Work Sharp 3000

[Bill Schoppert]

I'm looking at good sharpening systems and I found the Work Sharp 3000 on Amazon on sale for $189.00. This seems like a good price so I thought I would share.
http://tinyurl.com/4g5z85g

[Jim Burr]

Hey Bill, I asked my mentor about those he sold one a few years ago. Although they are great for flats; skews, planer blades, he stated that it was nearly inpossible to maintain a curve bevel as found on a gouge. I have never worked with one myself, but that was the skinny I was given.

[Prashun Patel]

I have two of these. I confirm Jim's statement: These are not good for gouge sharpening. You can free hand it from underneath, but there aren't any jigs I know of that make it as easy as sharpening with a bench grinder and a vari-grind.

[Bill Schoppert]

That's really good to know. I will keep reading and looking for a good deal. Thanks all

[Jim Burr]

As a thought Bill...Jet makes a really good one. There is a guy on Ebay that refurbs them at a really good price.

[Allen stagg]

I bought one last week from Amazon and got it in just a couple of days after order. Box was perfect and opened it to find the glasses were chipped and the guard around where the spinning glass goes was bent enough to not allow placing the sharpening wheel. Good news was I called the company and they said they was sending me a new machine and for my troubles, to keep all accessories wanted. They didn't even verify that I was a real owner of the machine, so I would say, their customer service was great.

However, I can't imagine it could be any better than my JoolTool that I own and use most exclusively for sharpening most all of my tools I use it daily and my grinder every now and then. I wanted the Work Sharp mostly because it has a very flat wheel for truing up flat pieces and for the accessory leather strop which I believe could be useful. Still, I think my JoolTool will stay my exclusive tool for majority of my sharpening.

[Tim Hughes37]

This is all I use for sharpening my tools. I love it. There was an article on another site, not sure if I can say the name here, but google worksharp homemade jigs. You can make a stand out of plywood or such and then make blocks out of 2X4 with the correct angles on them and use those to sharpen your gouges. As I said, I use it and I've never had my roughing gouge or bowl gouge sharper than when I use the 3000. Hope this helps.