I have the same unit, but also picked up the leather strop wheel and I have a separate jig for mounting plane blades in that rolls on the top part. It is great unit and gives flawless results.
Yeah man I been having mine for 10 years too and just really started to appreciate it. I guess I had to mature to this point in my sharping experience.
I've trained myself to do this freehand. I usually just use a strop before I take my chisel to the work like 15 to 20 strokes and it's good to go. Mainly because when you maintain a super sharp edge it dulls fast but also sharpen fast with almost no effort. Once a week I will strike it on a diamond plate freehand which takes 30 sec or so. If I need to refinish a chipped chisel then the guide comes out and it can be a chore.
I absolutely love mine. I have had one single issue- somehow the slotted disc got warped, and it was putting an angle on all my blades that I had to straighten out with smaller grits. Once I figured out what was happening, I bought a couple extra glass discs, used those instead of the slotted wheel, and now it’s perfect.
I’m going to consider buying this soon. I’ve been sharpening my own for decades. What a pain. I remember when these came out. I wanted one but couldn’t afford it and forgot about this tool. Even if I can get a great edge and then fine tune to razor sharp by hand it’s still a win. Great vids! I watch them all. Happy holidays and merry Christmas.
KelMaster Construction I’ve sharpened MANY antique planer blades, and horribly abused chisels. It didn’t take me that long, you just have to start with the largest grit and go from there.
Rob the WS was a total game-changer for me. I don’t think I ever really used a sharp chisel or plane iron until i started using it. I have the wide tool accessory permanently installed - it makes a big flat area to the side of the wheel so you can use honing guides. I’ve added half a dozen glass disks so I can have more grits ready to go. Also the leather stropping disk. Now I sharpen everything right up to the mirror finish “scary sharp” shave and slice paper level - I keep the leather up/6000 down on the machine and treat it like a pencil sharpener when I’m working. It takes literally 2 seconds to maintain the edge. I do everything with microbevels BTW. Great tool you can put a razor edge on even your old POS beater chisels if you want to.
PS I loved the WS3000 so much I bought the Ken Onion knife sharpener from them too. Another game changer - used it on everything from beater sport knives to my $200 chef knives - same result. Blades so sharp they’ll shave easily.
I just use a diamond honing block. It takes a little longer but my chisels are shaving sharp. I also have high quality japanese steel chisels that stay sharp a lot longer than conventional chisels. But I gotta say I have the dewalt chisel set also and they are awesome for the money.
I own a few stanley fat max chisels and they are super hard steel. When I bought my first one I needed a 2 inch chisel and the hardware store had one in stock. My day to day are German high carbon steel that must have a little nickel because they never rusted. It was a xmas gift and really something that I wouldn't have splurged for personally.
This System seems like it defiantly beats using a bench grinder for sharpening chisels... Thanks for a great video and all you do Rob! 👍 Happy Holidays!!!
Do you still use this sharpener or have you moved to something else? The reason I ask is I am not able to find the Work Sharp 3000 Wide Blade Attachment which I think is a good accessory.
I’m a teacher in Ireland. I have to sharpen 24 chisels (x7 for different sizes and shapes). I was just wondering how long would it take to sharpen a single chisel... because I have a sharpening system in school but it could take as long as 5/6 minutes to sharpen a single chisel. Is this system faster?
G TS it depends on how bad off they are. Are you sharpening the chisels daily? If yes then a wet stone may be cheaper in long run than the PSA abrasives discs
Ive got to put this on the list. Im horrible at sharpening chisels so I dont. Cant make a plane work ever so thats a non issue and they can stay in the clamp closet dull on the shelf. The price aint so bad just dips into my Festool funds.
I have one of the 3000 and it start tripping the gfi for no reason I can figure out why because I take it apart to try and find what’s going on and it’ll work for a min?
But chisels should not be sharpen in that manner, a good quality chisel will have two angles on it and it would take a guide to properly sharpen BOTH angles. So I would have to disagree just take the time and effort if the tool requires it.
