Work Sharp Mk2

[Lorin Cupples]

Eachsharpening machine from Work Sharp comes with a three-year warranty and is

designed, engineered, and calibrated at our 100% solar-powered facility in Ashland, Oregon.

We source our materials from the highest-caliber manufacturers and are committed to

eliminating single-use plastics from our supply chain. And you can count on our industry-leading

customer support for any of our Kitchen, Field, or Benchtop sharpeners.

Tech Support for Work Sharp here. When sharpening and progressing through each grit, the edge may be slightly skewed when changing abrasives due to the difference in grits itself. Have you tried adjusting the skew lever? If you are coming up witha negative skew(right side is higher) then you will need to raise the lever. If you are coming up with positive skew(left side higher) then lower it. Finding the "right" spot can be tedious so move it in small incriments. Also, you won't be able to tell which side you are higher on until you complete the process. Start with the P80 then follow through until you reach the P1000. If it is still skewed, then you'll know whether to raise or lower the lever. From this point, you can start the grind using the P120 or P220, depending on how much material actually needs to be removed. Try coloring the bevel of your chisel with a sharpie and grind on the same abrasive until the marker is completely gone. This will ensure that you have removed the right amount of material before you change grits. If you need further assistance, feel free to call into tech support at 1.800.418.1439.

When we set it at the factory, we do a test sharpen on every machine to ensure it meets our tolerances. We use one chisel and one grit. If it squares- we know it is capable of being adjusted if necessary. However, this may get jostled during shipping and may need to be re-set similar to the problem you are having. So, is it trial and error? No, we do a test sharpening and make a small adjustment if we find a problem.

I know I'm posting a question about a power tool in the hand tool section, but I thought it was appropriate since the power tool is used to sharpen hand tools. Anyways, does or has anyone use a work sharp for chisels and planes? Does it overheat them? Does it provide a good edge?

Although I use waterstones or scary sharp for maintenance and final sharpening, I do use the Worksharp as part of the 'preparation' of irons and chisels, to either flatten the back or do the bulk of the work on the bevel if a lot of material needs to be removed (e.g. from a chip). Even though I use it infrequently, I like it.

I use mine for all sharpening. It is fast and make all blades supper sharp. I would recommend it fir the smallest of chisels. 1/8. It can roundiver the edge ir the back. This sounds silly. But I times how long it took a new chisel. To super sharp. Only 7 minutes. I should have bout it years ago.

i agree with most of the above posts, I too use it for some chisels specifically my mortise chisels that I don't need that hand made razors edge on plus I can do a QUICK touchup in the middle of the project. I also really liked it in assisting me it getting things "flatter" first and then moving over to the Shaptpton stones. Regarding the heating issue the smaller width chisels do tend to get a little toasty pretty quick but I alternate them in and out of the chest freezer which happens to be my sharpening table as well (oh my tiny shop woes) and it does help. It is a nice tool to have that can save some time but I DO NOT consider it a replacement to my water stones because with those and my MK II veritas guide I can make things wicked sharp. Would I get one again...you bet.

I bought a Worksharp 3000 early on, and then moved onto waterstones with a honing guide, and recently onto a modified version of Paul Seller's method which includes freehanding on a combination of diamond plates and then stropping on leather (or in my case an 8000 grit waterstone).

I personally will not use the Worksharp again to flatten or polish the backs of any chisel or plane iron. I feel it is not really well suited for that purpose, and the abrasive disks get consumed too quickly if used for flattening. The wheel really grabs on the leading side even when carefully "laying down" the back. My attempts were typically dubbed on one side of the chisel due to the grabbing. I was also not fond of the way the wheel can only polish the first inch or two of the back along an arc. I prefer to have the entire chisel back flat, and polish at least the first inch or two if not more. I find that I can flatten more safely and evenly using 3"x8" strip of 80-120 grit paper laid wet on top of a duo-sharp plate or other flat surface. Perhaps this just reflects my inexperience with the Worksharp more than anything else.

As far as bevels are concerned, the Worksharp works well enough, but I found that the sharpening port can put scratches on the back of my polished back if I used the self-adhesive abrasive they supply for relieving the burr. I took out the insert and just use it against the bare aluminum, and tried to make sure any metal dust does not settle on the bed of the port where it can also scratch the polished back. Because of this, removing the burr required an additional step for me. I also have the wide blade jig and optional table for wider plane blades. I found that wide jig to work pretty well, but had a hard time finding an effective method for introducing any camber to plane irons while using that jig.

I also have the leather strop disk (got that on super sale one year). Seems to work well, but I have not yet embraced "power" stropping for fear of dubbing over edges. I will have to try again with the lightest of touch...

In conclusion, I can see someone using the Worksharp effectively for bevel work, either to correct geometry or polish a microbevel.However, I do not think it is the proper tool for flattening or polishing backs.

When I received the Opinel No. 8 Trekking above it left a bit to be desired. The edge has a pretty noticeable burr and it needed some work all around. Within 20 Minutes of working the Opinel across the diamond stones and then on to the Ceramic Rods, it was surgically sharp.

Ethics Statement: I personally purchased my Work Sharp Field Sharpener. Work Sharp has not previously proof-read or influenced this article in any way. All opinions, statements, and content are my own.

This last year I decided to try out a fixed blade knife for processing game instead of constantly having to remember to refill my replaceable blades. Once I settled on the Benchmade Altitude, I knew that a fixed blade is only as good as how sharp you keep it. With that in mind, I set off to find a small, lightweight and convenient sharpener that I could trust and rely upon while hunting.

After doing a lot of research and learning about the pros and cons of different sharpeners, as well as how they work with certain types of steel, I landed upon the Work Sharp Guided Field Sharpener. The Guided Field Sharpener is not the smallest or lightest offering from Work Sharp, but it is the most ideal for what I needed from a sharpener.

The Sharpener has quite an array of features for being so small. It will sharpen serrated blades, fish hooks and even broadheads. It has a leather strop to finish blades to a fine edge and you can rotate the ceramic rod for a coarse or fine finish. The sharpener also includes a 20 angled guide to help with the edge on both fine and coarse diamond plates. It also comes with a small instruction guide on the inside and back of one of the diamond plates.

If you are interested in getting your hands on a Work Sharp guided field sharpener, I highly recommend them. The ease of use and dependability of the sharpener are excellent, especially when coupled with its size and weight. The ability to keep and maintain a sharp edge on your knives while out in the field is not only a necessity but also paramount for safety.

For the most part powered sharpeners, like the electric models found in many kitchens, are off the menu. Most are too rough on blades to consider as real alternatives. They are cringe-inducing, especially when you imagine hauling a beautiful edge from a Spyderco Chaparral or a Chris Reeve Mnandi through their terrible jaws. The Worksharp is the first and only powered sharpener I have used that didn't make me want to cry.

Then Worksharp reached out to me and offered be a chance to use the Ken Onion Worksharp along with the grinder attachment. I took them up on it and I am glad I did. The Worksharp is, without question, the most fun I have had with knives in years. Since unboxing the kit it has sat, plugged in on my workshop bench, ready to burnish blades to brilliant beauty (oh...). My BK9 has a new edge on it, as does my Schrade SCH36, and a dozen or so other blades. And these aren't the toothy chop jobs you typically get on big knives--these are real, useful, and high end edges. I have never had a 1/4 inch thick blade get sharp enough to slice (not tear) paper towels. Now I have two of them--both big choppers are hair-popping sharp.

In this review I will take a look at the Worksharp and the grinder attachment. Worksharp also sent me their manual sharpener, which is also amazing and the best manual sharpener I have used, but I will leave that review for another day.

In case you are unaware, the Worksharp is a powered sharpening system. It looks like the handle and motor of a corded drill with a weird attachment where the drill chuck should be. The Ken Onion version is distinguished from the regular version by have a beefier motor and more ergonomic handle.

It also has a more robust duty cycle, capable of being run for an hour straight (compared to 20 minutes out of an hour...a limitation you will probably never run up against in real world use). Finally, the Ken Onion version has a variable speed trigger allowing you to do honing as well as high speed reshaping of edges.

Both attachments have a wide variety of adjustments that can be made to accommodate different grinds, blade thicknesses, and the angle of the edge you wish to put on the blade. The results, given the belt system used, is a micro convex edge, something like the Bark River convex edge, but only on the actual cutting bevel. My review sample came with four belts for each attachment (they use different length belts, the guide runs 3/4" x 12" belts and the grinder runs 1" x 18" belts, which is something of a design swing and miss): coarse, medium, fine, and polish. The belts themselves are very high quality, equal to the Klingspor paper I used in woodworking in terms of grit consistency and retention. There are third-party belts for the system and they are cheaper, but checking around on the internet people claim they generally do not last as long and are poor at grit retention. My experience in woodworking matches this, as some of the third-party options for my Festool sander have been terrible.

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