Worksharp 3000 Sandpaper

[JimD]

I was googling for more sandpaper for my worksharp 3000 which should arrive tomorrow. This is the best deal I found, 25 assorted sheets for $12. Grits are 5 each from 80 to 1000.

http://www.woodworkingshop.com/cgi-b...onthsBetween=0

25 for $12 seems much better than $15 for 7 coarse or 10 fine discs. In other words, if you get one coarse and one fine set of Worksharp you get a total of 17 discs for $30 or less total discs for more than twice as much dollars.

I also looked for an extra glass disc. Amazon shows Harville tool selling one for about $15 but if you go to the Hartville website it is $20 which is a typical price. Looks like you need to buy it from the Amazon site to get the better price.

I rethought my plan to wait and try the Worksharp first and just went ahead and bought another glass disc ($13.75 plus shipping or 19.70 total), a set of sandpaper discs, and a sheet each of 3200 and 6000 grit micro mesh paper. Cost almost as much as the Worksharp in total but this should get me set up and in good shape until I set up my lathe again. Then I think I will need more of the discs you can see through.

Jim

[leehljp]

Thanks for that link and information.

I have the 2000 and am waiting on the 3000. I made a "glass" plate for my 2000 from a piece of 3/8 in thick lexan. (1/4 or 5/16 will probably work also) turned it to size on my lathe and drilled the hole on the DP. It sits flat and works great.

[pelligrini]

Thanks for the heads up.

I found that I don't use the lower grits all that much anymore. I may if I get a new tool, or want to change a bevel, but I mostly use the higer grits and the leather honing plate now.

[herb fellows]

Still a good deal I suppose, but unfortunately, shipping turns that $12 sandpaper into $20 sandpaper:-(

[JimD]

I got my 3000 last night on schedule. I had a dinner with customers so I got home kind of late and didn't have much chance to play. I was surprised it came with only 2 120 grit but 5 400 and 1000 grit. Maybe that is because you don't need coarse all that often. It also had only 1 3000 grit. The 120 made several kitchen knives better but they need at least some time on the 400 grit to really be sharp. Something to do tonight - but I may go to a BMW club dinner which will put me home late again.

The sandpaper comes from an outfit that has retail outlets, mostly in NC, I think. I didn't like the shipping either, it seems excessive for something that weighs next to nothing. Probable real shipping cost is less than $2. If you happen to live close to one of their outlets it might be worthwhile to drop in. Sometimes I figure out what it cost me to drive to the store and back, however, and then the shipping doesn't seem so bad.

Jim

[leehljp]

I have a 2000 and of course am waiting on the 3000 (scheduled arrival - Wednesday). However, I found that I used low end grits often on the 2000. While we generally think of using a bench grinder or even angle grinder for heavy grinding, I started using the 2000 for things that I would normally do on my bench grinder, especially on small pieces. I also used the low end grits for shaping small wood pieces. The 2000 turns faster than the 3000 and is geared for faster removal. For me, the 2000 offered finer control when grinding the end of screws, bolts, sharpening pins, shaping small items than the bench grinder did. My 1 X 30 belt sander broke two years ago and I couldn't find another one in my local area of Japan, so the 2000 became a substitute for my 1 inch belt sander.

For this reason, I used the low end grits a lot more often than the bench grinder. With the 3000 coming, I will use it for "tool sharpening" and the 2000 more for screws, bolts, and wood shaping of small parts.

[unknown poster]

The 120 made several kitchen knives better but they need at least some time on the 400 grit to really be sharp.

How did you sharpen kitchen knives with a worksharp?

I was trying to figure out how to run knives on the 3000. Usually a sharpener runs perpendicular to the blade but on the WS anything too wide will run across to the other side of the wheel. It looks like anything wider than 2" will get hit by the sandpaper at odd angles. I also don't see an easy way to hold a steady angle.

[capnjack2]

Check out their homepage for the knife sharpener!
http://www.worksharptools.com/
Jack

[pelligrini]

Did you use the stand alone knife sharpener or the belt attachment for the WS3000?

[JimD]

I just used the glass wheel of the 3000 and freehanded (working on top, of course). These knives are not very long, the longest is probably about a 5 inch blade, but you could do long knives, you just need to move it across the wheel. The knife sharpener looks like it would help hold a constant angle which I admit I cannot all the time but the knives seem a lot sharper. I used the 400 and 1000 grit paper on them last night and they seem good enough for daily use kitchen knives. I make a pass and look at it and if the angle is not quite right I make another pass where I try to adjust. You need to see the scratches from the previous wheel disappear uniformly across the bevel. I don't think it's very difficult to do a serviceable job but I've done this before on my motorized water stone sharpener. The problem with the water wheel is it is 2000 grit so removing a nick just takes too long.

I guess this is the same outfit as the drill doctor. They make some nice stuff but they must make a lot of money because at normal prices it seems like you are paying an awful lot for some plastic and a little bit of metal. I can't justify a separate device for each thing I need to sharpen. But if you had all their stuff you could keep all your stuff sharp at minimum effort, I think.

I've been impressed so far with the little bit I've used the 3000. I do not detect any movement of the wheel, which some have reported, and it takes very little time to restore even a pretty dull knife working freehand. It seems like it will be really nice for chisels where you could touch up the edge in nearly no time. I also want to use it on my planes so I get them sharp enough to cut with less force and tearout. I'm too lazy to do it with my waterstones by hand and I haven't made a jig for the motorized water stone. I also want to try sharpening the knives for my old AP-10 planner. It came with a little plastic jig that you put both knives into so you can sharpen them at the same time. This really helps hold them at the same angle. Then you kind of freehand them across the sharpener wheel. My water wheel did a nice job on most of the edge but I never got all the nicks out (patience thing again). I think I can do better with the 3000 by using a coarse disk to start out (I have some 80 grit coming). Even the 120 would take a lot less time than the water wheel's 2000 grit.

After using them a bit, I think you could do pretty well with the two glass disks and the grits it comes with. But you will need more 120 grit paper if you have things that need nicks removed. You also will need more than 1 3000 grit if you plan to use it much. It doesn't seem absolutely necessary but I want to try taking my plane irons all the way up to 6000 and see how they work. I am not doing any turning right now but I would think that for turning tools, 1000 would work pretty well. It is probably as high as you would normally need to go for planner blades. I'm thinking that hand tools are where it might pay to go up to the micro mesh paper. We'll see. If I was planning really wild grain, I will probably try taking the planner blades up higher and see if it eliminates the chip out.

Jim

[JimD]

I finally used my Worksharp for what is intended for. I sharpened all my old Sears chisels and my 4 footprint chisels plus my block plane and my shoulder plane. All were pretty dull. Some of the Sears chisels had been used to scrape glue (I don't like them much). I'm glad I got the 80 grit and a extra disk. It took awhile to get nicks out of the 1 1/2 inch old Sears chisel. Even at 80 grit. But it takes a LOT less time in total than any other method of sharpening I have attempted. I sent 80-120-400-1000-3600. I have 6000 and the other side of the 3600 disk but I need some spray adhesive. The 3600 gets things really shiny and sharp so I don't think you need the 6000 but it will be fun to see what it can do.

I was a little disappointed with sharpening my shoulder plane. Because it's blade (it is a Stanley) is only 1 inch wide for about an inch, the guides on the bottom don't work well so I did it on top. But I did not do as good a job as I did with the block plane using the guides on the bottom. Ideas are welcome.

I'm happy I got this, it works well. No complaints. It speeds up sharpening and makes it pretty simple for chisels and straight sided plane irons (that are less than 2 inches wide). It is also useful for sharpening other things working on top but the only advantage of other systems on top would be it seems faster.

Jim

[pelligrini]

I was a little disappointed with sharpening my shoulder plane. Because it's blade (it is a Stanley) is only 1 inch wide for about an inch, the guides on the bottom don't work well so I did it on top. But I did not do as good a job as I did with the block plane using the guides on the bottom. Ideas are welcome.

Worksharp has a Wide Blade attachment that creates a upper flat surface so you can use a honing jig. See page 2 of this thread to some links for some shop made options. http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=52589&page=2

[mpc]

Jim - for irons that don't have straight sides their whole length (like a lot of shoulder plane irons) what I've done is:
* before I had the "wide blade attachment" kit, I just stuck the iron onto a thin piece of wood that could ride against the WS3000's lower guides. A thin groove is enough, though I did one simply by hand-holding the blade to a thin piece of stock. The WS3000 doesn't push the blades sideways much when sharpening so you don't need a monster grip. A thin layer of fine sandpaper on the wood strip gives all the traction necessary.

* With the wide table kit any blade angle setting tool can be used - including the one that comes with the kit.

mpc