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

Okay, title is not true, but I was an absolute newbie to sharpening, and was overwhelmed by the diversity of options for doing the deed. Didn't want to spend hours per blade, so the Ken Onion WorkSharp made sense to me. Easy to set up, and Incredibly easy to use. I spent more time researching the provided blade angle on my knives (and scissors) than I did doing the actually sharpening. Put on the belt you want, run all the knives through them, swap belts to a finer grit, run all the knives thru again, a few swipes on a strobe (NOT INCLUDED), and clean the knives with a rag and you are done. I did 5 pocket knives, three scissors, and two Cutco kitchen knives in about 45 minutes, and I went slow. I had a little trouble feeling the burr you need to get in the initial grind, and will probably redo everything just to be satisfied that I can cut off my fingers effortlessly, but for now, everything is much shaper than what I started with. Off to the gardening shed to work on that shovel!

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.

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!

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.