Any thoughts on this sharpener

[Jerry Jetzer]

A friend sent me a link to this new ( I think its new ) sharpener. I would entertain any comments for the experts on the forum about this type of sharpening method. http://www.worksharptools.com/

[wickededge]

I have one of these and it works well for certain things like lawnmower blades. I got to meet the owners of the company this year at Blade Show when they came by the booth – really nice people. They’d been sending us customers all weekend which was really thoughtful. I wouldn’t use one on my good knives because they remove a lot of metal quickly and round the points off, but they are great for tools and general purpose beater knives.

-Clay

[Jerry Jetzer]

Have you tried it on scissors ? Maybe that would be an inexpensive way to do them until something better comes along.

[Phil Pasteur]

I think that the system has been out there for a while. At least a couple of years. The video I watched promoting it talked about improvements over last year’s kits.
I have not used one of these, but having used a belt grinder for sharpening, I can concur with Clay. It is likely real easy to remove metal quickly. If one is not very careful, too quickly.

I would also be concerned about how fast it will go through belts, which are not cheap. Even with 42″ belts, they don’t last long with the harder steels. Due to these being so much smaller, they will wear out that much more quickly.

I have thought about trying one some day …just because it is neat idea and “relatively” portable.
If a good job on lawn mower blades are possible, that would make it even better. I usually get them close with the Kalamazoo, then finish with a file. I still have to wonder… how many blades per belt ??

[Jerry Jetzer]

I think I read some were that you get about 20 blades per belt. Not vary good in my book.

[Phil Pasteur]

Yes… and I doubt if that means 20 lawn mower blades… maybe 5, if you are lucky.
And it will depend on the grit of the belts as well.

[tcmeyer]

I bought one of these just to play with it and fully understand what it did to my blades. I found that it does a pretty fair job of getting a reasonable sharp edge in a hurry.

The problem I see is that it contours the edge (instead of a crisp flat bevel, you get a radiused, convex surface where the bevel should be. Once sharpened in this manner, it’s really difficult to re-sharpen the edge in the traditional flat bevel method.

I did switch most of my wife’s selection of kitchen knives to the WorkSharp, just to save time. This is especially helpful when there are deep nicks in a cheap blade. I’d rather not spend the time grinding away with my 100/200 sticks. She does have a handful of expensive knives that I only sharpen on the WickedEdge.

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