A Brief Review of the Work Sharp Knife Sharpener System

The Work Sharp Knife Sharpener along with jigs and extra belts.

Having heard some good things about it, I bought one through Amazon.  In a matter of a day I tried it, hated it and sent it back.  In fact, it worked well in that it quickly put paper-shaving edges on my kitchen knives using the indoor jig.  When I switched to the outdoor jig to sharpen my bushcraft and farm knives, it didn’t support them at the tip and ruined several.

In fairness, WorkSharp was friendly and helpful and promptly offered to repair or replace the knives at my option.  I know a little about metal working and repaired one knife which is to me just a cutter I use to butcher livestock (I live on a farm), and I repaired and sold the other two knives which are more special to me, then replaced them with like knives.

I do some farrier work and know how to put a good edge on just about anything due to that work.  I’d rather a good set of Japanese waterstones for sharpening most knives or axes any day.  For oddly shaped tools like a farrier’s hoof knife, give me a medium and fine diamond rod.  That’s plenty.

So, what of the WorkSharp?  It will give you a good edge but you can learn to do this with waterstones or diamond stones and good technique, and with such stones you can get a better edge.  Learning this technique is not so hard.

If you get into the WorkSharp, be forewarned.  Go too slow or slip up at the point of your knife and you’ll have a ruined knife.  It works, but comes with substantial risk.  I’ll take old reliable sharpening stones any day.