Worksharp for reprofiling then to kme?

[Skane24]

I was really interested in the worksharp ken onion edition, due to the fact that It could make reprofiling go a lot faster, however, I know that the worksharp puts a convex edge on, and I know sharpening with a guided system generally gives a Straight V edge.

Would using the worksharp to reprofile knives and then bringing them over to the KME work well?

I currently have 50, 100, 140, 300, 600, 1500 grit diamond stones, as well as the CBN emulsions. I was wondering about getting one or two Arkansas stones for further grit progression before going to the CBN emulsions. Would I benefit from that, and if so what Arkansas stones would that be?

I do not currently have the lapping films and don’t know if I should get them or not.

 

[mhutch]

I'm not quite as experienced as some of these other fellows but I've been using a WSKO blade grinding attachment for reprofiling recently so I can offer an opinion. The short story is it isn't necessarily as fast as I expected or hoped for it to be. The coarsest belt I could get from Work Sharp is an 80 grit and it certainly takes off a decent amount of steel but I can remove steel about as fast using a coarse bench stone. I have a Norton Crystolon that removes steel just as quickly as my WSKO, and I would bet there are diamond stones and water stones that are just as fast. The advantage of the WSKO is that it requires a lot less skill than free-hand sharpening so you can make faster passes without having to concentrate as much. That said, because you can easily overheat a blade on the WSKO you will have to be cautious with it. I never run it on the highest speed (usually about on the lowest setting though I was just recently told to use a higher setting so I don't burn up the motor) and I take breaks between passes to dunk the blade in water to help it cool down. Given that context, I would be willing to bet that there are skilled sharpeners who can reprofile a blade free-hand as quickly as I can with my WSKO. I haven't used a KME so I can't comment on it specifically but it does share a similar advantage as the WSKO in that you don't have to be quite as focused as you do when grinding free-hand which I would think translates into higher efficiency to some extent. If I were in your shoes and felt that the KME was too tedious I would consider getting a Universal Stone Holder from Gritomatic so that you can use larger stones with the KME. That upgrade with an aggressive diamond or silicon carbide stone might make a big difference, and could very well be faster than a WSKO. I'm currently trying to figure that out for myself.

 

[Skane24]

I'm not quite as experienced as some of these other fellows but I've been using a WSKO blade grinding attachment for reprofiling recently so I can offer an opinion. The short story is it isn't necessarily as fast as I expected or hoped for it to be. The coarsest belt I could get from Work Sharp is an 80 grit and it certainly takes off a decent amount of steel but I can remove steel about as fast using a coarse bench stone. I have a Norton Crystolon that removes steel just as quickly as my WSKO, and I would bet there are diamond stones and water stones that are just as fast. The advantage of the WSKO is that it requires a lot less skill than free-hand sharpening so you can make faster passes without having to concentrate as much. That said, because you can easily overheat a blade on the WSKO you will have to be cautious with it. I never run it on the highest speed (usually about on the lowest setting though I was just recently told to use a higher setting so I don't burn up the motor) and I take breaks between passes to dunk the blade in water to help it cool down. Given that context, I would be willing to bet that there are skilled sharpeners who can reprofile a blade free-hand as quickly as I can with my WSKO. I haven't used a KME so I can't comment on it specifically but it does share a similar advantage as the WSKO in that you don't have to be quite as focused as you do when grinding free-hand which I would think translates into higher efficiency to some extent. If I were in your shoes and felt that the KME was too tedious I would consider getting a Universal Stone Holder from Gritomatic so that you can use larger stones with the KME. That upgrade with an aggressive diamond or silicon carbide stone might make a big difference, and could very well be faster than a WSKO. I'm currently trying to figure that out for myself.

I’ll take a look into that for sure! I know when reprofiling a knife from like 30 degrees down to 17, is a very very time intensive task, even with a 50 grit diamond stone.

I honestly just now need advice on what other KME goodies I need to get, I think I’m gonna skip out on the worksharp, as I would bet I can get better edges on just the kme, not to diss the WSKO. I’d love to have it, along with a wicked edge, hapstone etc, but as unfortunate as it is, I don’t have unlimited funds

 

[RayseM]

I have both now - just started using the Work Sharp recently and my updated answer - save the KME money and upgrade the Ken Onion with the Work Sharp blade sharpening attachment. With that attachment you can grind flat or convex and to a range of angles - low to high that will satisfy any knife use. Easy enough to swap out the Blade attachment back to the regular Ken Onion set up for use on axe heads and the like. I am absolutely happy with the WS ELITE (that is the Ken Onion - PLUS - the Blade Sharpening Attachment) and will soon be selling the KME. No looking back. The WS with a Spyderco SharpMaker are perfect companions on the bench for keeping al my knife edges beautifully sharpened.