Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Worksharp, should I get one?

OK for my high end knives? I can get them sharp but I want them sharper like when I get them from Ingram. Ken Onion model? What else is out there? Santa is coming and I know he wants to bring me something....... Figure the Hunters Campfire gets the most traffic so that's why I am asking here first. Thanks.

Others disagree, but I have the KO edition, and I cannot seem to get the edge I want with it. It will come out shiny and pretty, but not very sharp. Perhaps I have high standards. Perhaps I suck at sharpening with the Worksharp. Whatever it is, they just don't come out like I wish they would. It will also take a bit of material from your knives, especially when you first sharpen them to convex them. I have better luck by hand with diamond and ceramics. I think I might like an edge pro better.

Stones

As a knife maker I love the Worksharp for job security. Most knives will last a lifetime with normal stone sharpening but I've seen knives ground into a fillet knife within several sharpenings using the little belt grinders. Really easy to remove a lot of unnecessary material to get an edge. Be careful and practice on a cheap knife at first if you go that route.

Ask Santa for a Smiths 2 1/2 x 12 orange diamond stone and a 3 x 8 dual sided 1000 and 3000 grit ceramic stone. I would also ask for a ceramic 1000 grit 1/2 inch diameter rod. You'll be in the ball park of a KO work sharp. You will also be in possession of the best there is for sharpening and touch up work on quality knives. Get someone to teach you how to use them if necessary

I have a K O Work Sharp and I only rarely use it and never on good knives.

I suggest you take the time to trouble shoot whatever it is you are doing now. Sometimes spending money is not the answer as the tools you already have are probably good enough.

From your description of being able to get the knife sharp but not as good as new, it makes me think that you have not quite formed the edge apex but are pretty close.

Knife sharpening is always going to be about bringing the two planes of the edge bevels together into an apex and then removing any burrs you created during that process. You have to think in those terms regardless of what kind of gizmo or stone you use to make it happen.

One trick to see if you are hitting the apex is to color the edge of the knife with a magic marker and then sharpen a few passes. The stone will rub off the marker where you are grinding and may show you that you need to change the angle a bit.

Another which I prefer is to hold the knife edge up spine down into a strong light....a good lamp or sunlight. Examine the edge to see if it reflects light at the very apex where the edge bevels come together. If it does you have not brought the planes together as well as you can. Sharpen until the edge quits reflecting light....at that point the edge should be keen enough that you will be happy. A dull edge will reflect light that the human eye can see but a sharp one will not. If you are on up in age like me a magnifying glass might help.

Hope that helps.

I have the KO model and love it. Easy to follow directions and even I can get hair shaving sharpness with little effort. I did practice with cheap kitchen knives before I moved on to my more expensive knives. Now my filet knife is as sharp as when I brought it home. My pocket knife is so sharp that when I use it in front of friends they notice how easy it cuts things. Most of my hunting buddies now have the KO edition themselves. Try it, you'll like it.

One thing I didn't state; I have no issues getting my less expensive knives sharp with stones and steel. Seems like S30V gives me fits.

What abrasive are you using.....I assume diamond?

I was not impressed.

Same boat as this guy. I'm not an endless tinkerer so the KO model is perfect for me. Not to take away from any other sharpening system. I do have an edge pro apex (anyone want to buy it) and it was just too much work/mess to use it on a regular basis. The KO makes sharpening ingrams (17 degree angle) quick and easy. I had trouble with the Ingrams with all other methods.

You would really have to not follow any type of instructions to grind a knife into a fillet knife in a few sharpening sessions.

I've been looking for a better, i.e. easier way to sharpen knives and I think the KO model might be just the ticket. I don't have any real fancy knives, just a few Tops and a Cold Steel or two, but I would like to keep them with a decent edge.

I have the regular version, not the KO .I use it for scissors, the wife's cheap kitchen knives and some of the cheaper knives I have. No way would I use it on my Ingrams, Dozier or Miller. I mostly use a Lansky for the higher end stuff, sometimes sharpen by hand.

Got a KO and dig it. Not into expensive knives and pretty dang sharp satisfies. I like belt sanders. Of course if you go course you can grind it in course of your session. I think about 400 or 600 grit touch up works but still fairly new to me. Sure EZ. It's been claimed here that you loose your man card - so there's that.

I have the KO edition and like it very well. I can get a knife sharper with it than any other method I've ever tried and in just a few minutes. I use it to sharpen all of my knifes. From the Benchmade every day carry all the way down to the cheap filet knife. I have a $250 Japanese chef's knife (that I decided I needed for some reason) that gets sharpened with the Worksharp pretty regularly. But to me knives are just tools and I don't own any show pieces. If I was a knife nut, then I'd probably be happier rubbing them on stones for hours on in but I'm not, so 5 minutes a knife on the Worksharp is just right. Every knife I've sharpened with it get hair popping sharp but the cheaper ones with cheap steel are the easiest.

Only downside to Worksharp is the limited belts they offer. I like my Worksharp, but had to buy a bunch of finer grit belts, not from Worksharp, that I use to keep various blade tuned up. Happily, they are quite a bit less expensive as well.

I also have the KO model and it does not get the knives as sharp as I want. I would not buy it again.

I use one for our Wusthof and similar quality knives without any issue.

Personally, I use the coarse belt only for abused or incorrectly sharpened blades, the medium belt for all normal sharpening, and skip using the fine belt. Finishing with a quality steel yields a much better result than I could ever get with the fine belt.

Great little gadget to discover after decades of using traditional stones

I watched a Work Sharp video on YouTube, and the demonstrator gave a good tip about finer grits. After you wear down a fine grit belt, save it and rub a little JB's Bore Paste on it and then use it on the Work Sharp as normal. He said you could do this with a worn out belt almost forever, resulting in a nice fine-grit polished, very sharp finish to the blade.

When I first used my Work Sharp, I wasn't satisfied with the results - especially the rounded tips. After using it several more times on various knives, I've gotten much better with it and have achieved great results. I can shave with every knife I own, and the tips are intact. Not to mention that I now own some scary sharp axes, too.