Jerry Work
Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2007
- Messages
- 307
Hi all,
While it is off topic for this forum I thought you would like to know about a terrific new hand cutting tool sharpening system being introduced by the same folks who make the well regarded Drill Doctor line of drill bit sharpening machines. The new machine is called "Work Sharp". I have just completed the "Getting the most......" manual for them and it is undergoing internal review now. I am not trying to "hype" this machine, only to inform.
Over the decades I think I have tried most every machine, gizmo, jig and fixture known to man kind (grin). This one is head and shoulders above the rest if your objective is to get a very, very sharp tool quickly and keep it that way every time you use it. If ones objective is to experience the Zen of sharpening and the process of sharpening is more important than using really sharp hand cutting tools, then this tool will ruin their day. It simply produces a nearly "perfect" edge every time, time after time, makes no mess doing so (it is air cooled, not water or oil cooled) and requires no add on jigs or fixtures.
The machine spins a 150mm very flat float glass plate 10mm thick horizontally. You use pressure sensitive abrasives and can use any grit sequence you like even going lower than one micron (one millionth of a meter) if you wish to work with media that fine. A tool rest below the plate references flat backed cutting tools like chisels and plane blades off of their flat back and machines the bevel from the bottom side of the glass plate. That leaves the top portion of the glass plate wide open for flattening the back of these tools. The plates turn at 580RPM so burning is not an issue. A leather covered glass plate is available for those who want to polish the back or bevel edge to a mirror finish. In normal use the chisel or plane blade (up to 2" wide) is positioned by a fixed and a moving fence on the bottom tool rest to be exactly 90 degrees to the under side plane of the glass plate. A nice micro skew adjustment is present to allow you to dial this in as close to 90 degrees as you wish to measure. The bevel angle is set by a tooth and notch cast into two metal parts. The tooth registers off of both sides of the notch so the angle is very repeatable. The bed of the tool rest is also a heat sink and is covered with an abrasive. You hold the cutting tool flat on the tool rest, push it up against the abrasive for a second or two, then retract it 10mm or so, and repeat this process enough times to remove the scratch marks left by the previous grit used. As you march up through the grits, in any steps you want to use and to any final grit step, the wire edge is constantly being removed as it forms, rather than all at once after you finish as it is with some systems. As a result, it is easy to get the back really flat to begin with, keep it that way and remove the fine wire edge as you go leaving a very nice edge indeed. No need for a micro bevel but you can easily add one if you really want to.
Four different sharpening methods are incorporated; using the built in adjustable lower tool rest and the bottom edge of the glass plate with pressure sensitive abrasives attached, using the upper surface of the glass plates with the pressure sensitive abrasives attached either with the tool to be sharpened held flat or via an included upper tool rest, or through a port on the rear of the machine using very clever slotted wheels and abrasives. As the slotted wheel spins you can see right through the slots so you are looking down on the cutting edge as it is being formed. It doesn't take much practice to
produce really outstanding results on things like lathe and carving tools that have odd or compound bevel angles or curved cutting surfaces like finger nail gouges.
The glass plates and/or the leather strop plate and/or the slotted see through plate can be mounted, flipped and dismounted in less time than it takes to describe.
Sorry for the long off topic post but this is the first sharpening system I have been willing to write about. It is that good. And, it sits comfortably under the price point of other such systems so it is good and a relative bargain to boot.
Jerry
While it is off topic for this forum I thought you would like to know about a terrific new hand cutting tool sharpening system being introduced by the same folks who make the well regarded Drill Doctor line of drill bit sharpening machines. The new machine is called "Work Sharp". I have just completed the "Getting the most......" manual for them and it is undergoing internal review now. I am not trying to "hype" this machine, only to inform.
Over the decades I think I have tried most every machine, gizmo, jig and fixture known to man kind (grin). This one is head and shoulders above the rest if your objective is to get a very, very sharp tool quickly and keep it that way every time you use it. If ones objective is to experience the Zen of sharpening and the process of sharpening is more important than using really sharp hand cutting tools, then this tool will ruin their day. It simply produces a nearly "perfect" edge every time, time after time, makes no mess doing so (it is air cooled, not water or oil cooled) and requires no add on jigs or fixtures.
The machine spins a 150mm very flat float glass plate 10mm thick horizontally. You use pressure sensitive abrasives and can use any grit sequence you like even going lower than one micron (one millionth of a meter) if you wish to work with media that fine. A tool rest below the plate references flat backed cutting tools like chisels and plane blades off of their flat back and machines the bevel from the bottom side of the glass plate. That leaves the top portion of the glass plate wide open for flattening the back of these tools. The plates turn at 580RPM so burning is not an issue. A leather covered glass plate is available for those who want to polish the back or bevel edge to a mirror finish. In normal use the chisel or plane blade (up to 2" wide) is positioned by a fixed and a moving fence on the bottom tool rest to be exactly 90 degrees to the under side plane of the glass plate. A nice micro skew adjustment is present to allow you to dial this in as close to 90 degrees as you wish to measure. The bevel angle is set by a tooth and notch cast into two metal parts. The tooth registers off of both sides of the notch so the angle is very repeatable. The bed of the tool rest is also a heat sink and is covered with an abrasive. You hold the cutting tool flat on the tool rest, push it up against the abrasive for a second or two, then retract it 10mm or so, and repeat this process enough times to remove the scratch marks left by the previous grit used. As you march up through the grits, in any steps you want to use and to any final grit step, the wire edge is constantly being removed as it forms, rather than all at once after you finish as it is with some systems. As a result, it is easy to get the back really flat to begin with, keep it that way and remove the fine wire edge as you go leaving a very nice edge indeed. No need for a micro bevel but you can easily add one if you really want to.
Four different sharpening methods are incorporated; using the built in adjustable lower tool rest and the bottom edge of the glass plate with pressure sensitive abrasives attached, using the upper surface of the glass plates with the pressure sensitive abrasives attached either with the tool to be sharpened held flat or via an included upper tool rest, or through a port on the rear of the machine using very clever slotted wheels and abrasives. As the slotted wheel spins you can see right through the slots so you are looking down on the cutting edge as it is being formed. It doesn't take much practice to
produce really outstanding results on things like lathe and carving tools that have odd or compound bevel angles or curved cutting surfaces like finger nail gouges.
The glass plates and/or the leather strop plate and/or the slotted see through plate can be mounted, flipped and dismounted in less time than it takes to describe.
Sorry for the long off topic post but this is the first sharpening system I have been willing to write about. It is that good. And, it sits comfortably under the price point of other such systems so it is good and a relative bargain to boot.
Jerry
