Work Sharp WS3000 Wood Tool Sharpener
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Work Sharp WS3000 Wood Tool Sharpener
Customer Review: sharp
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best sharpening tool that I have ever used and I would recomend it to anyone who asked about it.Customer Review: sharp as a razor
Summary: 5 Stars
Having read the reviews on this item I decided to order one. With an investment in fine chisels, planes, scrapers, etc. it was important to keep the tools honed, ready for use at all times. I have hand held lapping stones, bevel guides, and water stones. But having used the WS3000 for the first time relegates the manual tools to the dusty shelf. It took literally less than 15 minutes to hone and resharpen 6 chisels from 1 1/2 inches wide to 1/4 inch wide. Keeping 4 grits on the two glass wheels couldn't make the job any easier. I progressed from 120 to 1000 with excellently sharpened chisels. Now to try the same for my planer knives.Customer Review: sharp tools at last
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a hands on carpenter with over fifteen quality but beat chisels (almost pry bars) and plane blades that have been resurrected from the grave thanks to this little nifty. Went right to work right out of the box and couldn't stop until they were all done. After all the years wasted with stones and guides...... The assortment grit packs are not quite right for roughing in FUBAR blades so be ready with your own 6" disks (60 or 80 grit)for the rough in stage. After the basic shape was restored, then the included disks do fine. Unfortunately can't seem to find sharpening disks packs except the stupid "miscellaneous" packs of different grits. Which I personally CAN"T stand. Be warned that this machine does make a mess with this weird; fine steel wool like dust, so don't piss off your wife and do the sharpening on the washer without a drop cloth. Also be ready with a can of cold water if you intend to cover ground quickly, the heat sink is puny at best. It's f____ing great to have sharp chisels again.Customer Review: sharpner
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great machine. I did not realize how "out of tolerance" my chisels and plane blades were. It took a while to get the angle right but then it was amazing how much better they cut!Customer Review: worse than worthless
Summary: 1 Stars
A poor imitation of better machines, this has an inaccurate angle guide, and "the see-through port" that easily traps chisels long enough to burn and "blue" the steel.
The platen wobbles. It is impossible to hone a fine edge on a wobbling disk.
The PSA abrasive disks, ( although of good 3M materials) are exorbitantly over-priced. This is the same profiteering strategy that printer companies use by selling cheap printers then bilking gullible customers for ink that costs more than high-test jet-fuel. ("HP inc." stands for "High Priced Ink." ;-)
Sharpening by hand is not difficult. It merely requires some understanding gleaned from a competent teacher, and some practice. There are times when we need to repair reshape damaged blades or are on a tight schedule, so power honing / stropping is necessary. When you must power-strop, you can get better results with a forty-dollar belt sander and inexpensive belts. I have done exactly that when reclaiming hundreds of board-feet of Teak from an old battle-ship. We HAD to sharpen our planes three or four times an hour. In such a situation, power-sharpening can be your friend, but power-sharpening with a cheap tool is good only for those who profit from selling the tools.
A friend bought this over-priced, imported imposter, thinking that it was a labor-saving device. After it grabbed and ruined her favorite Japanese chisel in that gimmicky "see-through port" she retired it with a vengeance. She got most of her money back then I showed her how cheap and easy traditional sharpening can be. Two hundred bucks will buy a complete set of superb stones that can last decades. You'll get a better edge and won't spend extra for more sticky round sand-paper or wasted electricity.
If you are on a tight budget, just get good abrasives and a two-dollar hunk of marble or glass to sharpen with. You can make your own sharpening-jigs with a block of wood, a hand saw and a fifty-cent plastic protractor.
If you are rich as Croesus and want the best, get the Veritas or Tormek. If you absolutely must get a power-sharpening system but two c-notes is your breaking point, Grizzly sells the T10010 10" Wet Grinder Kit for less, and it won't "blue" your blades or require more expensive consumables every month.
As a rule, ANYTHING that is advertised on TV must be grossly overpriced simply because TV advertising is expensive and adds to marketing cost. Generally, advertised products that are popular with the masses are all mediocre, because the teeming center of the bell-curve is ignorant and misinformed. (Here, "Ignorant" does NOT mean "stupid." "Misinformed" means they were "sold" or "lied-to.") This product is a case study of those facts.
Whenever someone raves about this thing, it indicates to me that they only like it because they know of no better way. That may be from inexperience. In other cases, it may be because people need to justify the money they've already spent and can't admit they wasted. Perhaps some people just can't learn to sharpen, so ANY sharpening gadget is better than none.
You cannot trust the opinion of any journeyman woodworker who "whispers" about woodworking products in return for free tools from sponsors. Nor can you trust the opinion of those who admit they do not know how to sharpen well.
For that matter, I insist that you should not trust MY opinion. Just look at the world's best woodworkers and learn how they sharpen their tools. See for yourself.
This gimmicky-gizmo serves to further empower sweat-shop moguls who profit from slavery and consumer ignorance. If you're like my inexperienced friend, there is the amusing possibility this can make your chisels as sharp as a bowling ball.
It's just amazing how so many people can be duped into believing so many stupid things. I guess when we consider just how incredibly stupid some beliefs are, imagining this is a good sharpening system doesn't seem too far fetched. After all, it LOOKS like a sharpening system. It's very similar to professional systems they stole the design from, before they cheapened it, had it made overseas then imported for marketing to richly-endowed but poorly-informed Westerners.
Before you waste your money, keep researching the facts. You can take my negative opinion with a "grain-of-salt" because I obviously despise this kind of junk. But if you do that, you should also be wary of overly glowing reviews. Some are written by corporate shills and marketing moles. Others are written by honest but inexperienced woodworkers.
You can trust at least part of my opinion simply because I am not trying to sell you anything of any particular brand.
I don't care WHAT system you use: diamond stones, oil-stones, water-stones or sandpaper on glass. ANY of those systems is cheaper (except for the super-rare natural stones) and ALL of them give a better edge.
And if you must power-hone to repair or reshape tools, a grinder or belt sander both work better and cost less.