Customer Reviews

Work Sharp WS3000 Wood Tool Sharpener

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought one on the strength of almost universally laudatory reviews elsewhere. It certainly works for me- I'm a mediocre sharpener, it turns out, when I'm left to my own devices, or even to the devices many others are successful with. I have a Veritas MKII honing guide, and I can usually get a pretty decent edge with it and waterstones or sandpaper, but it isn't trivially easy for me and can take a while. And I find freehanding difficult unless I have a very well-established bevel to start with. So far, it seems to me that the Worksharp will do most of the work of a grinder in getting that bevel. And I am relishing the prospects both of an easier time, and less of it spent on, flattening chisel backs; and of not having to flatten my waterstones. Perhaps more skilled sharpeners than me dish their stones less when they use them, and so have less flattening to to do, and then do that more effectively- but I always seemed to spend more time than was reasonable on this particularly mindless part of the process.

I use it with four grits (120, 400, 1000, 3600- I don't have the 6000 grit micromesh disk) for straight blades; the 120 gets rid of metal in a hurry (I was actually quite shocked at what 2 seconds on the 120 did to the bevel of a vintage Buck Bros chisel I was sharpening) and the edge is pretty damn good after the 3600. Then I work bevel and back a little with some 0.5 micron diamond paste on a piece of MDF (Veritas green stuff works too, but it doesn't feel as flat under the blade) to get a mirror polish. This portion of the regimen I do freehand, and it's a piece of cake to do with the big flat bevel. After that my edges are easily as sharp as I've ever managed to get them, probably sharper, and with much less effort. I am limited to the 4 preset bevel angles (20, 25, 30, 35), but I don't feel like I'm missing anything. Paper seems to hold up well, though it's definitely true that it's not cheap, and unless I find there's a big difference in quality, when I've run through the included paper I'm just going to use off the rack 6 in ROS disks for the coarser grits, and cut PSA sheets to size for the finer grits.

I don't know about turning tools, but the slotted wheels work well for carving tools. But sharpening these is a freehand operation on this machine, so the more skilled you are, the better you'll do. I'm still not doing so good, but being able to see the edge does help. Would be more difficult to economize on discs here, given their perforations, but may be possible.

So, as someone not innately gifted with sharpening nous, and who hasn't managed to develop it despite some quite serious time spent trying to, I am finding this machine a great help. It's obviously not as cheap upfront as scary sharp- though if you amortize the cost of the machine over, say, 10 years, and assume similar rates of consumable consumption, I'd say the difference in price is close to negligible. And I'd guess that if you bought yourself 220, 1000, 4000 and 8000 stones (or even combos) plus a decent jig, you'd be close to laying out the cost of the machine (though extra glass platens and slotted wheels will certainly add substantially to the machine's price, and they're too convenient to forego). Of course, if you can get sharp with spit, a piece of slate, your belt and your palm, this will seem like a preposterous piece of paraphernalia; but for me, the price is a relatively small tradeoff for an approach that I finally feel confident will get my tools sharp.

Let me first say that I am a total novice when it comes to sharpening. I tried using oil stones and an angle jig but could not seem to get the hang of it. My results were horrible, probably because I was starting with some very dull blades that needed a lot of material removed before they'd be considered even close to sharp. Being a beginner/intermediate woodworker, I don't have too much need for a lot of sharp hand tools. However, the ones I have desperately needed help.
I started to look at my options and thought it best to go for a motorized sharpening solution. The competition is very expensive when you consider the initial cost and then the price of attachments to sharpen different tools. Even some of the manual methods would cost a lot when you figure in the different grades of stones needed to get the best results.
When I first saw the WorkSharp online I was fascinated by it. What a great idea! Being a skeptic though, I figured it was just too good to be true. After seeing some reviews I felt it warranted more looking into.
I bought it on sale at a local store that I go to all the time (used a promotion they offered for 10% off of anything) so I got a good deal. I have not used it a whole lot just yet, but here is what I found so far:
First, the price is very reasonable for what you get. The unit itself seems well made even though there is a good bit of hard plastic. The included accessories are well thought out and cover most of what the average user will need to use. I'm sure I'll find the need for some extras but for now it appears fairly complete for chisels and plane blades. The instructions are straight forward and well laid out.
My first attempt at sharpening with the device was on a 5/8 inch chisel that was terribly worn out. In fact, after I got started I realized that I was going to waste a lot of time fixing a skewed bevel and rounded back plane. So I squared up the edge on my bench grinder before continuing. Once that was done, I was amazed at how well the WorkSharp did on that old chisel. I used the P120 face up to flatten the back plane first. Then flipped the disk over and used the P120 to grind the bevel to 25 degrees. I then took the chisel through the other three grits (including honing on the 3600) both back and bevel. The result was a mirror polished surface on both after about 10 or 12 minutes. It won't take near as long on a well maintained chisel but this one is better than new now! By the way, I also added a micro bevel to the bevel and that only took about 30 seconds. This is recommended in the instructions as a "Master Tip."
Here are some tips that I think should help in initial setup: first, I found that when trying to stick the PSA paper disks to the glass plates, it can be very difficult to line up the holes. I had a brainstorm and used a socket wrench extension rod clamped in my vice to poke through the hole in the glass plate. This held the plate in place and gave me something to fit the hole of the sandpaper onto so the holes would line up perfectly. Second, I used a glue bottle roller to roll out the paper once it was stuck to the plate. It was easy to see there were no bubbles when only one side of the plate had paper on it but for the most part, I had no bubbles in any of the grits except the 3600. That one didn't matter much because it is cushion backed and the bubbles were very small.
I gave it only four stars because I found that the heat sink did not work as well as claimed. My chisel got pretty hot quickly even though I believe I was doing everything right (according to the directions). I simply dipped the chisel in a cup of cool water and wiped it dry every couple of runs through the machine. No problem at all. UPDATE: I would now give this tool 5 stars! I found that the heat sink works very well when resharpening because not nearly as much material has to be sanded away. This device is well worth the money and performs as described. The results are excellent and I certainly was able to shave hairs off my arm with the finished chisel! I'll add more info as I use it and find out more tips/gotchas.
UPDATE: I also want to mention that customer service has been excellent. My 3600 MicroMesh disk got ripped from one of the chisels I sharpened. I emailed customer support to ask for advice on replacing it and also complained that the system was not as good for very dull blades (too much material to remove). They advised me to clean the glass plate with IPA (isopropyl alcohol) to remove the adhesive. They also said they are sending me some 80 grit disks and a new 3600 MicroMesh disk to replace the torn one at no charge! This is great customer service!!!
I want to upgrade this review to 5 stars (but the interface won't let me change my rating, it just lets me edit my review). After using the machine further, I found that it really is all it claims to be. The heatsink works well for resharpening and customer service is awesome! One recommendation: if you have gouges and such that need sharpening, you will probably need to purchase extra slotted wheels. The system only comes with one and you would have to change the disks on it each time you want a finer grit to sharpen with. It would be much easier to buy additional slotted wheels (they are reasonably priced) and have one for each grit (you'd save money on paper this way too, because once you remove PSA paper you can't reuse it).

Prior to purchasing the WS3000 I was using a combination of diamond stones, water stones and sandpaper on granite. I have always been able to produce a very sharp edge using this method but it is so time consuming! I have had the WS3000 for about a month now and used it on chisels and smaller plane blades. I purchased an extra glass wheel and also the leather stropping wheel which comes with its own wheel. I highly recommend that you purchase both of these. I have one wheel with 400/1200 and then another wheel with the 3600/6000 grits on it and the third one has 120 grit on both sides as I use it to flatten the backs of tools and it gets worn quickly. It is very easy to use and much faster than the old method. I like the fact that you don't need some kind of jig to hold the tool you are sharpening as this means you can only do one chisel at a time. The WS3000 allows you to do all chisels on one grit quickly before changing the wheel to a finer grit. It does produce a very nice edge and appears to be at least as sharp as the older method if not sharper. I have a small block plane with an extra blade and I sharpened one blade the old way and one using the WS3000 and then went back and forth comparing the results. If anything, the WS3000 came out smoother but they were both so close it was hard to tell. That said, I cannot seem to get the perfect shiny-smooth surface like I can using the old method. There are always some what I call "striations" or grooves left on whatever I am sharpening that are not removed by the next finer grit. When I did the experiment with the 2 plane blades I paid extra attention to this as I assumed that you would be able to see some kind of marks left over from these - but for the life of me I could not see anything in the wood surface I was planing or in the shavings themselves. So I would have to say that the speed of sharpening and end result have met my expectations but the leftover grooves still bother me. Since the WS3000 cannot sharpen the wider plane blades or smooth the bottom of a hand plane, I will hold on to my diamond and water stones anyway. Purchase more paper disks if you buy this because all the tools you sharpen rub on the same place on the disk so they wear out fairly quickly.

If you need sharp chisels in a hurry, this device is for you. Just remember to buy the assortment pack of sand paper disks because those provided don't cover the gamut and they go quickly.

For plane irons, this tool has some uses - but not for the bigger Lie Nielsen plane irons. For the standard size irons, this gizmo does short work of lapping and gets you a fairly decent edge. But wider irons (and chisels) won't fit into the carriage. You can still do the lapping on this, which the more expensive Tormek sharpening system won't let you do at all. But for the final edge, You still need to resort to guides and stones or sandpaper on glass plates for larger irons.

There's a market out there for the tool that will do it all. Wonder who will be the first there.

I have furnished two houses with Arts and Crafts furniture over the years and also remodeled my kitchen. In spite of using grinders, glass plates with sandpaper, and various stones my blades were never really sharp. This tool works very well. It's easy to use and requires almost no experience to get a great edge. I don't usually go to to the finest grits because I think it's generally overkill for what I do. At $200.00 it's not cheap but I know I have spent more than that on other methods. Some people love to sharpen tools, but I personally do not like to spend hours trying to get my chisels and plane blades sharp. I did buy an additional slotted wheel to add a course grit. Great tool!

Work Sharp WS3000 Wood Tool Sharpener This tool was everything I expected it to be. It has enabled me to sharpen everything in the shop I have been neglecting to sharpen. My primary need for this product was to be able to sharpen the gauges for my lathe freehand and quickly. The slotted wheel has facilitated this as i had anticipated and the learning curve was minimal. I'll be purchasing an additional 1 or 2 more slotted wheels in the future along with finer abrasives for them, just so i can achieve a keener edge with out having to switch the abrasives on the single slotted wheel which comes with the kit. I highly recommend this tool for those just beginnig to learn to sharpen their shop tools. Everything in my shop is now sharp again and will remain that way from now on as this tool makes it easy and fun as well!

The Worksharp 3000 is a fine, reasonably priced sharpener. My sharpening is primarily carving tools and it does a good job with these. It also works well with chisels. My only complaint is that it is useless for sharpening knives. They need to find a way to make it reversible at which point it will be just about perfect. I also own a Tormek and if anyone wants to buy it,it's for sale. That is how pleased I am with my Worksharp.

I don't like spending a lot of time sharpening, and like other reviewers, have struggled to get good results using water stones, sharpening jigs, etc. This tool has made it really easy for me to get consistent and excellent results with chisels and plane blades---and much more quickly than when using stones. Heck, I even sharpened my axe free hand on the top of the wheel before splitting some wood the other day, and I was able to get a great edge very quickly.

Here are a few pros/cons/tips for the Work Sharp:

---The sharpening port is great---you can set it easily to your angle of choice, and can also create a micro-bevel easily by adjusting the port one notch steeper after you have honed the main bevel. It would be nice to have some angles available on the port aside from the 5-degree increments that are provided, but so far I've only had to use the 25- and 30-degree settings.

---The included abrasive discs are nice, but make sure to get extras and don't be stingy on swapping out your discs frequently. Once you start to think, "Geez, this is taking forever," it's probably time to put on a new disc. And then you'll be thinking, "Geez, why didn't I do that sooner."

---I ordered an extra glass wheel as well as the leather honing wheel. So I have one wheel with 120/240 grit, one with 400/1000, one with 3600/6000, and the leather honing wheel. Using these 4 wheels, I can pretty quickly move up through the grits and get a nice sharp edge. Getting a real mirror polish without any marks at all, however, has been elusive for me. The rotaion of the wheel always means that some parts of a blade are getting sharpened differently than other parts (ie, a point at the inside of the disc is rotating faster than the outside). So far, I've found that this doesn't prevent me from getting a very sharp blade---just from getting a perfect mirror finish. But who really cares, so long as it's really sharp?

---Another reviewer commented on how you can't use the Work Sharp to put a camber (slight curve) on a plane blade. This is true, and is something of a limitation. I've been experimenting with rotating the blade just slightly as I make contact in the sharpening port, and this seems to be working well. Just twist the blade slightly to the left, then right, then left again, etc a few times, and it seems to put a bit of a camber on the blade. I typically do this only on the micro-bevel, after the main bevel has been fully honed, starting with the 1000 grit disc.

---The unit is nice and quiet when in operation. Mine has developed a little bit of a squeek already, so I hope that's not a bad sign. As other reviewers have noted, you will find that big grinding jobs generate a fair bit of dust, so make sure you don't have anything sitting right behind the unit when using it. I just keep my shop vac nearby and vac up the dust now and then.

This is a wonderful device, and in a few hours I had 6 chisels and 2 (small) plane blades sharper than ever. The instructions are great and customer service is outstanding - more on that in a moment. I found two minor drawbacks, besides the plane-width limit mentioned by others. The tool rest bar can easily drop too low, resting on the abrasive disk. I managed to grind a nice arc in mine before I realized it had slipped onto the disk. Second, the "skew" feature may not be aligned properly to start - resulting in a very sharp edge that isn't perpendicular to the chisel body. Just check it before proceeding too far.
Like someone else, I managed to "gouge" the honing disk, probably inserting a small chisel too quickly or at a slight "twist." Chisels don't always slide easily along the fence - a little wax helps. The problem is you can't see the underside of the disk, so I didn't notice the damage until I flipped the glass plate (third lesson-learned!) But when I wrote customer service just asking about replacement disks, they apologized for the inconvenience and sent me a new honing kit, which arrived two days later! Talk about outstanding service (and smart marketting) - the company has earned my gratitude and a place on my "highly recommend" list for quality and service. Great tool, GREAT company!

This sharpener has been very easy to use and perhaps the best value on the market. Its better for sharpening then a cheap bench grinder, and much more affordable then one of the higher end systems like the Tormek. For small blades and chisels this unit works great. I used to do my sharpening with waterstones and a Veritas MK II honing jig. While that method worked very well I often did not have the motivation or patience to do so. Using the woodsharp the process is much faster now and the results are the same. Unless you need to sharpening longer blades I wouldnt hesitate getting this system.