Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades spyderco sharpmaker vs worksharps basic unit

My sharpenng equipment is spartan with a dual diamond stone and a spyderco sharpmaker. I consider my sharpmaker a glorified two-trick pony crock stick (30 degree and 40 degree angles), but it works alright.

Menards had a 15% off sale so I bought the basic work sharp basic unit thats like a lansky.

I have yet to open it or try it yet and trying to decide if I fell for a gadget or not and should return it.

It would help me keep a consistent angle, but most of my sharpening is longer fillet, kitchen and butcher knoves that may require resetting the blade in the holder.

So are they a step up over the sharpmaker and keep it?

(Worksharp makes a pretty decent looking whetstone I may consider...)

Cant speak for the sharpmaker,

I do have a spyderco and the lansky wooden box set ( $4 clearance at academy) and a steamboat sharpener i bought from the local co-op.

All the same style.

They work*


*ive learned to use often, not let the knife get dull.

I have both of the units you reference. I like and use them both. The WorkSharp is really good at setting a consistent bevel and (of course) getting the knife sharp. The Sharpmaker is excellent for touch ups and particularly microbevels. I also take the sharpmaker when on trips, as it packs down small.

I set the primary bevel and do the initial sharpening with the Worksharp. I leave the sharpmaker setup for quick touch ups. In between I use a strop to keep the edge sharp.

If I had to have only one I would choose the worksharp simply due to the consistency and ease of setting a bevel, but I would miss my sharpmaker.

Love my Sharpmaker. Also keep some Dan's stones on hand for the scandi's and axe.

I fell into the amazon rabbit hole and workshapr make a sharpmaker like deal with 5 different angles that I'm temted to try.

I returned the one after I saw the other version.

Its about being to grab it quick. Most of my sharpening is done at the deer shack when were sitting around BSing and the sharp makers is convenient for that.

Maybe I need to make a jog to put it at different angles?.... hmmm

I use this more than i do the sharpmaker…

Wanna say it was $20 several years back.

I've been using the Gatco unit for years with good results. I just started using the Worksharp basic unit and it works very well. I feel Gatco is a step up from Lansky, and Worksharp is another step up from Gatco.

I just worked over a handful of knives with the Worksharp and quickly got to a shaving edge on them.

Hmm.. this is a good reference. Maybe I shouldn't have returned it, but they have the 15% sale on occasionally.

I had the basic Worksharp before I moved on to a KME system. The Worksharp basic unit is a very serviceable sharpening system. The guy I sold it to is happy with it also.

I have the Spiderco and the Lansky diamond stone set with the leather strop. I really like the diamond stone set up.
I use the Lansky far more than I do the Spiderco.

I know a few guys that use the worksharp system and like it.
I can't make myself put my blades on a powered emery cloth belt.

I think the Worksharp is probably at it's best with hunting knife size blades. If I was working with a lot of larger knives, I think the Edge Pro would be hard to beat. That moves up to a whole new league, including price

The worksharp under discussion here is a guided sharpening system that uses diamond plate and ceramic plates. It is not the powered belt system.

Correct - no belt sander or anything powered for me.

Side note... ione of our guys brings a power grinder type knofe sharpener to the deer shack and runs most of the guys knives. Did I say "runs".. I meant Ruins...

I do nearly all kitchen and fish cleaning knives on the original Work Sharp. There is a small learning
curve but does a nice job..
All other knives I do on an Edge Pro. It also does a nice job
I end up with some scratches with both systems, but a scotch brite belt cleans up the blades.
My 2 cents.

^^^This^^^

I’ve been using my Spyderco set up for YEARS.
Absolutely love it.

Like Big Dave said, don’t let your knife get to dull in the first place.

I finally bought the spyderco sharpmaker after years of wanting one. So far I am not impressed. My 30 year old $15 lansky sticks actually do a better job IMO.