Ken Onion Edition Knife Sharpener - Post 2 Yr Use Review 

Does the tip dull on knives??

Joe P thanks for the tip and feedback!

Joe P, the seller (Econaway Abrasives Products) states in answering one of the questions posed by a buyer of their belts (see: www.amazon.com/dp/B00IA2SZQQ/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I1S86K6APEXDJ6&colid=37LD8WJQ0H9F8&th=1) regarding any arrows you might find on their belts: "Any belt that has a tape joint can be used in either direction. All of Econaway belts have tape joints so you can ignore the arrows."

Thanks

I got the regular work sharp sharpener to sharpen my butcher knifes and its just amazing, all my knifes and co workers knifes are scary sharp.

And does it work great or is it not worth it?

@TheKarambitKid Thanks! Would this be suitable to sharpen victorinox chef's knifes?

@TheKarambitKid Thanks!

Stropping

Frank Biz glad you enjoyed the review! You’ll be happy with the Ken Onion. Still use it often.

How did you make out with yours Frank? I am contemplating getting one. I currently have the Lansky but it is quite difficult to use.

@@georgepeverill6116 I do have the Ken Onion and it works great. As a matter of fact I will be sharpening my Spyderco Pocket Knife.

Jeremy Mohlke using the dial setting for alignment on the until itself and setting it to 17 degrees.

@@TheIntrepidAngler ty. So that is 34 degrees inclusive.

@@vbammodawg that would be correct. The angle settings are per side. I know that trips many people when it's not stated as per side or inclusive.

santiago vindell when only the finest will do!

Where?

this sharpener's minimum guided angle is 15

The type of knife or the use you want to do with a knife kind of dictate the angle that you "need"to chose to properly sharpen it. General rule : Filet knife = 17° Kitchen knife = 20° Outdoor knife = 25° Chopper knife = 30° The WS Ken Onion's manual have a ton of info about this. If you don't have it, I'm shure you can download it on their site. I hope it help! Good sharpening!!

Main increments are 15, 20, 25, 30 with a minor unlabeled increment in between. The sharpening guide that comes with the Work Sharp Ken Onion has most knives at 20 or 25 degrees. I've gotten great results with either.

Do you need any help? My absolute biggest advice would be using a blend bevel. So instead of having a 15° edge that you shape with coarse grit and then refine with fine grit, trying to get out all of the prior scratches. Just do the following: Use 3 grit jumps and 1 strop. 1. 10° thinning with verry coarse stone/paper like 100-300Grit until you get a burr (edge bends to one side like foil), the burr is the single most important first step, without it any higher grit will have no effect. 2. slightly raise the angle to like 12-13° using medium grit stone/paper like 600-1000grit 3. 15° "apexing" with the finest stone/paper you have between 2000-6000grit with verry light pressure and edge trailing. 4. stropping with compound on leather at 15° with light pressure, check after how many passes the burr gets removed, and strop just slightly more. 5. Super neat trick: Apex alignment, clean the blade, then put a piece of linen on your leg and do the same movement as stropping, this cleans and aligns it. Now your done and have a free hanging hair whittling and popping edge. The 10°-12.5°-15° progression is extremly usefull, because it takes only a fraction of effort. You are quarateed to only hit the Apex minimizing contact area drastically getting out prior scratches at the edge with just a few passes! No hours of senceless polishing of the entire bevel. Lots of beginners who start and end with 15° instead of starting lower end up polishing only the shoulders instead of the edge, verry frustrating. Actually the only relevant area that needs to be refined is the verry last 3microns of the Apex. Also the 10° coarse bevel acts as a smoother transition from the 3° flats to the 15° edge. This reduces wedging while cutting a lot. Good luck!

@j thanks so much for the advice, yes I'm definitely frustrated, I'll try your method, I really appreciate your reply I'll give that a try today and give you a report if I can find this blog 👍

@@sabelfechter7136 the 10 12 15 is this what I set on the machine?

@@tonylander3512 There arent lower Settings unfortunately, it only has 15, so its hard to get all prior scratches out the Apex. Actually they go deeper than visible, the steel is damaged 3times as deep as the scratch, so raising the angle and using a really fine grit with low pressure removes the damaged steel at the apex and doesnt do damage itself. This gives longer edge retention than usually. I think you can also freehand with it if you take of the angle quide. You can calculate how much to lift up the spine to reach a certain angle with: edge to spine lenght * tan(angle) For example: 1" * tan(10°) = 0.176" So for 1" blade height edge to spine, you need to raise the spine 0.176" of the belt/stone. But actually for using this machine i would advice a tighter progression. Because the belt has some give 10 might end up like 9-8°. And the advantage of using increasing angles is how much faster the apex can be refined with minimal effort, especially on stones/ angle guide sharpeners. But on a powered sharpener its fast to begin with. So 12-13-15 should be fine too. The 2° jump at the end because the applied pressure is verry low at this step. Ofcouse this might be way harder to hold consistant, but perfect angle really doesnt matter, its ok to have human error, as long as its to a lower instead of higher angle. Take a look on youtube for "BigBrownBear" he makes the best, hardest and thinnest knives on the planet. And made a video on the Ken Onion Worksharp, how to freehand it.

@@sabelfechter7136 look thanks so much for helping me, I'm up to 2 visits to the band aid draw with dripping blood, I'll look at big brown bear tomorrow. I can't express how thankful I am that you've taken the time to do this, hopefully the next reply is from the hospital with a missing finger, I already feel I'm streets in front of where I was 👍

I have lightly scratched some blades when using the belts. I'm sure it was my fault, but it was on work knives, so the finish wasn't an issue. If it's a valuable or sentimental item, I wouldn't risk it.

The Intrepid Angler Ah, thanks.

Put masking tape on the blade before sharpening. This will eliminate scratching.

Great Tip! @@ColtJustice

I have owned one of the KO Worksharp sharpeners for over 5 years and have never 'scratched' a knife blade with it. Is there a learning curve with it...yes. Is there a learning curve with any sharpening system...yes. Do they all get results...yes. I have...and still do sharpen knives many different ways and with many different systems...from the KO Worksharp to a coffee cup, diamond stones, whetstones , a piece of sandpaper, the glass window of my pickup, a spyderco sharpmaker, Lansky box rods, concrete sidewalk, a brick...you name it, they all work, if you know how to sharpen an edge. The KO Worksharp is quicker and it takes less time to put an edge on a blade than with others...that is why I prefer it over others. If I'm not in a hurry, and want to practice some meditation or 'shoot the bull"...by all means, I will use a slower method.

Why? Does it put stress on the cord or what do you mean?

@@kentchr76 Indeed. Probably 90% of power cords are cheap large wire bundles, put together in leads, wrapped up as cord. Their ability to remain functionally reliable diminishes drastically, the more often you bend it, wrap it or squeeze it. So when I see tight loops on a power cord, I immediately wonder about the internal stresses. Always wrap a cord with as big of a loop as possible and operate it as straight as possible. Just compare to cords on a reel. The diameter of the reels is huge. (tip, if the cord remains roughly in the shape you put it and the insulation is rather hard, it is cheap. If it's very easy to flex, has a soft insulation (silicone) and does not remain in shape, (it's fine wire) expensive cord).

ObsessionPC Okay - thanks. That makes sense.

Carl Edwards about 25-23 degrees.

Dillion W ok. Thanks

65

Thanks

Yes

You can sharpen any tool. Even make your own knives with blanks. The only issue I have had is the tips of my knives have to be done without the assistance the the guide but that isn't much of an issue

watch the video ,close to the beginning he says at 1:20. bought on AMAZON from TEXAS SHARPENER COMPANY....YOUR WELCOME...

After further review go to AMAZON type in replacement belts for Ken Onion knife sharpener ... MULTIPLE sellers to chose from..

ive heard the ken onion work sharp is a bit harder to use then the other version i havent used the ken onion one yet, i do plan to get one of these for my self i just cant decide which one

Fuck you

It's labeled as the Ken Onion edition. Is there another model?

I liked your video but just wanted to let you know they came out with a new model labelled “Ken Onion Edition”. It doesn’t have the guides, you just set the angle on the belt and rest the knife on a fixed plane.

David that is add on to the unit he is currently using called the blade grinding attachment for the Ken Onion Edition

May have misspoken, but you're correct, they are belts. Cheers!

That is splitting hairs, any belt falls under the category of being a "band"