Shop Tools #2: Work Sharp - The Wood Tool Sharpener Review

Wayne -

Thanks for posting this well written review. I ahave been looking at the same system – this will give me a lot more confidence when I make a purchase.

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

If your using chisels or planes in your work, I would buy one in a minute. I have not tried to sharpen any carving or lathe tools yet.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Thanks for the review.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Wayne,
Thanks for taking the time to post this review. Sure wish it would sharpen the plane blades larger than 2”, but maybe it is just as easy on the top side.

Are there any other accessories you would recommend buying other than the leather plate? Does the paper last very long or should a person order additional sheets from the start?

Thanks again!
John

Your welcome John. It came with quite a few abrasive sheets. One of the selling points they list on the web is that the abrasives are commonly available and you do not have to use their product. I have purchased a tool guide and have not been able to check it out yet. So, I’ll stay nuteral on it. I may buy an extra glass wheel and get the 6000 grit paper. I may be able to mount the 6000 grit abrasive on the underside of the leather wheel and as such may not need another glass wheel. I’ve only sharpened a few blades so far. I will work over a bunch of chisels tomorrow and get a feel for how long it lasts. Also, it comes with a Crepe Stick which is used to clean the wheels. This seemed to work real well.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I have been using this 15 micron film that works wonders on my blades after the initial grind. The stuff cuts fast and once worn seems to give a finer finish than initially. I then go to the green rouge for a real sharp edge. The idea of using the Work Sharp with this paper and rouge would speed the process up tremendously.

Here is where I got the 15 micron film. It looks like shipping costs have gone up considerably since I bought it.

Almost looks like they are making their money on Shipping and Handling. It costs more to ship it than buy it..

The 15 micron paper is about 1200 grit according to the chart in the user’s guide. The 6000 grit abrasive they sell is 2 micron.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Also, I have added more text and photos. I’m finished with this post…

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I have some 1/2 micron diamond paste that I have not tried yet. It might cut pretty fast, but not sure what type of platter you could put it on. Not sure it would work on the leather. I might have to try it on a scap piece I have in the shop.

John

Wow. That is pretty fine.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Does it look like it would be possible for Work Sharp to come out with a modified tool guide that would handle the larger blades?

Not from below. You can do it by hand from above. There is a bar on the top that can be used. I will try one out tomorrow. I’m thinking I will stay with waterstones for the bevel sharpening on the larger blades, but will use this for lapping the back. That is the time consuming part anyway. You can see the bar in the picture of the machine with the blue disk installed.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Does the tool guide you mentioned previously work in conjuction with the bar? (edit: I went back and reread your posts again and can see that the tool guide is independent from the tool bar)
Thanks for all the information!
John

It mounts where the Bar is mounted. It can be mounted above and below the machine. The instructions say. Top Mount for sharpening wider chisels, plane irons, spoke shaves, double-bevel tools. Bottom Mount for sharpening with slotted see-through wheel. The guide cost about $10. The leather wheel was about $30.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Good review Wayne…sounds like a winner. HHmmm….what can I convince my wife that we need that would require the Worksharp?

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

I tried the kitchen knife story and she would have nothing to do with it. I was looking at a Tormak at the time. She just shook her head when she saw the Work Sharp on the bench and went to the outlet stores with my daughter.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

That’s a great review of a really great tool, Wayne! Thanks for taking the time to do that. It looks like a winner!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Thanks for the review! I got a Rockler gift card for my BDay and might use it on that!

-- Scott - Dallas, Texas

Your welcome. Some additional information

I’ve now had to change the sandpaper. I’ve found if it is grinding slow then it is time to change paper. Also, I’m going to pick up the course paper set and an extra glass plate for when I need to regrind a bevel or have a back that need a fair amount of work to be ground flat.

Also a bunch of dust accumulates under the wheel. I’m now using compressed air to blow the machine off after each use.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Wayne, I am about to purchase this system myself. I was wondering if you have used the see through plate yet? I was under the impression that this was the recommended way to sharpen curved tools, seems to be simular to the Tool Jewel system. It sounds as if you are very pleased with the system. I will probably order it in the next week or so.

-- Greg - Charles Town, WV

I have not tried the see through plate yet. I will have to add that to my to do lisf for this weekend. I was in rockler and got an extra glass plate and all three of the additional abrasive kits. I am finding that the 120 grit is to fine if you need to regrind something. You tend to go through the paper too fast.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I have been looking for a new sharpening tool for my lathe tools. This WorkSharpTool seems like it should be a great fit for my needs. National Tool + Equipment has an online price of $ 179.00…..seems pretty attractive for this type of sharpener…as Tormeks’ sell for near $ 300.00 . Thanks for the review…...it helps to make up ones mind when others have used them and write favorable reviews.

-- WeeWilly

Sold me on it Wayne!

-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,

Thanks for the posting Wayne.
I was at an impasse with the whole idea of power sharpeneing because of the expense to get a complete system.
Funny how you get a bad taste for somelthing then have trouble even looking at similar products. At lest for me.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

In general I have found it works well. Tom (Mot) reivewed the Veritas version of this in his blog as well. That one has a bigger wheel and will support wider blades.

The only issue I have with the worksharp is it cannot sharpen blades over 2” in width using its guide system. So it will not work for larger bench plane blades (4 1/2, 5 1/2, 6, 7, and 8). Although it still allows you to flatten the back of these blades which is where a lot of the effort goes IMHO.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

well, so far I’ve read nothing bad about this sharpening system. The only additional comments involve buying extra glass plates so as not to have to peel off any of the paper during the process (and having to throw it out). Thanks for the review. This is definately on my wish list now!...

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Your welcome Scott. I did get the extra wheels and also additional grits.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I’m sitting here at the computer looking at the glass disks and the abrasives that go on the Work Sharp. To my right is the Fellows/Neato jig I use to put the labels on my CD’s & DVD’s. I’ve gotta wonder if that wouldn’t work or maybe need a small modifiction to do the job faster and easier. What do you think?

It also seems like you prefer the Work Sharp to the Veritas if for no other reason that cost. Did I understand that correctly? Thank you for the effort you’ve put into this topic, and for sharing.

-- Amateurs...built the ark : Professionals....built the Titanic !

The big benefit for the worksharp is the under plate guide that allows you to sharpen blades at specific angles. It is dead simple and hard to mess up. The real issue is that it is limited to 2” blades which means that some plane blades are not supported.

If your sharpening on top, there is a bar that allows you to do it free hand. They do provide a bar to support it but it is not as easy. The Veritas system has an 8” wheel and guides that allow you to sharpen repeatably from above. Tom (Mot) has done a video review of this system. It does cost about $200 more than the WorkSharp. Fine Woodworking tool guides rated this as the top sharpener in their latest tool review magazine (on sale now). For some reason WorkSharp was not in the review.

As far as the CD labeler, I’m not sure if it would work as well. The worksharp glass is very stable and you can put abrasives on both sides. This makes changing grits a 15 second operation.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

All I was looking at was centering the abrasives on the glass slabs and getting them applied without getting any bubbles under the paper. With the CD labels yo don’t get a second chance, but maybe it’s not such a good idea. Thanks for the reply.

-- Amateurs...built the ark : Professionals....built the Titanic !

Tom, perhaps on the high level grits it would help. They are tough to get on without bubbles.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I ordered one from Rockler and it arrived by UPS last night. Can’t wait to set it up especially after reading the above entries.

-- Mark

The date of this post is 12-5-07. I have contacted Work Sharp and they have informed me that they will provide a jig early in 2008 that will allow the sharpening of plane irons larger than 2 inches. Right now, Rockler has the Work Sharp 3000 on special: You get the system for $200, plus an extra glass wheel, PLUS a $20 Rockler gift card, to boot. All this with FREE shipping for us who aren’t lucky enough to have a Rockler close at hand. I think I will use the extra glass wheel to affix a piece of leather to make a honing wheel like they offer for $30!

I get frustrated with having to carry different tools to sharpen my tools. (I use a crutch in one hand, so that leaves me 1 arm/hand to carry things with.) With ONE tool to sharpen my tools, the decision is easy for me. I will order it this week!

God Bless,
Hawg

-- Saving barnwood from the scrapyards

Sounds great Hawg. I wil have to check out the new Jig.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Great discussion on this nifty sharpener. I have owned the mfr’s Drill Doctor several years, which has seen a LOT of use both by me and friends, so I was already favorably disposed.

First a question – where did you find the Tool Guide accessory shown under-mounted on the back of the unit? I can’t seem to locate it on the web. It looks like it might be good for handling wider and skewed blades with readily repeatable results. TIA.

Just acquired one after seeing it at Woodcraft. For years I have used water stones and a Makita water stone sharpener. I bought this unit with a view to sharpening narrow chisels as they have always been a challenge for me and always needed for use. They fit nicely in the guide. My maiden voyage was a nasty old 3/4” chisel that seriously needed flattening and reshaping. As with any tool it took a little while to get acquainted, but proved to flatten, put a new bevel and finish off the edge within 15 minutes. Actually, unpacking through finishing this chisel took maybe an hour. I kinda lost track of time tonight as I went scrounging for various blades that needed a lot of work. FWIW, I had no problems applying the PSA sanding disks to the glass – I followed the hint in the manual bowing the sandpaper down, lining up the hole carefully and kind of unrolling each half onto the glass – no bubbles. My problems were with the bevel adjusting mechanism which was not easy to adjust, and came off at one point. As best i can tell the left side of the heat exchange blade bed was not anchored – in all fairness, this could easily have been my ham fisted attempts to adjust the thing before deciding to RTFM (Read The Flippin’ Manual).

My observations: Overall I too would recommend this tool, especially for novices. It’s very quick from unpacking to use if one has any experience with powered sharpening. And it is quite compact. Bolting it down is not necessary for use, BUT a very wise safety precaution. As with any dry grinder, it generates sparks with coarser grits, albeit a fairly small amount, which still can ignite flammables within close proximity – DAMHIKT (Don’t Ask Me How I Know This). As with this company’s Drill Doctor sharpeners, this is an extremely well conceived and executed product. Well done!

Pros: It’s really quite simple to set up and use. For what may seem to some a slow speed for a grinder, it removes material very quickly. The preset angles are a very good feature. Extremely satisfactory edges produced with items included in the box (120, 400, 1000, 3600 grits on 2 glass disks sufficient for restoring a garage sale blade with several small chips in edge and unflattened back).

Cons: A dust extraction attachment would be GREATLY appreciated. While there’s not wet mess, there is a lot of metal filings removed, which is messy and I’d prefer not to have it airborne as my shop is in the house. The mechanism for adjusting the bevel can be a little temperamental, Not much else really.

Whine (no cheese): Despite the small machine size, a foot pedal should be added for better control for freehand sharpening – especially flattening blade backs.

-- Joe, Oakland, CA

I got one a couple of weeks ago and consider it one of my better purchases. I went after a gnarly old “throw-away” 3/4 inch chisel and was trimming hair in less than a half an hour.

I got the guide at Rockler at the time I purchased the machine. I did not see any current info on their web site. Perhaps they discontinued it.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov