Work sharp guided sharpener

Z

ZtCubster

Joined
Jul 25, 2017
Messages
145
Just curious who else has a work sharp guided system. The angle guides scratch up my blades but im not sure how. I usually freehand my knives but decided to try and use the guides just for fun but noticed i have scratches right where the knife lays on the plastic. Anyone else have these issues? Im guessing i probably had some metal shavings on it but Im just curious if it has happened to anyone else.

Side note, just got a griptilian 551-1. how will it do with 17 dps instead of 20?
 
I tried the Work Sharp and was generally unimpressed. The issue is that bevel angles vary wildly between manufacturers, so a guided sharpening system with an unchangeable fixed angle will be excellent for a handful of knives and absolutely useless for others.

Sharpening and honing is entirely about angles. Keep in mind that sharpening / stropping is all about removing burrs and trying to get as clean an angle between the bevels as possible. You want two lines to intersect at point so distinct and sharp that it can push its way though the bonds of the materials it is pressed against. Sharpening is the act of making angles meet as perfectly and as pointedly as possible, and you will not get there in a reasonable amount of time using just mild abrasives and fixed angles that don't match the pre-existing bevels.

The scratches you are experiencing are likely an artifact of a combination of factors; your blade stock + blade grind + bevel angles combine in such a way that using the sharpener forces non-edge parts of the blade to scrape against the sharpening medium. I strongly suggest switching to freehand stones / strops, and perhaps sending the knife to a professional sharpener. I can tell you from personal experience that the entry cost and time investment of becoming good with a precision sharpening system is drastically inferior to just sending your knife to a professional sharpener and maintaining the edge with a strop / freehand ceramic stone.

I have owned $1000+ in various brands of sharpening equipment, several of which required a significant time investment of setup and follow-through to really sharpen a knife, and, in retrospect, would have been better off having just mailed them off to one the many true sharpening experts that lurk these forums. Razor Edge Knives and Big Chris are my favored individuals; they will set your edge right, and a strop will keep it keen for a long time.
 
OP, I have the WS guided sharpener. Yes, if you don’t tape the blade the plastic guide will leave scratches as the metal particles start to build up. Otherwise it is an excellent, inexpensive system to get consistent edge angles; the pivot system is a very neat idea. If you get the full range of stones, it is a fairly comprehensive system. If you want to avoid the scratching, just tape the blade above the edge.
 
The Ken Onion WorkSharp is a nice tool. It does take getting used to. I've seen some excellent edges on fancy knives produced by the WorkSharp. And, the additional grinder attachment allows you to reprofile edges or just work with grinding various scale materials.
Some YouTubers do some pretty fancy work on that machine...
 
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I always cleaned the blade guide with WD-40 on a paper towel after each knife to remove steel dust that causes the marks on the side of the blades.
 
I have a Work Sharp Guided system and the same thing happened to me. I was prepared for it though because if I'm not mistaken, the instructions advise you to tape the blade when using the guides for this very reason.

Fortunately, I only had to use the guides for the first two knives. Now that I've gotten the muscle memory down I use the system because I like the Pivot Response feature. It eliminates the problems that I used to have with curved tips.

IMG_3864.JPG
 
Pilsner said:
OP, I have the WS guided sharpener. Yes, if you don’t tape the blade the plastic guide will leave scratches as the metal particles start to build up. Otherwise it is an excellent, inexpensive system to get consistent edge angles; the pivot system is a very neat idea. If you get the full range of stones, it is a fairly comprehensive system. If you want to avoid the scratching, just tape the blade above the edge.
Click to expand...
thank you so much. i knew i wasnt going crazy lol
 
At first I didn't care for the system but after using it for a while I prefer it to my wicked edge. I purchased the upgrade kit at the same time and I get a really good edge with it. I also finish with a 4 micron CBN emulsion instead of the green compound on the strop which delivers an edge that works well for my edc needs. I got the scratches too but it's easily fixed with tape on the knife.
 
Blade is like a triangle. I'm just simplifying it. Different blades are different triangle shapes.
When you put and hold different triangles shapes to those guides your actual edge angle, you are sharpening at, is going to varry from one blade to another.
Its only going to be consistent for a particular blade.
Think different thickness in spine, behind the edge, height, angle of grind, the kind of drind...
At the end after you sharpen 10 different blades and start whittling with them, it's going to be cutting into material 10 different ways while you adjust your wrist to compensate.
If you were to figure out the real art of freehand, which you are almost there with that system, all 10 of your blades would cut into material at the same angle of your wrist, which also would be your natural angle after all the repetition.
 
I graduated from sharpmaker to freehand.

I would set SM base level, put blade to 15 angle rod so it looks down in the ground and is perpendicular and use a stack of coins to make my own guide for a blade i was going to sharpen.
Then I use this stack as a guide as the spine rests on it in certain spot, not too deep and you have both sides figured out without using trigonometry and if you want particular angle for reprofile.
These 15 or 20 angles anyway felt natural to me and now I don't have to use any coins and just trust my wrist and how it visually looks. Close enough is good too as this would be more natural to you.

You can take something flat, 4x2 whatever, fasten it with a clamp, use a phone app and set it at 18degrees, for example, and make your own guide this way for the blade you want.
 
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