worksharp 3000

This is a nice review, Larry. Until I got mine I struggled with getting a sharp edge on my chisels and irons. To me it is the next best thing since sliced bread.

-- Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful- Joshua Marine

I’ve been reading a lot of reviews on this decent sharperner., and mostly or almost all gave a thumb up judgment. However due to motor voltage & frequency issue, I put on hold my decision to buy one. Now I’m in dilemma of choosing between Tormek T-3 Water Cooled Sharpening System and Worksharp 3000. So I’ll be gathering more plus & minus points for these two syatems before I finally make decision.

Thank you Degoose.

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

Good review – thank you. I have a one of these and I agree completely that it is a great way to sharpen chisels and irons.

I will disagree with you on one minor point you made. I do not think this tool is great for curved turning tools (i.e. gouges). There is no way to maintain a consistent bevel with a curved tool. I don’t think it would be very hard to make an accessory for the worksharp that would enable one to sharpen curved tools well. Maybe someone will do that some day.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

ay mate ,
just got me one too .

must say ,
it’s the dingos dingus !

all me tools is SHARP now !

-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle

Thanks for the review.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

the one thing not mentioned anywhere ,
when i do the first sharpening ,
it takes more to bring it to square ,
i noticed that if you push to much ,
it makes
steel wool , that can spark .

keep it away from open sawdust .

after the initial sharp ,

there is no problem with this ,

just do as they say ,

don’t hog it !

-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle

Great review Larry

Thanks

-- She thought I hung the moon--now she just thinks I did it wrong

Hey Larry thanks for the post. I was impressed by this set up and I realize it’s for hand tools but was wondering if they have an attachment for saw blades? And it showed using plane blades can you do something larger like a lawn mower blade on this just to get the nicks and such out? And what’s the price for one? Thanks

I use my grinding wheel for the lawn mower blades but was just courious on that part

Great review, looking forward to your video review Larry.

-- Mike The Termite ~~~~~ Working safely may get old, but so do those who practice it.

Cool…Larry…glad to hear you guys down there are finally coming into the 21st century….J/K. Great review…I wanted to mention that this month’s Woodcarving Illustrated has a great article on various sharpening systems…and a good one on sharpening tools….I like and use diamond stones myself…but I hear that they have a diamond wheel for the worksharp now? I don’t know if I can change my spots after many years of manual sharpening (I haven’t joined the 21st century either)...but they are getting close to making a machine I might be comfortable with.

-- Woodworking.....My small slice of heaven!

Gary, around US$200 in the states but AU$600 there abouts over here… but then everything that come across the pond is dearer here.. Still and all not bad to get the tools sharp.

-- Drink twice... and don't bother to cut... @ lazylarrywoodworks.com.au For lovers of all things timber...

I was shocked by the way it cut across grain like that pretty impressive there it made it look like cutting butter, what about an attachment for like T.S. or skill saw blades is there away of doing those on that? Thanks

I’ve had good luck with mine, too. I’ve had it for about a year or so. My biggest trouble up front was that I couldn’t get it square. There’s a way to tilt the ramp you slide chisels into up and down around one edge. I had to set it all the way to one end, and it still seemed just a hair off square. It’s good enough that I don’t really notice anymore, but I wanted to be able to adjust around square, not have to fight up against the edge of the range. I couldn’t find a way to adjust more. There weren’t any things to shim or loosen and tap with a hammer.

Too, as was said before, too much aggressive sharpening will create a kind of steel wool under the wheel in a pocket in the back. I had this catch fire. It’s beautiful to watch, but super hot. Don’t sharpen around flammables or wood dust. The wool fire isn’t so much an open flame as it is an ember that ripples all through the wool like a cooling lava line. Again, pretty, but frightening.

I’ve gotten halfway decent at sharpening curved tools, like bowl gouges under the slotted wheel, which you can see through (better if you shine a bright light down through the slots from above. Oh, and as for the “without losing momentum” statement – quite true. I was filming a time-lapse of some work, and the chisel I was using was dull, so I just walked over to the unit, turned it on, pushed the chisel in a few times like I was sharpening a pencil, and came back to the video I was making probably 30 seconds later. I keep it plugged in and ready to go all the time.

Final note: I’ve used this to bring back a rusting chisel with a point not only very dull, but chipped and badly pitted with little bites taken out of the whole tip. It took a little while, but I have 2 glass wheels with a grit on each side, so I started with the 80 to reshape the tip to sharp and clean again, then worked up to finer grits and got that thing like a razor blade. Yesterday I salvaged a husky scraper tool that I’d left next to 2 gallons of muriatic acid for a few years. It was not just rusted, but chemically rusted. I used a metal wire wheel in my drill press to grind the butt of the tool down to the original metal, then the WS3k to smooth up the faces of the tool, true the edges, and sharpen the tip to a point. It was actually square before, but now it’s like a heavy duty glass scraper. I used it to scrape some labels off of Home Depot wood.

-- Gary, Los Angeles, video game animator

I did a review here awhile back.. still liking mine.

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful. http://gagnerwebsite.com/Deceiver/Craftsman_on_the_lake/Craftsman_on_the_lake.html