Tag Archives: knife sharpening

Work Sharp WSKTS

by Woodsbum

This year I got a really sweet gift from my son that will actually help me out quite a bit. I received a Work Sharp WSKTS knife sharpening system. I received the basic pack with the powered belt system, 2 angle jigs and 6 belts. So far, I really like the system. They should have included more belts between 220 grit and 6000 grit, however.

Work Sharp WSKTS

Work Sharp WSKTS

What I did soon after receiving and trying out the gift was make a run over to <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.worksharptools.com”>Work Shop Tools</a> and pick up some additional belts. These are the finest grit that they have so I picked up some more for polishing the edges.

6000 Grit Belts

6000 Grit Belts

The really important items that I purchased to make this kit truly versatile were the 600 and 1800 grit belts. The 6000 grit is for fine polishing work and the assortment that comes with the sharpener jumps from 220 to 6000. There is nothing in between to do staged sharpening. You either grind or polish. I found some 600 and 1800 grit through the Work Sharp site. I did find an assortment through Amazon for a reasonable price.

Assorted Belts

Assorted Belts

The thing to really look for would be the 1/2″ x 12″ size. There were several options on Amazon, which I found after I had already made the purchase through Work Sharp. <br /><br />The edge that this puts on is actually decent. I am very surprised and happy with the results thus far. The best thing is the way that it seems to sharpen the curved portion of the blade. This is going to be quite the time and energy saver overall.

Even though I have only had this for one weekend, I must say that I do recommend this product and will definitely be using it for years to come. This is definitely one item that I would suggest you put on your list.

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Knife Sharpening – Leather Strops

by Woodsbum

One of the many questions I get is about knife sharpening and how I get my knives to hold an edge as long as they do. To help you guys out, I am putting this post together about strops and how to get a great edge without too much work.

Strops have been around for a long, long time. The most common place that people run into them is with straight razors or wall hangings at an old-time barber shop.

Use of a leather strop for sharpening is a bit different that what people are used to, however. In honing or sharpening a blade, little pieces of metal are actually scraped away and thus creating an edge. In stropping, none of the metal is removed. Stropping realigns indentations in the metal instead of removing it. Most commonly a compound is applied to the leather to aid in the polishing. Variations of polishing compound from very fine to course can be applied. Personally, I have 3 that have green, black, and white compound applied.

My strops come from Flexxx at Flexxxstrops.com. You can contact him for current prices. For the compound, I use Bark River Knife and Tool compound. I have linked to their site with their US retailers.

The best way to explain would be through video. I have linked a video that explains the overall concept quite well and even includes some close up video of the knife edge. It truly explains in 13 minutes what would have taken me pages of pictures and arrows.

Happy Stropping!!!!

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