: I think the WSKO is AWESOME, and I've done a TON of work using it, saving me a lot of work that I would otherwise do by hand.

Brian.
Click to expand...

Good point, although as NRA noted, it's on a different level than the sanders/grinders you mentioned... a better comparison might be to a variable speed setup? I'm not sure speed is necessarily what you want in a sharpening system (especially the level of the HF sander, although it can be dealt with)... I found years ago being able to slow a belt grinder down to be a huge improvement in sharpening. I've made a few minor repairs: chipped edges, broken tips, etc. and even these go pretty quickly. Another plus to the WorkSharp attachment is the nice "defined" area of the belt to sharpen on... the area between the two top wheels gives a nice repeatable area to work on... in addition to setting the angle with the belt and just holding the blade level.

NRA said:
This smokes the Harbor Freight belt sanders, because of the angle settings, and especially the infinite speed settings. I guess it is the Harbor Freight sanders that smokes, to put it correctly. Smokes the temper out of the knife blades! lol

What this system does not do, it precisely set the grind angle, like Wicked Edge, Edge Pro, KME, Lansky, and others. Not yet. I am building a jig, like is used on wet sharpeners. I will post pics as progress continues.

Yes, this WorkSharp system will give you a near perfect sharpness, but what it will not do, is give a museum quality magnified edge with no dings to the sharpening areas, like a true jig sharpener system does. If you want anal, no magnified detail missed, no unwanted areas touched with a rub of abrasive, a true jig system is needed. I think a true, detailed jig can be made for the WorkSharp system.
Click to expand...

I think you hit the nail on the head... between that and other features, it's no comparison to a HF sander.

Be interesting to see the jig you come up with... although the current setup of setting the angle on the belt, and using the "reference plate" to "set" the blade at 90 deg. is pretty darn accurate. (Of course there's always room for improvement). :)
 
I just got my Work Sharp with the blade attach,ent. Sharpened my first two knives with it no problem. Please post details of your jig when it's complete. It's something I would definitely be interested in.
 
My jig will have a laser angle tool. When the correct angle is being held, a laser mark hits the blade. Parts are on order, laser arrives Wednesday.

One main component is on back order from WorkSharp, the grinding attachment.
 
Have any of you guys tried scotch-brite wheels on the Work Sharp Ken Onion edition? I found 1" x 18" belts on amazon (not sure if I'm allowed to post a link) that can be used on the blade grinding attachment. I would like to use them to give a satin finish to some of my blades. Which ones should i buy in order to do this?
 
Well this post emptied my pockets for the month :-)

So I have green compound and black emery and don't want to pay $29 just for the 1 x 18" leather belt from Work Sharp.

I'm thinking I want to buy a 1 x 42 belt and lap-joint two 1 x 18" belts out of that. While I'm buying that from econabrasives, should I buy any other supplies for the WSKO as well? I'm thinking I'll just use this tool with the blade grinder attachments so 1 x 12" belts won't be much use to me.

Thanks
 
Darex recommended to me that I use the 6000 belt as a compound loading belt. They said turn it inside out and apply green compound to it and it would work really well. I haven't had the need thus far, as the truly abrasive belts do such a good job. But it's something to consider.

Brian.
 
D
NRA said:
John, what is with the ka ka angle of the sharpening belt? You have it set so the belt on one side is plumb with the guide off. Run it with the guide, in a pyramid configuration.

In the pyramid configuration, the blade is plumb, going against the belt, at apx a 20 degree angle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the "Blade Grinding Attachment"... is on back order, I have one purchased, waiting to be shipped. This gives more options for belts, including a 12,000 grit and a leather strop.

This smokes the Harbor Freight belt sanders, because of the angle settings, and especially the infinite speed settings. I guess it is the Harbor Freight sanders that smokes, to put it correctly. Smokes the temper out of the knife blades! lol

What this system does not do, it precisely set the grind angle, like Wicked Edge, Edge Pro, KME, Lansky, and others. Not yet. I am building a jig, like is used on wet sharpeners. I will post pics as progress continues.

Yes, this WorkSharp system will give you a near perfect sharpness, but what it will not do, is give a museum quality magnified edge with no dings to the sharpening areas, like a true jig sharpener system does. If you want anal, no magnified detail missed, no unwanted areas touched with a rub of abrasive, a true jig system is needed. I think a true, detailed jig can be made for the WorkSharp system.
Click to expand...
 
What this system does not do, it precisely set the grind angle, like Wicked Edge, Edge Pro, KME, Lansky, and others. Not yet. I am building a jig, like is used on wet sharpeners. I will post pics as progress continues.

Yes, this WorkSharp system will give you a near perfect sharpness, but what it will not do, is give a museum quality magnified edge with no dings to the sharpening areas, like a true jig sharpener system does. If you want anal, no magnified detail missed, no unwanted areas touched with a rub of abrasive, a true jig system is needed. I think a true, detailed jig can be made for the WorkSharp system.
Click to expand...

Did you ever make a jig for the KOWS blade grinding attachment? I’m curious if sharpening accuracy can be improved further with a jig....
 
BrandtSmith said:
Did you ever make a jig for the KOWS blade grinding attachment? I’m curious if sharpening accuracy can be improved further with a jig....
Click to expand...

I think the simplest way to create a “jig” would be to have some sort of flat base where you rest your knife horizontally as it hits the belt. This would ensure that the knife is held at a constant 90 degrees. I bet one could be fabricated easily and bolted onto the BGA. Maybe someone could 3D print something?
 
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I wanted a way to hang up my BGA belts for storage, but also an easy way to move them around. I do some sharpening in the house, but the more involved reprofiling happens outside in the garage and its annoying to move all the belts around.

This was $1 as an add-on item from the Big River site. The belts touch each other, but I'm not too worried about most of them. I have the stropping belts with compound in plastic baggies that hang off the ends to keep them separate. Its sold as an Organize It All 0315W-B Belt Rack

51alQFDMuaL._SL1254_.jpg
 
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