WSKT-KO saved my sanity

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wvdavidr

Joined
Mar 21, 2007
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A friend brought his Henckels knives for sharpening. These are professional-grade from when he was in the restaurant trade years ago. The were not abused (bent, chipped, etc.) but had probably never been sharpened and the cutting bevels were gone. The were probably the dullest knives I have ever sharpened. :eek:

I attacked the paring knife first with the Edge Pro Apex with factory stones. I quickly figured out the 220 was not getting anywhere. I went to the 120. Over an hour later I finally reached a burr on each side. By the 1:30 mark, it was a nice knife again. The boning knife was turning into another battle, with four more to go. I was overwhelmed... other things I wanted to do this week!

The Worksharp Ken Onion was warming up on the sidelines. Since it was a windy say, I could use it outside w/o a particle mask, so in it comes. It took maybe 45 mins. to reestablish the bevels on the rest (including a chef's knive and a santoku). I should be able to finish those on the Edge Pro or the finishing wheel on the paper wheels. I'm soooo glad I have it and the information I have acquired from you all on this site! :)

Good sharpening,
Dave
 
I agree. The WSKT is a great system to use by itself or you can use it to establish a good bevel, bring it down with finer grits, then finish off with whatever manual system you prefer.
 
That's a great story that illustrates what "typical kitchen knives" look like when someone decides to have them sharpened. As you said, very little to no original bevels left. I got dozens and dozens of these brought to me for a while. It's actually why I bought the WSKO in the first place.

I found later that the P120 belt just wasn't doing it for me fast enough. So I bought the stiff x200, stiff x100, and a 60 grit ceramic. Generally, the x200 gets the job done, but sometimes I go all the way down to the 60 grit to really take metal off. Running the machine at full speed works well, but it's so noisy (belt against blade high pitched metal sound) that I prefer to run it at middle or 3/4 speed instead.

A "real" belt sander would no doubt be faster. But the WSKO is a really cool compromise machine that's super portable, easy to set up, and removes metal at a decent pace. It's not a pro machine, but it's not advertised as one either. :)

Enjoy yours.

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
A "real" belt sander would no doubt be faster. But the WSKO is a really cool compromise machine that's super portable, easy to set up, and removes metal at a decent pace. It's not a pro machine, but it's not advertised as one either. :)

Enjoy yours.

Brian.
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Would I be confessing to an egregious sin if I said I bought some Norton sanding belts 3" x 18" in 50, 80, and 120 grits and split them into 1" x 18" with an Exacto knife? I used the 80 and 120 grits to fixed chipped blades that much faster.
 
I also own both the Edge Pro Apex along with the Work Sharp with the blade grinding attachment. Both systems absolutely provide the same end result, which is screaming sharp edges along with a mirror finish if you so desire. I've only had my Work Sharp for around 6 weeks, but have had my Edge Pro for over 4yrs. I use Chosera stones with my Edge Pro, along with a couple diamond plates for faster material removal. Even with the superior stones, the Edge Pro cannot even come close to competing with the Work Sharp as far as speed goes. It is without a doubt my system of choice for sharpening kitchen knife sets for family/friends. I can do an entire set start to finish in the time it would take me to do one full size chef knife along with possibly a pairing knife on the Edge Pro.

I also recently bought some Shapton pro bench stones for thinning behind the edge on some of my knives, but have found that I can do that on the blade grinding attachment very well. I'm a sharpening junkie and have multiple different systems to sharpen with, but I'm finding it hard to use anything other than my new Work Sharp with the BGA. It just does such a great job, but the most important fact is that it does everything SO much faster. Anyone that owns the Ken Onion edition owes it to themselves to pick up the blade grinding attachment. It makes what already is a nice machine MUCH better. Like many have already said, even though keeping your angle on it is "freehand", with very little practice it is actually easier to maintain the angle than using the original guide.
 
Does somebody have real experience with WSKTS for sharpening ceramic knives? If some special know-how is needed (in comparison with steel knives sharpening).
 
bigsteven,

I have been successful using the basic Worksharp to repair the broken tip on a ceramic paring knife using the 180 (about 60 micron) and 1500 (5 micron) grit diamond belts that Worksharp sells on their website and Amazon. Have been relatively successful sharpening, but the knives I start with are badly chipped or worse. Ceramic knives will readily chip or break because of their hard brittle nature, so care needs be taken in using and sharpening. Wear a good mask. You don't want to inhale zirconium dust. And you will get dust. Clean and blow out your Worksharp often.

Kwackster, a forum member, in an earlier thread has been pushing the limits sharpening some ceramic knives with various sub micron diamond grits. I don't think he used the work sharp though. The main thing in sharpening ceramic is to reduce and eliminate any chips and microchips and thus eliminate the "stress risers" on the edge. Microscopic viewing is needed to assess your success at chip elimination and edge refinement.

I intend to experiment with sub micron diamond grits to improve my ceramic sharpening technique as I consider myself still beginner level.

bill

ps. search: Forever SC-16WB ceramic knife (thread posted by kwackster).
 
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william c. - thanks for your experiences...do you have an idea, how long will keep the diamond belts - when sharpening broken ceramic knife?
 
Rey HRH said:
Would I be confessing to an egregious sin if I said I bought some Norton sanding belts 3" x 18" in 50, 80, and 120 grits and split them into 1" x 18" with an Exacto knife? I used the 80 and 120 grits to fixed chipped blades that much faster.
Click to expand...

I am curious, months later, if you have had good results with those belts. Have they held up?
Thanks,
Dave
 
I like the KO but for me the blade grinder attachment makes it a great system. I never use mine in the original configuration, it always has the blade grinder attached.
 
wvdavidr said:
I am curious, months later, if you have had good results with those belts. Have they held up?
Thanks,
Dave
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Yes, they have held up. I've stopped using the 50 as it was too aggressive. The 80 is just one step away from the 120 which is the coarsest grit in the original set. I use it for rebeveling and chip repair. I had one of the 80 grit belts break on me but it wasn't a big deal. It didn't even startle me too much. The key I learned was to use light pressure. You just want to press the blade surface as deep into the belt for the grit to scratch the surface. Any deeper and you start gouging from the edge where the belt meets the blade and making the grit plow through that metal. Best is just letting the grit skim the metal off the surface of the blade.
 
I only wish it came with an angle guide lower than 15 dps! I know, we can use it freehand but still.
 
Rey HRH said:
Yes, they have held up. I've stopped using the 50 as it was too aggressive. The 80 is just one step away from the 120 which is the coarsest grit in the original set. I use it for rebeveling and chip repair. I had one of the 80 grit belts break on me but it wasn't a big deal. It didn't even startle me too much. The key I learned was to use light pressure. You just want to press the blade surface as deep into the belt for the grit to scratch the surface. Any deeper and you start gouging from the edge where the belt meets the blade and making the grit plow through that metal. Best is just letting the grit skim the metal off the surface of the blade.
Click to expand...

Thanks I was curious too.


awestib said:
I only wish it came with an angle guide lower than 15 dps! I know, we can use it freehand but still.
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If it came at 10, you'd want 5... :rolleyes:

Seriously though... if going lower matters... consider the BGA, because if low angles matter to you, you'd probably appreciate/benefit from the additional freedom/capabilities the BGA offers.
 
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