Work Sharp Ken Onion Knife Sharpener Tool - Adjustable Knife Sharpening System - For Knives, Scissors, Serrated Blades, & Tools

Been looking for sharpening tools or or services for a while, after watching on-line videos on the product and having a chance to use it - I have to say I picked the right tool. I do recommend their videos on best practices as they're much easier to understand than just the manual.With the right technique, which took a little to learn, it works great. I managed to put a top quality sharp edge on an almost ruined kitchen knife, and once i did that I moved on to our more expensive knives. My wife was very impressed with the restored sharpness of our entire knife set, and I too am happy to once again be able to cook with truly sharp knives.I moved on to sharpening some other tools and knives (some of which were never sharp) and it continued to work great.The adjustability and options to fine tune the sharpening angle on this model are great. The sharpener seems well built, and easy to use evn if it takes a little practice to get right. If you use your knives and tools a lot - this is a great way to extend thier usefull life, improve their performance - the tool is a great value.

I support the other reviewers: this machine is sturdy and it works very well, with no problem with continuous use in sharpening/honing a dozen less-sharp but not severely dull blades in a single session. Personally, my eye-hand coordination has always been a problem so maintaining the edge, even on a fine knife made from great steels has always been a problem for me. (You craftsmen out there can quit snickering...)I do a lot of knife work in an active kitchen and do some skinning and breaking down of carcasses if I 'get lucky' during hunting season. I have more than enough high quality/custom quality knives in my rack. Finally I 'wised up.' I didn't need more fine knives...I needed sharp knives.I tried a series of whetstones but my physical challenges led to that not working. Carbide sharpeners used up way too much metal and left coarse edges that dulled quickly. Angled and guided diamond hone machines were just okay...until the wheels plugged up with old metal filings. They are not designed to be cleaned. My spending on moderately-priced sharpening systems was adding up to serious money. So...I plunged for a Tormek grinding wheel that would do any craftsman proud. It proved too much for me to keep the stone 'trued' and to follow the blade-inking system for determining the correct angle...and then I only had one grit to work with.The knives I use every day were edged on a belt grinder and it made sense that they should be re-edged on a belt grinder. I agree with other reviewers that the 3/4 inch band set is best for kitchen and hunting knives, when compared to the half-inch bands on the earlier Work Sharp system. I still use the Tormek for heavy-duty items like axes and pruning shears. The Work Sharp system will work but your need for belts will build up.Speaking of the need for belts: at first you will have a rack or (heaven forbid, you keep them banging around in a drawer) of knives to work on. Naturally, the coarsest belts will show signs of wear after that initial flurry of use, reestablishing the bevel and beginning the sharpening process. After twelve or so kitchen and steak knife blades, I noticed that it was taking longer to remove stock than it had when the belt was 'fresh'. Work Sharp advises that the belt still has lots of use left but that more time and patience will be required to get the rapid benefit given by a fresh belt. My experience confirms their advice. Don't give up on a belt too soon, especially if you are working with knife edges that are not badly dulled or damaged. There are also measurable advantages to improving edges by using the recommended sequence of belts provided with the sharpener for each knife. Read the booklet that comes with the kit and look at the 'quick start' heavy cardboard 'how to' guide that ships with the kit. I learned that 'toothy' edges (professional description of a degree of sharpness)are more useful than finer, more easily damaged 'super sharp' edges for many tasks.The machine itself is easy to set up and easy to adjust and comfortable in the hand to use. The design is stable on a work bench or counter top. The 'continuous pressure' drive switch and variable speed control give a very useful degree of control over sharpening and polishing operations. PLUS the set comes with a fine CD of instructional advice (and it is mirrored on the company web site.) If you wonder how you might use/like this tool, visit the company web address and check out the videos for the earlier, light-duty product and for this 'Ken Onion' edition, heavier duty model. They helped me to decide which machine to purchase: I need to maintain or resharpen a good number of knives and a couple of models of kitchen shears on a regular basis. (The system works amazingly well for scissors, too). If you have fewer knives or just collect pocket knives, the Ken Onion system may be 'over-kill'...but I still would seriously consider the less expensive and lighter duty Work Sharp system for your needs. These tools are much faster and likely will be more precise than eye-hand-guided sharpening systems such as stones.I still use a diamond hone steel for touch ups because of its convenience: I don't keep the Ken Onion sharpening out on the countertop, equipped with a polishing band.But...after decades of looking, this is the VERY BEST SYSTEM for maintaining blades at home that I have found.

I typically sharpen my knives with stones and they always came out great but never as sharp as when I got them. Since I haven't worked in restaurants in nearly a decade now, I don't sharpen my knives as frequently and my skill with the stones has diminished. Now getting stones out to sharpen knives is a hassle, not to mention friends and family come to me to sharpen their knives, so there's a volume issue as well.So with Thanksgiving coming up I decided to get this tool after seeing some reviews and hearing from professional knife makers who use it. I want my knives to be razor sharp for the dinner we have planned.It arrived yesterday and was really quick to set up. It comes pre-loaded with a low-grit band and comes with several other bands up to around 6000 grit. You can get additional bands online with additional grits. I lowered the motor speed to the lowest possible as recommended by the instructions.The directions are very simple to follow: set the angle, place the knife inside and pull gently as the motor runs. It gives you a guide for different types of knives, from kitchen knives, utility knives, scissors, etc. It can even be modified out of the box to work as an angle grinder for especially large or thick knives if you prefer. The bands are easy to remove and replaceAfter about 5 minutes with my knife, a simple Victorinox 8" work horse, the results were really incredible. I went on to sharpen every kitchen knife we have including my $250 Togiharu gyuto from my restaurant days and they're all spectacularly sharp, some of them even sharper than when I got them.I could not recommend this tool more. It's small, maybe a little bigger than a rectangular tissue box, meaning you can easily pack it away and pull it out when you need it. It's super easy to set up, just put it on a flat surface and plug it in. It's easy to use and takes almost no time at all to put a fantastic edge on an even completely dull knife. The belts are easy and fast to swap out, taking a few seconds to change. You can alter the angle to get the exact edge you want by simply turning a dial. Out of the box it comes with everything you would need for typical knives, though additional attachments exist as well.For $140 the only issue I worry about is the motor burning out, but we'll see if that happens. Some pro knife makers I know swear by these and will often buy multiple and attach different bands to them so they have a quick and easy sharpening station from low to high grit.