I just purchased the worksharp Ken onion, and now I have perfect edges on 2 of my fixed blades, 2 of my Leatherman surges, and all of my folding knives. This has to be one of the best tools I’ve ever purchased
Just a thought. You might consider focusing the views on the belt to blade contact. The views of the back of your elbow or forearm completely blocking the blade and belt don’t show much that is useful.
Excellent feedback, thank you. This video was shot a bit impromptu, and I think it shows. I have a better angle for my Tormek sharpening, but for the WorkSharp I really need the camera to be overhead, or at least over the shoulder… Thanks for tuning in 🙏
very interesting , i do not lap my blades on leather , but i do use a MDF / fibre board wheel , with white metal polish [Hyfin ]to hone and polish the edges. I have found this to give a very acceptable edge, i also sharpen 995% of my knives at 20Deg. and only very narrow blades at 15 deg, these are normally filleting blades . the ANGLE GUIDE you are using is not available in Australia, and postage from the USA is prohibitive, most times being more expensive than the item being purchased. As a result i made my own bevel gauge , with 2 set points, 1 at 20 deg and the other at 15 deg, this works very well for my application. i am looking at making or possibly buying a leather honing wheel for the knives , as an experiment, to see if the edge finish is better thanks for a very informative video..
I assume that it would be easy enough to make an extended slide for that by juat getting round stock and threading it? I have a 12" brisket knife, and one of the only units I have found that can handle that is a wicked edge. I'd rather not spend the $$ on that one. This unit looks great for a home/hobby usee.
Do you prefer the KO elite, or have you tried MDF/paper wheels for sharpening (looks like they’re in background)? I can’t decide whether to get bench grinder with paper wheels or KO elite.
Good question - I don’t really know how this compares to others but I change my Extra Coarse belt every 15 knives or so. As soon as I notice by grinding time is starting to extend due the belt I swap. As the saying goes, time is money so I don’t want to be wringing out a few extra knives by spending more time. However, because I use the Extra Coarse to do all the heavy lifting, the other belts last a very long time… Hundreds of knives each…
Thank you -that is exactly right. Because of speed I can offer WorkSharp service at a lower cost (currently £6 vs £10 for Tormek). Sometimes it is just price that decides, but I also talk to customers about benefits of water-cooling, which can be a benefit for higher-end knives. And I do get slightly better sharpness and edge retention with Tormek… So although the cost is higher, the time until re-sharpen might be longer (depending on how the knife is used etc)
I agree - the camera angle is terrible. Because I do so many single-shot videos I don’t spend a lot of time on editing and didn’t notice until it was uploaded. I planned to delete it and re-shoot, but it’s consistently one of my top-viewed videos and 96% likes vs dislikes (in line with my channel average). So in the end I’ve decided just to let it ride, and hopefully it doesn’t put too many people off. Thanks for tuning in and also for the frank feedback. Happy holidays!
Worksharp method is £6 unless there are repairs to do. Price is fixed, but I’m thinking of changing to a time-based pricing structure. At the moment, I have a flat fee for sharpening and a flat fee for repairs but if the sharpening of repair is extensive it is costly for me. Meanwhile customers that bring me food knives in a way overpay a bit. Hourly (pro-rata) fees might be a better way to go. What do you thin?
Great video. Thanks. I use stones to sharpen with decent results, but I also make a few knives. On the knives I make i struggle to get that first clean secondary bevel. Do you think the ken onion with grinding attachment would be good for that? It seems like you were able to reprofile here with some success. Thanks!
Thanks for tuning in - I do think the KO Elite shown here could work if you are doing the occasional knife. A 1 x 30 has a lot of advantage too for reprofiling as it would be faster, run cooler and likely be cheaper. But the Ken Onion would allow you to do controlled angle sharpening afterwards, whereas a 1x30 would always be freehand regarding edge angles. With your stones experience though that might be fine for you…
I sharpened on stones for >10 years and used the 1x30 belt sander to remove a lot of material to start a full restoration before buying the KO with this elite attachment. It helped me a lot to speed up the process as it makes it so much easier to keep the angle steady and the final result looks much better. I guess that’s mainly because of me. I only sharpen my own knifes and that happens just 4-6 times a year. I just don’t have the muscle memory someone who does this often has. To me the KO is a great help. I still sharpen my best knifes on stones….I just like the ritual ;)
I normally sharpen chisels on my Tormek, but it should certainly be possible on the KOE. I will look at that and make a video (or short) if I find something useful. Thank you for the great question.
The Ken Onion Elite does allow for angle control, moving back and forth from a reference plate. See my other video (Checking Edge Angle Accuracy) that that demonstrates how precise it is… Does require some muscle memory to get it right though - thanks for tuning in.
I see what you mean, but the Elite sharpener isn’t fully manually. The belts can be set at particular angles and are quite accurate if you work well with reference plate. See my other video where I check the accuracy of this…. Thanks for tuning in.
Sorry to hear that! There will be a solution to get it working for you - probably something simple. If you haven’t gotten rid of it yet I might be able to help.
I think one of the biggest problems is that you are still sharpening freehand. If you are an occasional user you won’t develop the muscle memory to use it properly. It absolutely needs a guide.
What’s that saying? “A bad workman always blames his tools”. Put the research in, ie. watch all the available videos on it, bearing in mind, some people put out “instructional videos” without having read any instructions. Then put the work in, starting with any crappy knives you have. Work down the grits, making sure you have a burr first. When you do get the hang of it, you will find it really is a fantastic bit of kit!
Unfortunately, sharpening takes patience and that prevents many of you guys from ever getting past step 1. Understanding how to raise a burr is the lifeblood of sharpening basics. Cavemen did it with flint rocks with no instructions, so im sure you can do it on a ken onion blade grinding attachment with a how-to manual and sharpening videos to watch. If you arent raising a burr from heel to tip on each side there is no need to go up in grits. Get a hard burr, flip, get another full burr on the other side...then go up in grits to remove that burr until it is sharpened to your satisfaction. Strop and go to the next one. Take 5 cheap knives from the kitchen and practice. You should get the hang of it after 3 or 4 knives..
Come on, Nice hands, more your camera up in front of you, and the knife is pur quality, like my engelsk, 197 and 204 and 700 that is not good, better luck nest time 😀
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I just purchased the worksharp Ken onion, and now I have perfect edges on 2 of my fixed blades, 2 of my Leatherman surges, and all of my folding knives.
This has to be one of the best tools I’ve ever purchased
Just a thought.
You might consider focusing the views on the belt to blade contact.
The views of the back of your elbow or forearm completely blocking the blade and belt don’t show much that is useful.
Excellent feedback, thank you. This video was shot a bit impromptu, and I think it shows. I have a better angle for my Tormek sharpening, but for the WorkSharp I really need the camera to be overhead, or at least over the shoulder… Thanks for tuning in 🙏
@@greatedgeltd thanks for the reply, a higher shot angle would probably be excellent.
very interesting , i do not lap my blades on leather , but i do use a MDF / fibre board wheel , with white metal polish
[Hyfin ]to hone and polish the edges. I have found this to give a very acceptable edge, i also sharpen 995% of my knives at 20Deg. and only very narrow blades at 15 deg, these are normally filleting blades .
the ANGLE GUIDE you are using is not available in Australia, and postage from the USA is prohibitive, most times being more expensive than the item being purchased.
As a result i made my own bevel gauge , with 2 set points, 1 at 20 deg and the other at 15 deg, this works very well for my application.
i am looking at making or possibly buying a leather honing wheel for the knives , as an experiment, to see if the edge finish is better
thanks for a very informative video..
Can you describe the belt progression using worksharp naming convention in this video? Not including strop.
Hsve you tried ed Worksharps polishing belt ? Love mine for a finish belt
Thanks for tuning in! I have the stropping belt kit - is that what you mean, or something else?
Good video Brad! Thanks.
Sounds like the cats a good hunter. :)
quick question do you add any compound to the leather belt thank you for your brilliant blog
No compound - it is raw leather. Thanks for watching!
I assume that it would be easy enough to make an extended slide for that by juat getting round stock and threading it? I have a 12" brisket knife, and one of the only units I have found that can handle that is a wicked edge. I'd rather not spend the $$ on that one. This unit looks great for a home/hobby usee.
I have the new worksharp mk2 I’m shopping a pair of 6 inch scissors I can’t seem to get them sharp. I ruined a couple any advice. Thank you.
Do you prefer the KO elite, or have you tried MDF/paper wheels for sharpening (looks like they’re in background)? I can’t decide whether to get bench grinder with paper wheels or KO elite.
Any idea how long or how many knives a WS belt lasts you? Kinda curious how it compares to other belt systems
Good question - I don’t really know how this compares to others but I change my Extra Coarse belt every 15 knives or so. As soon as I notice by grinding time is starting to extend due the belt I swap. As the saying goes, time is money so I don’t want to be wringing out a few extra knives by spending more time. However, because I use the Extra Coarse to do all the heavy lifting, the other belts last a very long time… Hundreds of knives each…
@@greatedgeltd Oh okay thats pretty comparable to 1x30 belts actually. Which is funny since they are twice as long :D
I have both the worksharpe and the tormek, how do you decide which one to use. Is it a price point you decide with with the customer?
Thank you -that is exactly right. Because of speed I can offer WorkSharp service at a lower cost (currently £6 vs £10 for Tormek). Sometimes it is just price that decides, but I also talk to customers about benefits of water-cooling, which can be a benefit for higher-end knives. And I do get slightly better sharpness and edge retention with Tormek… So although the cost is higher, the time until re-sharpen might be longer (depending on how the knife is used etc)
Consider a different camera angle the next time you make a video. All I got out of this was a perfect view of the back of your left hand.
I agree - the camera angle is terrible. Because I do so many single-shot videos I don’t spend a lot of time on editing and didn’t notice until it was uploaded. I planned to delete it and re-shoot, but it’s consistently one of my top-viewed videos and 96% likes vs dislikes (in line with my channel average). So in the end I’ve decided just to let it ride, and hopefully it doesn’t put too many people off. Thanks for tuning in and also for the frank feedback. Happy holidays!
The knife with the black handle does not have a "bolster". That area is the "ricasso".
Thanks for correcting - you are absolutely right 👍
Is the blade grinding attachment supposed to swivel around or doe’s it lock in place?
It does swivel around, but not in any sort of useful way. It pretty much has to be used sitting on a flat surface.
How much do you charge to sharpen a normal kitchen knife like these in the video?
Worksharp method is £6 unless there are repairs to do. Price is fixed, but I’m thinking of changing to a time-based pricing structure. At the moment, I have a flat fee for sharpening and a flat fee for repairs but if the sharpening of repair is extensive it is costly for me. Meanwhile customers that bring me food knives in a way overpay a bit. Hourly (pro-rata) fees might be a better way to go. What do you thin?
Great video. Thanks. I use stones to sharpen with decent results, but I also make a few knives. On the knives I make i struggle to get that first clean secondary bevel. Do you think the ken onion with grinding attachment would be good for that? It seems like you were able to reprofile here with some success. Thanks!
Thanks for tuning in - I do think the KO Elite shown here could work if you are doing the occasional knife. A 1 x 30 has a lot of advantage too for reprofiling as it would be faster, run cooler and likely be cheaper. But the Ken Onion would allow you to do controlled angle sharpening afterwards, whereas a 1x30 would always be freehand regarding edge angles. With your stones experience though that might be fine for you…
I sharpened on stones for >10 years and used the 1x30 belt sander to remove a lot of material to start a full restoration before buying the KO with this elite attachment. It helped me a lot to speed up the process as it makes it so much easier to keep the angle steady and the final result looks much better. I guess that’s mainly because of me. I only sharpen my own knifes and that happens just 4-6 times a year. I just don’t have the muscle memory someone who does this often has. To me the KO is a great help. I still sharpen my best knifes on stones….I just like the ritual ;)
Nice! How would you do a chisel and plane blade?
Interesting idea!
I normally sharpen chisels on my Tormek, but it should certainly be possible on the KOE. I will look at that and make a video (or short) if I find something useful. Thank you for the great question.
@@greatedgeltd yes, they make great belts from Norton. One of the best out there.
Great Camera position
why exactly do you set the degrees when you sharpen freehand ...? 😂
The Ken Onion Elite does allow for angle control, moving back and forth from a reference plate. See my other video (Checking Edge Angle Accuracy) that that demonstrates how precise it is… Does require some muscle memory to get it right though - thanks for tuning in.
this video is so confusing, why change angle settings if you are free hand sharpening?
I see what you mean, but the Elite sharpener isn’t fully manually. The belts can be set at particular angles and are quite accurate if you work well with reference plate. See my other video where I check the accuracy of this…. Thanks for tuning in.
are you just eyeballing 20 degrees? Looks freehand to me?
I have the Ken Onion sharpener and follow all the steps and never get a sharp edge. . Think it's a piece of junk gone in the recycle.
Sorry to hear that! There will be a solution to get it working for you - probably something simple. If you haven’t gotten rid of it yet I might be able to help.
I think one of the biggest problems is that you are still sharpening freehand. If you are an occasional user you won’t develop the muscle memory to use it properly. It absolutely needs a guide.
What’s that saying? “A bad workman always blames his tools”. Put the research in, ie. watch all the available videos on it, bearing in mind, some people put out “instructional videos” without having read any instructions. Then put the work in, starting with any crappy knives you have. Work down the grits, making sure you have a burr first. When you do get the hang of it, you will find it really is a fantastic bit of kit!
Unfortunately, sharpening takes patience and that prevents many of you guys from ever getting past step 1. Understanding how to raise a burr is the lifeblood of sharpening basics. Cavemen did it with flint rocks with no instructions, so im sure you can do it on a ken onion blade grinding attachment with a how-to manual and sharpening videos to watch. If you arent raising a burr from heel to tip on each side there is no need to go up in grits. Get a hard burr, flip, get another full burr on the other side...then go up in grits to remove that burr until it is sharpened to your satisfaction. Strop and go to the next one.
Take 5 cheap knives from the kitchen and practice. You should get the hang of it after 3 or 4 knives..
@@jhooks420 , Yeah, no burr = not going to get sharp. I'm not sure why people can't grasp that simple concept.
Come on, Nice hands, more your camera up in front of you, and the knife is pur quality, like my engelsk, 197 and 204 and 700 that is not good, better luck nest time 😀