Darex Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener WSKTS-KO Ken Onion Edition

I began with an old, beat up machete to practice sharpening with. Ended up with a razor sharp blade. Then I sharpened a small hatchet, several pocket knives, and a couple fixed blade knives. I lost track of time and finally had to quit! So little time, so many knives to sharpen!!!

If you have a number of different knives that need to be sharpened this is the way to go. It's easy to use and has a great chart that shows you what to do for each type of knife. Everything from your kitchen to your camping knife will be ready to go in minutes. If your wife is giving you trouble about the money just use the go to "its an investment babe" and that should work.

I've had this for about a week and now I'm asking friends for their dull kitchen knives to sharpen. Just now I sharpened a long machete semi-free hand. I've done half a dozen of my own kitchen knives and have yet to see a scratch on the side of the blade. One piece of advice that you should pay attention to is in the manual. Stop the sharpener when the tip is midway on the belt or you can round off the tip.

After the Lansky, the Edge Pro Apex, the Spyderco Sharpmaker, finally, finally, finally, a sharpening system that yields great results in spite of my poor sharpening skills.

In all fairness the Edgepro wasn't bad, and if you struggle hard enough you can get an acceptable edge on most knives with it.

The Sharpmaker became a 'fave for touchups, and their diamond triangles cut ZDP-189 effectively. But nothing has brought me repeatable great results like the Ken Onion Work Sharp does.

Thinking back on it, I was reluctant to spend the money on something that might have produced OK but not great results. But owning the KO Edition of Work Sharp all I could think was "why didn't I get one of these LONG before now?

I have a set of William Henry kitchen knives that have a ZDP-189 core inside stainless, and we're talking about some hard steel inside some expensive ($3,000) knives!

Now that I have them re-contoured to convex 22°, stropping them to scary-sharp just takes a couple of easy passes on a fine grit belt (the white/grey one).

I barely put any tension on the guides and haven't seen any horizontal scratches on any of my blades, and I've done my 3V Chris Reeve Nkonka, Microtech Ultratech in 154CM, Spyderco Caly III, Chris Reeve Pacific in S30V, and all of them come out great.

Contrary to some, I have found that the 'grinder attachment' (for tools/freehand) has not been that useful and wish I'd just tried the KO Edition by itself first. Probably in more skilled hands, the attachment could have a real purpose; I haven't found it yet.

Bottom line, this is the best sharpener I've ever had and the others are now in boxes and drawers.

This is a good system, but it's not perfect.

Variable speed control and excellent abrasives (the same abrasives knife makers use) are the highlight here. When it comes to removing steel, this is the real deal.

Scratches from residue and problems catching the heel of a knife on the guide make the chance of scuffing a nice blade just too high, though. Yes, you can tape a blade before you start sharpening.

Variable speed gives you more control compared to the basic worksharp, but the grinder attachment really does make it better. It's still a machine with a learning curve, but nothing gets in your way.

I can definitely get a sticky sharp, shave worthy, edge with this sharpener. It will definitely scratch your blades though. These are linear scratches along the blade, I think they are from blade residue on the plastic angle guides as you pull the blade through the sharpener. You have two options. Either tape the blade or as I did, purchase the “free hand” grinding attachment. DO NOT sharpen good blades without protection.

One more thing. No one mentions, and it did not come to mind, but you need to where a dust mask with this sharpener. There is a lot of belt and blade dust generated. I was coughing for a few days after sharpening about 10 knives.

For the good. Its great if you make yoyr own knives and need to regrind or grind bevels easy. I usually put a 20° angle on all my bevels. But it the edges are not as good as diamond stone or wetstone. They arent as sharp and dont stay sharp because all the microscopic teeth are not there. And the price... Geez. And I'm tired of buying belts. I sharpen and modify knives for alot of people so i end up buying belts every payday. With the grinding attachment its over $30 for the belts and strop. $30 a week to sharpen. Plus shipping. Ive spent more on belts than it would take to buy an expensive sharpener like the edge pro or other sharpeners. But the great thing about it is that it'll do alot of the hard work for you. And its fast. All my knives are high end like 20cv and steels that are tough so it does help alot. If you want this. Think about it long and hard. Belts go really really quick if you like to polish them.

I have use many types of sharpeners and managed to get some what of a blade. This KO Edition Sharpener with or without the attachment is the bomb. I used the stock setup at 1st and used as per the directions worked great and easy, then I used the attachment and ended with the WS stropping kit and WOW Holy razor blades Batman. I just cant find anything else to sharpen now. lol... IT IS WORTH IT! Thank you BladeHQ.

I suck at sharpening knifes. Been trying for years and I suck. But not anymore! I’ve been up for days sharpening everything I own. You can too!

Great effective knife sharpener.

I have never been able to get an edge this Razer sharp this quickly! Definitely worth the money.

I have owned / used and tested 30+ various sharpeners.Sticks, drag-through,arm devices,pocket things,diamond plates,wet stones,electric types for cooks and strops.

They all work, some better or faster then others. Some ruin your blade.
Some work fine but take a L O N G time to sharpen a knife. I got my work Sharp belt system years ago. Learning curve was 1 knife and maybe 60 seconds.IT IS SO EASY AND FAST!!!! I have now done 1000+ knives ( stopped counting) for military folks. All of mine, family and friends as well.Local police in town and ALL farmers for free.

Most systems above have more bad then good about them IMHO. The high $ arm system DO work.They just work slow… realllly slow in some cases. They also have 1 other issue I really dislike.

Anyhoo:
The WS is a dream.Just a typical sharpen with no serious damage ( huge chips/rolls) is 2 mins or less. As in 100% dull to shaving sharp ! A 10 year old could do this, or a monkey, it REALLY is that easy. I have done many badly damaged blades that looked more like a chainsaw chain then a knife edge.

On a typical 400-700$+ arm machine or wet stones this is 4-6+ hours for a small blade, larger is MUCH longer. On my WS this is 5 mins or less.
I do not have 6+ hours of time for a job that SHOULD be 5 mins or less. I have done every knife you can think of, kukri, machete, parang, hunting, pocket, a sword, axe, hatchet, everything. Large and small. It works on low end steel like 420 and “high carbon” 1090 types to midrange VG10 to starter super steels S30v/XHP to top tier stuff M390,S90v and 3v. ALL No problem at all.( high end super steels add maybe 1 extra min)

It seems too good to be true or a gimic. It is NOT.It is 100% legit.
Belts last a long time.Belts from BladeHQ are cheap. Belts do NOT get high/low spots like ALL stones do. The most important thing of all (IMHO): This machine will convex the edge.You can google and youtube tests and reason why 99% of the time you want convex. It has MANY advantages.
I will NEVER use a non convex edge again on anything I own.

This newer version is a tad faster then the older one.Also it lets you adjust the angle with a dial.A small # of people may want/need this option.

Bang-for-the-buck : 10
Ease of use : 10
Quality : 10
Replacement parts CHEEP

In closing : love love love this Work Sharp belt system.Worth every penny.
My friend uses the Onion version for extra cash.He does hunters,farmers and local food joints cooking knives. Told me he makes 100-400/week depending on season.for like 15 mins/ 1 hour time ! Not bad.
Semper Fi

You will not regret if you grab this!

I love this product. It works great and gets you hair popping results. Follow the directions supplied and you'll love it too.