Work Sharp?

[afishhunter]

Aside from twice the price (give or take), and the color of a couple trim items, what is the difference between a standard Work Sharp, and a Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition?

 

[wally102]

It looks like the Ken Onion Edition has a variable speed drive, uses 3/4 inch belts, and has a rated duty cycle of 1 hour.
The standard edition has a fixed speed drive, uses 1/2 inch belts and has a rated duty cycle of 20 minutes.

 

[bgentry]

As the above poster said, the WSKO is variable speed. It can be run quite slowly, which is nice. Middle to upper middle speed (6 through 9 or so) are a great speed for not taking off too much at once, yet getting some work done.

It comes with several more grits of belts than the standard WS. I believe there are quite a few more types and grits of belts available for the WSKO as well. I have about 8 different grits and types for mine.

The WSKO comes with a fully adjustable angle guide, as opposed to the two angle, fixed guide, that comes with the standard WS. I do not use my angle guide; just mentioning it because it's part of the package.

The WSKO has a locking trigger so you can run it without holding the trigger down. Not sure if the standard WS does or not. I've used my WSKO quite a lot and recommend it.

Brian.

 

[CasePeanut]

What Brian said. Plus you can add the Blade Grinding Attachment to the WSKO. That turns it into a mini variable speed belt sander. Way more versatile and capable of doing more complex sharpening and blade repair/modifications.