Great addition to the shop...I picked one up a year ago and I love it, keep you working wood more, less time sharpening and you will not be putting off sharpening since it is so quick and easy. I also built the Stumpy Nubs cabinet for this unit, it holds all the wheels and paper plus it gives you the stand to do the large plane blades without the cost of the attachment that worksharp sells. Have fun!
I've had mine for about 8 months and it's been wonderful, like you said no fuss, no muss. I found out that MicroMesh sells the same discs without a hole in the middle for about 1/10 the cost of retail and I just use a hollow punch to put the hole in. Works great. You gonna come up for the Detroit Woodworking Show?
David - I am considering buying the Work Sharp and stumble across this old video of yours. I love seeing the "Drunken Woodworker". Fun to see how your style and delivery have changed. Good stuff!
I have used the WS3000 for about 9 months now and have moved to just using 6" diameter 1/2" MDF disks with different types of polishing compounds. have not used sand paper since I used up the ones that came with the system. I love it and use it almost every week for some thing or else, chisels, planes, lathe tools, knifes, ...
Good walk-thru David. I've been using one for several years. I attached it to a simple base with a drawer for accessories and ears to clamp to bench. Eventually tired of sandpaper and bought the Dia-Sharp diamond discs. Works great! I don't turn so have never sharpened any curved turning tools using the slotted disc. But as you say the system is fast, easy and clean.
I've got some DMT diamond bench stones, a double sided water stone, and Veritas Mk II jig. I saw this at a woodworking store and thought 'man, I could have gotten into this setup that's faster and cleaner for what I've already paid'! That's life!
I have the 3000 and I love it, I'm not great at using stones, this simplifies things. I also got the knife/scissor attachment and that works great too.
I bought a 2000 on sale and love it. I went back a few weeks later and saw they were very cheap on closeout (only a few dollars more than simply buying a slotted disc kit). I'm planning to mount them all on the same stand as my belt/disc sander. This way I can run numerous different grits without having to swap Work Sharp discs or sandpaper on my belt/disc combo. It is overkill, but I was going to invest in discs anyway so I call it a convenience win. It's also great for shaping/sanding wood and cleaning up my yard tools. I brought an old axe back to life with mine.
I just found one of these on Craigslist. What a machine! Today I sharpened a block plane blade and when I was finished I was able to take a complete shaving across the end grain of a 6" board.
Very nostalgic watching an older video that is still SUPER relevant! Instead of buying all of these diamond stones now that I'm getting into dovetails.. This is on my shopping list in Amazon now! Thanks man for keeping this video up!
I have one of those and I love it. It's just as you say. On my disk edge I used marker to make note of the grit size with arrow facing towards the side that the grit is on. Very helpful of knowing which side is which. Thanks for sharing.
looks like it makes a very clean edge, I wish I had one. but I do fully enjoy the relaxation and satisfaction of carefully hand sharpening my tools on a stone.
Popped up in my feed after looking up the worksharp. I can't help but think of this week's making it (142 crabs) while I watch. Good example of how times have changed in the RU-vid landscape ;D
i bought one last year i have never worked with a sharp chisel just thought i had the plain knifes wow you wont go wrong if you get one the lathe knifes not so good at least in my case grinder i got and a wolverine is in my future for them
I love my Worksharp. I would like to get two more glass discs and dedicate both sides of each disc to one grit. I've also thought of making an MDF strop.
Nice review David. If possible, you could put the finest grit paper on the underside of your leather disc then you wouldn't need to flip it over when you want to quickly fine tune tune a chisel as it is not necessary to flatten the underside everytime. Keep up the good work! P.s. Making It is awesome!
I have had one of these for years. the only recommendation I have is bye more glass plates so you can go up very high grit. Also you don't have to use there sand paper. Just trace around the grit you want, and use spare adhesive. A lot cheaper then buying there.
Am I the only one who likes the music in the background? For some reason I always see people hating on it in the comments. Anyways great unboxing and review!
No, Jake, you're not the only one who likes the music. The wife knows when I'm getting ready to watch one of David's videos, because I say out loud, "CONGA TIME!!!" She just ignores me. Some people's kids, I swear...
Awesome review, looks like a pretty easy system to use. Did you happen to notice if it will sharpen turning tools? Someone was just asking me about that, and I had no clue. Thanks for the walkthrough man, it was pretty thorough on all the features and accessories. Keep up the great work! Stay Calm and Conga On!
That bar that's located above the disk may be meant for gouges/turning tools? I've seen other systems that have a bar like that, you rest the chisel on it so the bevel lays at the correct angle on the disc, then you hold it in place and rotate the tool. It stops you from rocking back and forth and keeps a flat bevel
We have one of these at my family's shop. I use it for sharpening my gouges and skews. I haven't had any success sharpening scrapers with it though. There is a bit of a trick to doing gouges with it. I made a collar that goes of the blade of the gouge and rides allow to tool rest on top to keep the distance and angle consistent. It also seems that the finer grits don't do well on the gouges and actually rounds the edge slightly, so the highest I go is 320 grit.
May have to look into this unit. - to bad there isn't an attachment to sharpen drill bits with it. Thanks for sharing your experience Drunken Woodworker !!
Drunken Woodworker You can use the slotted disk and sharpen twist bits from below. Use a sharpie to color the edges so you can see the metal you are removing. Try to get both sides the same and keep the proper angle as you rotate the bit. Use a new bit as a reference to compare before and after. It's very hard to get it right (and keep the point in he center), but after a couple hundred tries you will see some success. It's cheaper than buying new drill bits all the time! Keith Fenner Has a few videos on how to freehand drill bits on a grinder. He makes it look easy - but he's also a master machinist.
How often do you think you'd use this? Follow up, how often would you replace the sandpaper and is it hard to replace? Sticking something on glass could be difficult it seems.
If you buy extra wheels to put same grit top and bottom, it will save time (especially when you only need that last and finest grit). Totally worth it. I've seen people make their own wheels out of MDF - same thickness as the glass, and they work pretty well. You can also use an MDF wheel, instead of the leather. Just load the bare MDF with honing compound and use like normal. I have this machine (and many other systems). This is one of the best (and quickest). You will enjoy the fast touchups.
As a cabinet maker I was told never to use the back of my chisel on any stone or especially that machine your using unless you damaged it by letting it hit of something and it needed repair 😆😆 quick machine though seems a lot more efficient 👍👍
Sorry I was thought to give one flat swipe on the back at the end sorry forgot about that one minor detail , never abused a chisels back like I just seen but I love your work man , keep it up 👍👍👍👍
Drunken Woodworker In general, I've always heard that you only do the back once when you first get a chisel or when it needs rehab. Once it's flat, it's flat. I might strop the back of mine on leather after a sharpening in order to get rid of the bur, but that's it. There's the ruler trick as well, but that's different. Not criticizing, just saying what I've always heard. God knows there's enough arguments about sharpening methods out there, I don't need to contribute. :) I'm a diamond plate, freehand guy, and I can touch up a chisel pretty quickly that way. But that system looks pretty sweet. Can't see anything to complain about.
This is timely. After watching Stumpy Nubs' interview with Tormek, I started looking at sharpeners. I noticed this one at one tenth the cost of the Tormek, so I am glad to watch your review. One question, is this device capable of accurately sharpening tools with curved ends, like gouges and wood turning tools? Are there accessories to help keep the correct angle?
Nevermind, I've answered my own question. Work Sharp has videos and shows how you can install a Tormek or Jet gouge sharpening jig on their accessory tool rest.
J.L.M. I have the Tormek SVD185 jig (requires the tool bar attachment, sold separately) and sharpen my turning gouges with it, works great! I built a jig to slide on the tool bar that is a flat plate that is adjustable to any angle to sharpen my roughing gouge and scrapers. All work very well on turning tools.
I've got the Jet stone wheel sharpening system as well as stones but they both have the same problem.. You have to get the water out and soak everything.. I like how small and compact the Work Sharp is and it's always ready. I know you don't have much time on it but any idea how often you'll have to change out the sanding pads?
One of the nice things about this sharpening system is the eraser that comes with it. I have one that I bought for my stationary belt sander and it has extended the life of the sand paper by months. That being said, I don't use the sander everyday but it does get a good workout when I do use it.
I have been looking at looking at getting one of these. I have one plane and the blade got damaged when I was planing some hard, rough wood (mostly to see if the plane could handle it, and it didn't). I have tried the manual route and it took a long time to get just a little done, so I am looking at this to fix that and sharpen up my chisels and turning tools. Have you tried any really damaged edges?
I've had one of these for a couple of years, great tool, which is easy to use. Unfortunately, theres only one company in the UK that sells the discs. Too expensive and always out of stock.
What angle is it sharpening at and are you able to adjust the angle for different plane blades and such? I don't assume it will allow you to create a micro bevel, will it?
I have been trying to figure out what sharpening system to get and this seems to be one of the easiest to use and does not require water. It has been 5 years do you still have the WorkSharp3000?
My question is does the chisel get hot when you were going through all of the grits like the first one you sharpened ? I am always afraid of getting stuff to hot when I sharpen them with the grinder or sander and always cool mine with water.
mark a. coffeen There is an air cooling system built in. Also, that's why you see me only sharpening for about 1 second at a time. I never felt the chisels get hot and it's important they don't otherwise you'll ruin the metal. Good question!
The air cooling does not work directly on the chisel. The chisel rests on the angled 'sharpening port', which is made of fairly heavy aluminum, and this acts like a heat sink. THEN, the bottom of the heatsink has cooling fins, and the cooling air blows past those. Seems to work well, as I never notice any warmth on my chisels when sharpening them with this tool.
Recently viewed your review of this product and just wondering if you think this machine is good for sharpening barber tools as in trimmer blades and clipper blades?
Get something else, the accessories are mostly discontinued, are hard to find if you can find them and you can get a slow speed wet sharpener for about the same price.
Hello i have not read all these comments but wondering if this machine sharpens knives or if an adapter is needed or if they make a machine for that? What kind of price is on this machine? Thanks
Well I started out sharpening my chisels on a Tormek when this video was made, I have just finished the last one today! Hate that bloody thing, and I'm going to buy none of these instead.
Mike O'Donovan, the WS3000 kit comes with four grades of abrasive disk for the two glass wheels; 120, 400, 1000 and the fourth is a special padded 3600 that is supposed to function similarly to leather for the final honing step. The kit also included a slotted wheel and three grades of slotted abrasive disks for that.
Also you can adapt some of the Tormek fixturing to this unit. I can't remember exactly how thou. I thing Stumpy Nubs had done a video on it. Plus he came up with a stand to store machine and disk on. I made one like his. Check it out. I have a Sketchup plan if you want it?
How to sharpen a chisel. Do it freehand. Oh I’ve been at it half an hour and I’m still nowhere near the edge. I had better get a honing guide. Oh I’ve set it too long. I’ve been at it an hour now.ill just shorten the protrusion That’s better but I’ve got two bevels and it’s not square. After examining the chisel 8 times I’ve got 8 bevels. Time for the secondary bevel. I really wanted 25’ and now I have got thirty. and the wood split. I’ll get a whetstone. That’s much quicker but there’s water everywhere and I’ve spent a fortune on jigs. There’s not much of my chisel now. Maybe if I had a slope to set the angle and didn’t use water it might go better. I really want the same angle exactly when I re hone, and I hate sharpening. I want something quick without losing its or my temper.......... A year later. I’ve bought a couple of high grit diamond discs for my Worksharp.. I give my chisels a quick hone at the end of the day. It takes me less than a minute each.
I just ordered a WS3000 and its arriving tomorrow so of course I'm on YT watching videos on it. You should change the name of yours to Unboxing and Second Use. The 3rd grit in your demo that you supposedly just opened, was used..tsk tsk...truth in advertising.
Liam Gautier, yes this tool can be used to free hand sharpen wood lathe chisels/tools, straight or curved. The slotted abrasive wheel works well for this, or you can use the normal glass wheels and free hand pretty much any shape tool from the top (there is a tool rest that may or may not be helpful for this).
Considering it takes only maybe 2 mins for me to clean up the micro bevel and strop, i only see benifit in using a machine for my turning tools which- 120 grinder sharp is more than good enough for everything but my skews, in which case id rather go for a tormek if that was in my price range.... oh yeah and i didnt know you did paid promo videos.. or at least it felt like one
It probably felt like one because it’s so good. I’ve had mine for a long time and I tell everyone about it. The fundamental of using a dry slope is a big notch up.
I have an older model work sharp and your defiantly being to aggressive with the thrust motion pushing the bevel into the sanding disk if you do those types of thrusts you dont fill the papper as quickly but you wear the paper faster so your better to just go verry lightly on the thrusts and just clean the paper more often its much easier on your wallet if you take care to make the abrasives last
