Features:

  • Sharpen every knife you own like a pro quickly, easily and with repeatable, consistent results. Creates the sharpest blades you've ever had!
  • Easily Replaceable Abrasive Grit Belts. Comes with premium abrasive belts to meet all your sharpening needs: Coarse (P80), Medium (P220) and Fine (6000). Abrasive belts won't burn or damage blade steel during sharpening.
  • Precision sharpening guides provide fast, easy, repeatable and consistent results. Kitchen Knife guide sharpens blades to a 40° angle – Outdoor Knife Guide sharpens to a 50° angle.
  • Can also be used to sharpen a wide range of bladed shop tools and lawn and garden tools such as Lawn Mower Blades, Garden Pruners, Shears, Shovels, Scrapers and more. Also makes the ideal hand held detail grinder
  • 1-year warranty – warranty only valid for North American 110v power source applications. Use of power converters for 220V not recommended. Can be run with 12V power inverter (min. 150 watt) from car, truck, RV, boat, etc.
Surprisingly good

I'm somewhat surprised that I like this tool as much as I do. I was skeptical of a knife sharpener that uses flexible sanding belts since I'm accustomed to things like whetstones and ceramic rods and butcher's steels. This is very fast and very easy compared to working an edge on a larger knife with stones or rods. I've used this tool on several blades now and it does a VERY good job of reconditioning dull knives. I hate dull blades and I get a fair amount of sharpening practice. My wife is a talented foodie and also a very aggressive chopper and slicer of foods (but she has finally stopped putting our knives in the dishwasher !!! ) . I started using this with a couple of larger knives that I didn't really care about either way. I just couldn't sharpen them very well with a good Forschner butcher's steel and didn't like them enough to spend the time required to get a good edge with whetstones and oil so they just laid around in the drawer doing nothing. They were mostly inexpensive stainless knives of unknown origin but they actually came out SHARP so I tried some more and that worked out well too. I won't sharpen my few "good" knives with this since I can get the edge I like with the less aggressive, traditional butcher's steel. So, if you've had no success sharpening your own knives with other methods this is worth a try. However, if you only have fine (and very expensive) German or Japanese blades I wouldn't recommend this at all. If you can't sharpen those yourself, preserve your investment and pay someone to do it properly. Just be sure to follow the instructions closely and you should be successful. The instructions aren't complicated but they are important. I also strongly suggest you start with a junk knife just to get the hang of using the tool. The initial sharpening also takes a little time since this reshapes the profile as well as the edge but it's quick and easy once you get the hang of it and you can always quickly resharpen your cheaper knives to a good working edge whenever needed. Finally, the advertisements/videos show this tool sharpening lawn mower blades, axes, bulldozer blades and space shuttle wings..........I'd stay with knives and scissors myself. Well, maybe you can do the ax if it's pretty sharp already. The sanding belts are small so it would take a long time and a lot of belts to sharpen a mower blade properly.

Great Product and Great Customer Service

I just had this delivered two days ago. When I received it I read through the instructions to get familiar with its operation. A grinding belt was installed on the sharpener so I plugged it in and ran the motor. It immediately froze up and the belt wouldn't turn. I manually turned the belt a bit and tried again and smelled a burning odor. It was then that I could see that the belt was almost sheared in half. I removed the belt and I saw a small piece of plastic that had been wedged between the belt and the pulley wheel. I'm still not sure where that came from, but I replaced the belt and it ran perfectly. I can only assume that the belt had not been properly installed and caused it to abrade the knife guide. I called the company the next day to let them know what happened. I spoke with a very nice lady named Andree who said she would send out a new belt the next day. The next morning she sent me an email asking me to take some picture of where the damage occurred, stating she wanted to make sure there was nothing more wrong. I took the pictures, sent them to her and she immediately said she would also send a new cassette along with the new belt. This what I call OUTSTANDING customer service!! You just don't find that with very many companies these days. I love the machine and it sharpens almost any knife or other cutting blade of most any kind within minutes. I have bought many different sharpening devices over the years, but this one is the cats meow! I don't think you will be disappointed if you decide to get one. Update 3-19-17 Just received the parts from this company...and not only did Andree send me a new cassette, but an entire set of new belts as well. And, it all got here within 2 days. Wow, these folks continue to amaze me with the wonderful customer service!!!

Fast, easy, effective as hell and takes too much metal too easily

If I could give this 4.8 stars I would. The only down side I've seen so far is the ability to rip metal away far too quickly. This is especially critical on the start and finish of your stroke. It does a great job making a sharp edge once you get the method down. I spent 10-15 minutes figuring it out on an older kitchen knife, then sharpened about 10 more kitchen knives to shaving sharp in maybe 15 minutes total. Longer Version: I have been using a Spydico Sharpmaker (pardon my spelling please) for 6 years or more now. Before that I mainly used flat stones. I love my Sharpmaker but I moved to a new house about half a year back and I haven't seen it since. My knives were dull as hell after 6 months without a sharpening stone and I finally got fed up. Came here to buy another Sharpmaker. Reading the reviews of some of the 'suggested products' lead me to this. I watch a lot of the forging shows and I've seen a ton of knives sharpened on a belt sander so I figured I'd give this a swing. I know the Sharpmaker would put a great edge on my knives but it is really best for maintaining sharp knives than it is at putting new edges on damaged knives. Returning my most used knives to the edge I like would have taken me 1/2 hour or more per knife. I've done that, it's tedious. This device, Work Sharp WSKTS Knife & Tool Sharpener, is fast. The small belts do a great job at ripping metal away. The medium belt was great for any edges that were not chipped. Pratice on an older knife first. It is very easy to take way too much metal, especially at the start of the sharpening stroke and at the end of the stroke. Start the belt as you start moving the blade back. If you start the motor before you start pulling the blade back, you will cut more at the start then the rest of the stroke and eat a bit of the back of the blade away. If you pull the blade all the way through the belt, without stopping the belt while it is still on the tip, you will roll the tip over and loose the point. A mistake I made a couple times, even though I had read the directions and they warned me. Experience counts I guess. I had a couple older blades with chips in the edge, anywhere from 1/2mm in diameter and smaller. A few passes with the medium belt didn't do a lot to remove them so I switched to the course belt. Ripped through and now I have a straight, clean edge. I finished on the medium then fine belt and I have a very nice, straight and sharp edge. I'm very glad I bought this sharpener. But I will, once found, continue to use the sharpmaker to avoid grinding my knives to dust unless they are well past dull. Until then, I will use the 6000 grit for touch ups, at least I'll give that a shot.

Well worth the money

I cannot explain why I never purchased this before, just trying to be cheap I guess. As it turns out, I wasted a lot of money, time , and effort in trying to make my own knife sharpening systems from grinders, strop wheels, sharpening stones ....etc. After a review of the instructions and 10 minutes of practice on a crap piece of an old knife.....I got it. I can craft a razor sharp edge on any of my numerous outdoor knives or my wifes' kitchen knives in about 5 minutes each. Excelent buy and well worth the price if you use your knives a lot.. I still take a small manual carbide/ceramic sharpener with me camping.....just in case but do not think I will use it unless desperate measures are needed. This is great !

Your expectations will be the key.

I cannot see how anyone could give this a negative review if they use just some basic common sense and follow the instructions. I think it's all about having correct expectations. If you're expecting this sharpener to give you the same edge that a professional can give you, or if you're expecting the same edge that you can get with 30 minutes on multiple stones, then you might not be super happy with this. With just a little bit of practice though, you can get a really nice edge on your knives in less than three minutes. That's what this was about for me, time. I had five kitchen knives, and about a dozen pocket knives in a box that were virtually unusable. They had been sitting in a box (except the chef knife which I used regularly) that I'd toss them in with the "I'll sharpen them later" mentality. I started working my way through them all this weekend and by the time I made it to the end of them, I'd gotten pretty good with this tool. I can't get the 25 degree edge I'd like quite yet, but when using the 20 degree guide I can spend three minutes and get a usable, paper cutting edge pretty easily.

Great buy for anybody serious about sharpening

I bought this originally so I could tear it apart and review that it was nothing but a fanboy product. I got so tired of hearing how great it was from all the tacti-morons. Well, I'm eating those words, because it actually IS great. Learning curve is very small, and when you use the right belts for the right blade, and realize to let it do the work without forcing it to, it works very, very well. It puts an edge on a dull knife from 420C to D2, S30V and CPM154. It polishes that edge. It hones it. I strop it anyway, and it makes short work of sharpening. I love using stones, but I do that for a hobby mostly. If I want a fast and sharp edge, I have this thing ready to go now. You don't need the more expensive Ken Onion edition unless you have knives that fall out of the general category, the regular workshop will do fine. I've done outdoor knives up to and including a BK2 and small as a pocket folder. If you get the diamond belts, you can do ceramic knives as well and remove chips or hone the edges perfectly. Takes no skill to operate, but that's assuming general intelligence and the ability to read instructions.

You don't need to buy the more expensive KO units out there. I was on fence, don't waist money, this will do for all needs.

I am the guy that cannot sharpen a knife, no patience. This is the best sharpener I have ever used. Watch a few videos online, try it with a 'junk' knife to practice, that 'junk' knife will be better than brand new very quickly. Once you get how to use it,, its fastest, easiest sharpener you will ever own. 10 times better than those boxed electric grinders they call sharpeners. I live in Michigan and hunt and fish. Starter pack of belts has done over 80 knifes of all types, fish knife is a bone slicer now, 4 axes, 3 hatchets, 9 lawnmower blades, and a few scissors. Hooked my brothers up and sharpened their stuff, they are buying me new belts. and the old ones are still doing the job. Amazon has replacement belts that can fine fine hone blade to razor. Even a diamond belt for ceramic knifes. I have razor sharp axe and hatchets now, had them for 20yrs and wish i did this a long time ago. Lawnmower blades can be sharpened w/out taking off lawnmower. Grass cuts clean and yard is amazing,, really never thought a sharp lawnmower blade would make such a difference. Old butcher block kitchen knife set is better than new now. Steak slices like butter. Yes I am a big fan, and don't think you need the variable speed unit,, this base model works fast, and does the job. did i mention scissors, hunting knife going thru deer skin like a scalpel, .... get it.. stop lookin'.

as good as expert freehand sharpening, fast, easy

Just bought this, along with a small 60x microscope (http://www.amazon.com/Carson-MicroBrite-60x-120x-Microscope-MM-300/dp/B00LAX52IQ). With the microscope, I can confirm that this works better than I can achieve freehand sharpening with 1000 and 6000 grit Japanese waterstones, which I've been doing for more than 15 years and on hundreds of knives. It also outperforms the spyderco sharpmaker, the apex system, and the wicked edge system, at least in my hands. With the just the base kit plus the leather strop, I can get most any knife to hair-popping sharp, and I've only put maybe a half dozen knives through this thing so far. Very easy to use, and impressively sharp, every time. The ken onion version adds adjustable angle settings, but for $50 more on a $70 item, it doesn't seem worth it.

Excellant knife sharpener!

Watching tv the other night and this product appears on the screen. Small little "buy this" ad during a hunting show I watch. Looks like a good knife sharpener, and I needed a gift idea for my husband anyway. So I ordered two, one for hubby and one for dad. Every knife in my cupboard is now sharp. He even threatened to sharpen my butter knives (haha). He's enjoying this sharpener immensely. Was the perfect gift this year! The package itself is pretty nice. The box shows all the uses, includes a disk to make sure you're getting the best angle or use of the sharpener. The booklet, I was told, details everything so you can't mess it up. Tells you what angles all your standard blades are. Very good item for the $$. It's not that pricey, really. Especially when it can be used on more than just your kitchen knives. I was nervous it'd be too complicated, but after seeing my husband's excitement and then realizing he'd sharpened everything he could get his hands on, it's obvious this isn't complicated at all, but rather very easy to use and fun! This was a great purchase!

Excellent Unit

The first time I wrote this review, I thought I was writing a separate review for each of the two units they carry and I purchased. The less expensive Work Sharp WSKTS-W unit is a very good knife sharpener and one of the very best I have ever used; however, I returned it for its more expensive sibling the Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener Ken Onion Edition to reduce the number of parts that you have to keep track of when you store it and for the ease of use its more expensive sibling provides. My review on the better unit is applicable to this one from a sharpening standpoint. If money is a concern, don't hesitate to get this one as it does an excellent job. However, in quality and ease of use the more expensive unit is just better all around. These units beat every other sharpener I have ever purchased and will get your knives razor sharp. This is especially relevant to the newer expensive stainless steel knives that are very hard to sharpen with a stone or steel like the older carbon steel blades (I still prefer). Slicing through skin on tomatoes is a piece of cake after sharpening with these units. I highly recommend and don't waste your time and money on a lot of the others that do a relatively poor job. These sanding belts provide a lot of surface area to remove steel effectively and the blade angling mechanism takes the difficult part and makes it easy.

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