The Work Sharp WSKTS Knife and Tool Sharpener is exactly the sharpener that I've been looking for! It quickly and easily makes a good convex edge on most blades, and it only took me a few minutes to get the hang of it. I profiled and sharpened three kitchen knives in five minutes, and a brush axe in ten minutes. The brush axe took more time both because the new edge profile was a lot different, and because it took me some practice to deal with the curving blade.
Pros
- It takes me an easy 35sec to change a belt.
- The belts are lasting well.
- It takes about 5 passes each side w/medium belt to put a convex edge on a typical blade.
- It takes 1-2 passes each side w/fine belt to sharpen a typical blade.
- Works for most any blade, even my Benchmade folding knife with thumbstud.
- Sharpens hard knives.
Cons
- The instructions are not great. You may round the tip or ruin a blade's temper if you follow them exactly.
- It would be easier to draw through true if the guide extended to either side 1/2", and was solid above the belt.
- Will only sharpen the flat side of a serrated blade. You'll need something like a tapering round sharpener to get the other side.
- The thumbstud on a folding knife may get in the way unless it is near the handle.
- The fine belt is generally good, but sometimes I want finer. I searched online, but couldn't find any.
- There is no 15deg knife guide.
- The WSKTS quickly gets hot; you're not supposed to use it for more than 20min.
Tips
- Practice drawing the blade through with the motor off.
- As you draw through, change the angle of the blade to keep the belt-to-edge contact uniform.
- The belt will conform to the knife tip as you draw it though, which will round the tip of the knife. I avoid this by drawing through the same, but turning off the motor just as the tip of the knife reaches the belt.
- During the initial edge re-profiling, be careful that the knife doesn't get too hot, which will ruin the temper. I worked with three knifes at a time to avoid this.
- I alternate sides every pass, both to help keep the edge symmetric, and to minimize the number of passes.
- I only use the downward side of the belt; this seems safer and perhaps the belt will last longer.
- For a curving blade like a brush axe, I work in sections, being careful to vary and feather the sections each pass.
I bought this device yesterday, and today about 20 of my kitchen knives are razor sharp. With a machine shop background, I was familiar with small "3 wheel belt sanders" - we used to sharpen shop tools with them 40 years ago! Work sharp has essentially crossed a mini - belt sander with a mini electric chainsaw power head and "Walla" - the Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener!!! Well built, and with angle guides to make sharpening a snap, it is a great little tool. One big advantage of this sharpener (over stones, wheels and other "hard" sharpeners) is that the belt will FLEX. That allows for contouring to a blade, and also prevents grinding off excessive metal. With three grades of abrasive belts, there is wide versatility for sharpening, grinding and honing. The belts seem to be holding up very well, and can be swapped out in just a few seconds. Also of interest to me is that the "belt head" can be rotated to several positions - allowing for standard sharpening, compact storage, and also use as a mini finishing / deburring tool! Quite ingenious.
As a former chef, restaurateur and food service professional, I've had a life-long interest in sharp knives. It took me years to master a good set of oil stones and no machine has come close to replacing them for me. Then along comes the Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener.
For my first trial, not wanting to risk a good knife to a machine, I selected an old abused chef's knife and in short order returned it to excellent working order using the Work Sharp! I discovered that the Work Sharp leaves no mess to clean up and poses very little risk to the blade, even in the hands of a novice.
Since that first blade, I have trued up numerous neglected knives in professional kitchens with the same great results. At less than half the price of a good set of oil stones, I recommend every professional and home cook add one to their must-have list!
I received the Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener as a gift, and I can honestly say this product is AWESOME!!! For years I have tried wet stones, oil stones, dry stones and all kinds of knife sharpening tools and for the life of me, I could never get a decent result! Within 5 minutes of receiving the Work Sharp product I had figured out how to use it (a quick glance through the manual is recommended, I know, real men do not read instructions, but in this case it really helps - especially when trying to figure out how to change the different levels of abrasive belts).
Needless to say, I probably sharpened 25 knives, including my wife's pride and joy Shun and Gerber knives, to razer sharp levels! The differing knife guides that come with the product make it really hard to screw-up! I am an accountant, not a mechanic, and I achieved amazing results. I went around the house sharpening the kitchen knives, my pocket knives and even some of my father's hunting knives that I inherited. Within 20 minutes, all of the knives were amazingly sharp!!!
The other nice thing is that I did not put scratched all over the blades, like what has happened to me in the past. This product really works well. I cannot give it any higher praise!!!!'
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