Work Sharp Ken Onion Knife Sharpener Tool - Adjustable Knife Sharpening System - For Knives, Scissors, Serrated Blades, & Tools

We own a restaurant, or it us, not sure which.... We use to take our blades to the farmers market to get sharpened. It was 8 bucks per pop..Well worth the investment, the ken Onion.It does throw off a light dust, watch your hood vent and foodies stuffs.It's sure been nice to find a knife dull, go back and sharpen it and it then works with precision!I esp love that it's local here in the PNW!!! America!

This is really quite an amazing product. I received it yesterday and sharpened several knives using the X65 (220 grit), X22 (800 - 1000 grit), and X4 (3000 grit) in that order, taking several passes using the angle guides in conjunction with the blade rest. I started with the X65 to reconfigure the contour of the blade edge from flat to concave then the X22 and X4 to produce a shiny, and extremely sharp edge. When finished, all of the knives sliced small sections of paper both cleanly and effortlessly without snags.One thing I noticed, when using the guides, is upon reaching the tip area the knife needs to be guided manually. The contact between the tip of the knife and the guides is lost slightly before the tip is making contact with the belt. This one area of the knife needs to be guided manually without the aid of the guides to reach the center area of the belt. I'm guessing it is around a 1/4"-3/8" of the blade edge needing more focused attention from the person guiding the knife. Also, the heal of the blade may need to be guided without the rest, depending on the configuration of the blade. This manual guiding on the heal of the knives I sharpened was approximately a 1/4" or less. So, depending on the knife being sharpened, you may need to pay attention to the tip and heal of the blade for a short distance. Despite this, I was able to produce a consistent ground edge from the heal to the tip once I realized what was happening.I have the Wicked Edge System and I will continue to use it on our Japanese kitchen knives but for our Henckels and my pocket knives, the Work Sharp KO will be what I use. I cannot imagine a scenario where someone who purchases this product, in good working order, will be disappointed with its performance; it's simple to use, fast and produces a remarkably sharp edge.

The Worksharp Knife & Tool Sharpener Ken Onion edition...For 7 months I debated w/ myself over and over about "biting the bullet" and getting a power tool to help me sharpen knives more efficently.Im almost 48, and since age 12 I have used my grandfathers' tried and true stone & ceramic methods to put a razors' edge on a cutting tool.And the old methods WORK. Period.But I cant see quite as well as I used to, and if you get off count sharpening and stropping, it causes big problems that you have to be able to SEE the edge to correct.I swore up, down, and sideways never to "go powered".But w/ the WSKTS systems, my edges seem to true up faster...way faster. I chose the WSKTS-KO because of the options it has available over the standard... My personal favorite?? A slow speed mechanism that keeps me from skrewing up a good blade. I can watch the process as it unfolds.Slow on the WorkShap systems is still "jack-rabbits' ass on fire!" fast compared to almost any hand sharpening rigup.I particularly like the medium and fine "white surface" belts. They sharpen and hone like Spyderco ceramics, and still leave the door wide open for me to finish by hand w/ leather strops. They have a "gunmetal" lookin' deposit as you use them, just like a ceramic rod. You can clean them w/ a white gum eraser on slow speed too, or the standard cleaning "stick" widely available for belt abrasives.The angle adjustment guide is a stroke of genius. If the weight of the knife is all the pressure you use, the blade can easily be "leaned back" and hovered past the belt and the sharpness you seek comes faster. Now, "leaned back" sounds like a relaxed term. Thats' the idea. Set the knife into the sharpener, and REST it on the angle guide, using JUST enough pressure to keep it sliding against the guide.The tool motor in and of itself has more than enough power to handle almost any job, if you use the right belts in succesion and TAKE YOUR TIME. This is a great tool for beginners, and a Godsend for experienced sharpeners, but it doesn't possess the power of an angle or bench grinderRemember that sharpening isn't a race, and if you don't feed your family doing it, its far better to proceed SLOWLY and watch what youre doing. Pay Attention. Don't crank this baby to max on your Sebenza, and then give this tool a bad review if you are foolish enuf to do that.You can and WILL RUIN a very expensive knife in a heartbeat!!Read the directions. Watch Youtube. Call Worksharp, ask questions. Read the directions again. Find some old user knives to practice on. NEVER drag the tip of any knife blade more than 1/2 way off the belt. Start w/ tool OFF, set blade into the angle guide, and using the weight of the blade, and GENTLE guidance, manuver the blade toward the tip, following the shape of the blade. If you are using the "crossbar" blade guide, DO NOT press the knife edge into it, that will dull your knife, defeating the purpose. This IS NOT a bench grinder you just turn on, and leave it that way 'till you finish. Its rated for 1hr. before you need to let it cool completely off.Then when you get good, and I mean good enough to feel that edge and say "Damn!, now that's freakin' sharp!", THEN its time to "Dress up your babies for school".In less than 45 minutes, you can turn a butter knife into a razor w/ the WSTKS-KO, and you can bleed easier than you think.Keep the tool clean and free from sharpening residues as much as possible w/ a dry bristle brush, air compressor nozzle etc.The coarser belts will produce loads of fragments that can gum up the sharpening guide, cassette workings etc. This produces scratches on surfaces you don't want them on. Use masking tape if necessary to stop that from occuring. Put the masking tape in a single layer on the guide "sliderpads" too, if you can, stop and clean often.I sharpened a RUSTY old HC steel butcher's knife, started w/ the coarsest belt I could find, established a "working edge", and went from there. That rustbucket Old Hickory will now SHAVE hair.Tnere was rust and metal frags/sanding matl. all over that cassete. KEEP it squeaky clean.If you think that this tool can be mastered in 5 mins. w/ no practice etc. you will need to take your knives to a professional edgemaker!! All belted abrasive tools need time/patience to get good, but it'll be less time than with stones!! The "medium grit" belt is normally used for sharpening a well-cared for blade on occasion as needed, the fine grit for semi-regular honing, where you want something more aggressive than a steel, but less than attempting to adjust a primary grind to facilitate sharpness.EDIT: 2/24/14 I used the 6k purple belt to polish away the tiny imperfections from the back of my Spyderco H1 Salt Pacific, and now it shaves hair! Make sure you polish AWAY FROM the edge if you do that...or you'll cut the belt! Also, if you have a combo edge knife, each portion of the edge must be sharpened INDEPENDENTLY. Sharpen the plain edge parts as normally done and then follow the directions for sharpening the serrated parts the way you would a fully serrated blade.Tantos must be VERY carefully done, because the flat portion on the nose needs to be treated as if it is a seperate small blade, otherwise you will ruin your knife. My suggestion is the Spyderco TSM for these, unless youre REALLY good on the WSKTS-KO.I will update this review as I go along, but as for now, this is a "TD Essential Sharpening Gizmo List" chart-topper. Highly recommended.Edit 6/19/15Still well satisfied----just keeps getting better!....I'm thinking about snagging the Wskts field kit to complete the lineup!.....May consider a 1 by 30 too. Everything comes full circle.