Work Sharp

rocke1 · Post by **rocke1** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 7:33 pm

I am sharping challanged,getting my bench chesels sharp on the strip sander is ok but doing my plane irons has always been the oil stone and mess. I just bought the Work Sharp tool and am very pleased with results. Even not made in China! That fits with my Shopsmith tools, made in the USA.

It takes minutes to get my stuff done and with a micro bevel too. I,ll stick with the Shopsmith for the lathe tools such as my roughing gouge. The see throuh under the disk requires a bit more skill.

Rock

cv3 · Post by **cv3** » Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:03 pm

I have had a Tormek for a number of years. It was a large investment but it has paid for itself a few times over now. It really works well on all my lathe and carving tools. And I have made a little back yard money sharpening knives, scissors, yard shears and tools for others.

easterngray · Post by **easterngray** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 7:40 pm

I also have a Work Sharp and will second your endorsment. I will never regret that purchase!

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:23 am

Sharpening and finishing, both necessary evils of the trade,

I too have a Work Sharp and I love it. It makes sharpeing a tolerable task and it was a lot cheaper than a Tormek.

cobalt60 · Post by **cobalt60** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 1:21 am

Is there any reason that we SS owners couldn't mount some Work Sharp papers onto glass discs, mount those onto a SS arbor (Shaper arbor maybe), and have a new SS accessory that does the same work for us?

Chisel angle mounts may be an issue, but I'd imagine we could figure something out.

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:41 am

cobalt60 wrote:Is there any reason that we SS owners couldn't mount some Work Sharp papers onto glass discs, mount those onto a SS arbor (Shaper arbor maybe), and have a new SS accessory that does the same work for us?

Chisel angle mounts may be an issue, but I'd imagine we could figure something out.

I am not yet to that full sophistication, but I will remark that being able to run the PowerPro down to 250rpm (fwd or reverse) with an aluminum-oxide sanding disk has been great for my occasional metal-shaping needs. In a pinch, I actually used my plane-blade bevel-guide (with a wheel on it) directly on the sanding disk, getting a quick flat (non crowned) grind on a plane-blade.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 10:41 am

I have a question about Work sharp. I have gone to buy one a couple of times and walk away confused.

At Sears they have a couple of models and a few attachments. I'm lead to believe not all attachments work on all Work Sharp models, is that correct?

Is there one model that you can attach all the existing attachments to?

Is there an easy way to tell which attachment goes on what Work Sharp?

I have tried matching model numbers and such but apparently Work Sharps at Sears and some other stores carry a unique model number which is made for the store line such as Sears and etc.

easterngray · Post by **easterngray** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:27 am

The attachments only work on the WS 3000. That's the one you want, IMHO. Alec

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:33 pm

That's not entirely true. The WS 2000 was the first to offer a knife sharpening attachment. Last year, Work Sharp introduced a knife sharpening attachment for the WS 3000. That being said, Alec is right; you want the WS3000.

As far as creating an arbor for the glass wheels and running it on a Shopsmith, even with a Power Pro upgrade, I'd advise against it for two reasons: 1) they weren't designed to take sideways pressure and may break, and 2) I believe the Work Sharp operates at less than the 250 rpm although I would need to take a look at the manual. I guess it goes back to a rule I learned from my dear departed father, use the right tool for the right job.

BPR

ddvann79 · Post by **ddvann79** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:57 pm

ryanbp01 wrote:As far as creating an arbor for the glass wheels and running it on a Shopsmith, even with a Power Pro upgrade, I'd advise against it for two reasons: 1) they weren't designed to take sideways pressure and may break, and 2) I believe the Work Sharp operates at less than the 250 rpm although I would need to take a look at the manual. I guess it goes back to a rule I learned from my dear departed father, use the right tool for the right job.
BPR

Dad said he would use the aluminum sanding discs with a couple of grits of sand paper to sharpen his lathe tools. Of course, he didn't have the power pro so I'm sure the tools got hotter than they really should for sharpening.

But if you were to back up your glass wheel with a solid surface, that should prevent breakage. Not sure if an adhesive would be best for that but I'm not sure how else to accomplish that and keep an even glass surface.