Work Sharp?

K

Kcuff

Joined
Aug 27, 2012
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I found a fairly inexpensive sharpening system for putting convex edges on knives called the Work Sharp WSKTS. I was wondering if anyone has heard of them, or had any experience using this system.
Any help would be greatly appreciated :)
Thanks
Kevin
 
Yeah, i would not bother with it. You can round the tip, and easily take off too much material. I bought one mainly to have a simple way to sharpen my lawn mower blades, and tried it on a few knives. I don't regret buying it as it will be a handy little belt sander, but my nice pocket knives will not be touching it. It worked alright for my 8" chefs knife, but I did ever so slightly round the tip on my Sage 2. I would recommend a Sharpmaker from Spyderco for a similar price.
 
I've had better luck with mine. If you get one, you should definitely practice with some cheap kitchen knives first. (go to Goodwill and get a bunch of one dollar knives) Being a belt type grinder, there is enough slack in the belt to wrap around the tip of the knife, and round it off. I've learned to stop just short of the tip on the pass, and then I finish the point by hand on a stone. It only takes a moment's carelessness to mess up. Other than that, I've found it very useful when I have an edge that is all chipped up and I want to remove more metal than I have the patience for- it would take weeks on a sharpmaker!

Search the forums, and you will find a couple of long threads on the Work Sharp, There is some very useful advise there. (though I admit it's not for everyone)
 
r8shell pretty much has it right. When I use mine, I don't pull the tip all the way through the belt. I stop about half way across and remove the knife. You do have to be careful with the tip, as with any other type of sharpener, or you stand the chance of damaging it. It is a great little tool for the price, and I wouldn't trade for mine. It gets lots of use. I don't use the supplied guide. I freehand it up close near the top roller where the belt has less give, and then only on the down side for edge trailing use.

Blessings,

Omar
 
Thanks everyone. Very helpful. Ya I figured I'd hand sharpen the tip. Thanks!
I may have to get one next paycheck!
 
has anyone put a plate at the back of the belt to stop it messing the tip of the blade or is that not possible
ive been looking at these for all my sharp things
 
I love the Worksharp. But you definitely need to be careful about the tip. Once you learn that however, it is great. Light pressure and you will have a shaving sharp blade in minutes. :)
 
As others have said, it can damage tips but I think its a fairly easy problem to get avoid. I dont use the guide at all and stop while the tip is in about the middle of the belt. After I started doing this, I havent had any problems with rounded tips. If you dont drag the tip off the belt, use the proper grits, and practice on a couple of cheap knives first, the wskts is safe for any blade. Like all powered sharpeners, it can mess up a blade fast if you dont use it properly but that's just the nature of the beast - if it can sharpen a blade fast, it can screw it up just as fast.

As I said, I dont use the guide so I hold the knife straight up to set the angle. I use the device at about waist height so Im almost directly over it when sharpening. Straight up and down is 20 degrees a side if the wskts is on a flat surface. To use different angles I set it on an angled surface which is just a small board with whatever's handy propping up one side. I set whatever angle I want using an angle level. i.e. 5 degrees will give 15 degrees a side when subtracted from the default wskts 20. When using this method, I can only use one side of the triangle (other side would be 20+5 instead of 20-5) so I use my left and right hands and go in opposite directions.

All in all, I have to say that I can get better, more consistent results with the wskts than anything else. I can do ok freehand (arm hair shaving, phone book paper push cutting) but my bevels arent near as nice to look at as some of the experts here. With the work sharp, I get the knife just as sharp or sharper in a fraction of the time, and the bevels look a lot nicer than my freehand sharpened knives. Im still trying to get better at free handing since I like doing it, but I doubt I'll ever be able to match the results I get with the wskts no matter how much I practice. If I was only interested in function and not the hobby aspects of sharpening, I probably wouldnt bother with free handing at all since the light at the end of the tunnel is so far off (the light being the ability to get knives sharper).


tl;dr - the wskts is a great tool. Its fast, gets knives very sharp with a minimum of skill, and wont damage your knives if used correctly (note - in my case, correctly isnt according to the manufacturers instructions).
 
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