Worksharp 3000 sharpening tips

[John C Cox]

Hey guys - i wanted to share a few things I have come across on my WS3K...

6" PSA sandpaper disks are way cheaper than Worksharp branded packs. Stick one on and cut the center hole with an Exacto knife. Trim the extra off the outside and you have a nice fresh disk for cheap. Lacquer thinner works well to clean up gooey residue left behind.

1. Coarse Sandpaper disks. You can get PSA backed 6" disks up to about 220 grit at BORG. Use these for grinding.

2. Fine sandpaper disks. You can get 3M fine AlOx disks on Amazon in p800-p2500 grit on Amazon. I like these. And they cost WAY less per disk than the Worksharp packs of Norton disks. These 3M disks are stearated. When the stearate wears off - chalk provides a good coating....

3. I started chalking my disks with sidewalk chalk. It seems to reduce blinding the paper with metal swarf. Especially so on the fine grits. White seemed easier to clean up than pink or blue...

4. The fine Micromesh disks don't work right for me unless I load them with Veritas green strop compound crayon - then they work AWESOME!!! When they get too black or quit cutting right - wipe down with paint thinner or use the eraser. Then re-charge with strop compound.

Chalk the disks or charge strop compound with the machine off... Just color it on.. If it's spinning - it sands the stuff off and flings it all over the place.

What are your tips?

[Bill Carey]

John - yes to all you said about the sandpaper discs. But have a care cutting out the hole - I don't know if the glass was defective or I chipped it cutting the hole, but soon a chunk of glass came off and the platen was way out of balance, and needed to be replaced.
Mount the sharpener (if permanently mounted) somewhere so you can see into the ridiculously small window to set the angle. Really, they couldn't do that part of the design better??
Thick mortise chisels seem to sharpen better for me if I crank the guide all the way to the left and hold the chisel hard against it.
Not sure if this happens to others, but even if I tighten the knob on the glass lightly, after using and wanting to change discs, the knob is very tight. Sometimes channel locks tight.
If you have arthritis in your hands, get this machine. Why use up your daily ration of pain tolerance working for hours on stones? Are my chisels as sharp as when I used water stones? No. Are they plenty sharp to do the work? Yes. And I'm back to work in 5 minutes without the pain.
all in all, one of the best investments I've made this year.

[Mike Henderson]

I gave up on sandpaper for the WorkSharp and now use the diamond plates that you can purchase on eBay or Amazon. I use a coarse plate to set the primary bevel and then put a secondary bevel on with an 8000 Shapton stone.

The diamond plates were about $12, if I remember correctly, and they last a long time.

Mike

[Paul F Franklin]

+1 on the diamond disks. Two other tips I've picked up here (IIRC): 1. Build a platform surrounding the disk and even with the top surface of the diamond plate (the diamond plates sit on top of the glass disk). Now you can use your favorite honing guide to set your angle with greater precision and flexibility than the build in angle guide. The honing guide sits on the platform with the blade on the disk (of course). 2. Add a foot switch to control the WS. Now you can get your blade positioned exactly how you want it and then start the disk spinning without having to move your hands. This is especially useful when flattening backs. You don't have to try to land the blade flat on a spinning disk. Just set it flat on the disk and hit the foot switch. Release the switch and lift the blade when the disk stops to inspect. Also useful when using a honing guide as in tip #1.

[Jerry Olexa]

I, too, use the diamond disks with good results.

[Larry Frank]

YES.....the diamond plates,are great.

[Jeff Ramsey]

An older thread but I was looking for an alternative to the sandpaper discs for my WS3000. I found the following on Amazon. Is this what you all mean by diamond discs/plates? And they fit on top of a WS glass disc (with sandpaper to keep the diamond disc from slipping?)? The one below has a half inch arbor hole. And which grits do you use? Thanks.

"uxcell 6-inch Grit 100 Diamond Coated Flat Lap Wheel Grinding Sanding Polishing Disc"

[Frederick Skelly]

An older thread but I was looking for an alternative to the sandpaper discs for my WS3000. I found the following on Amazon. Is this what you all mean by diamond discs/plates? And they fit on top of a WS glass disc (with sandpaper to keep the diamond disc from slipping?)? The one below has a half inch arbor hole. And which grits do you use? Thanks.

"uxcell 6-inch Grit 100 Diamond Coated Flat Lap Wheel Grinding Sanding Polishing Disc"

I use those. I just put the on top the glass disk, no problem. Going from memory, but I have a wide range of grit - I think it's 150, 220, 320, 600 and 1000 grit.

[James Spillman]

I looked up the Uxcell diamond discs on Amazon. Just wondering how their listed grits compare with Worksharp sandpaper disc grits? Also wondering which diamond disc grits do you use on your Worksharp? How fine do you go?

[Paul F Franklin]

Not sure I can compare the diamond discs to the sandpaper since I don't use the sandpaper anymore. The finest diamond disc I have is 3000, which at the time was the finest I could find. Wish they went higher.

I've been thinking about making a disc out of 1/4 mdf and charging it with honing compound or maybe diamond paste (that would be pricey) to get an even finer polish. One of these days.

[bridger berdel]

Not sure I can compare the diamond discs to the sandpaper since I don't use the sandpaper anymore. The finest diamond disc I have is 3000, which at the time was the finest I could find. Wish they went higher.

I've been thinking about making a disc out of 1/4 mdf and charging it with honing compound or maybe diamond paste (that would be pricey) to get an even finer polish. One of these days.

You should be able to go from 3k diamond to chrome oxide on mdf with good results.

[Paul F Franklin]

You should be able to go from 3k diamond to chrome oxide on mdf with good results.

Good to know, definitely will give it a shot next sharpening session.

[Curt Putnam]

I bought a huge supply of PSA sandpaper discs long before the diamond discs were available. I'll move to diamond when they run out. I also power strop on leather using a honing guide and the wide table platform. For a fast touchup of Stanley style plane blades, I made some honing guides that allow me to keep both irons together while I strop the bevel. The guides are nothing but 2 x 4 with a wide groove plowed down the edge and then beveled at various angles.- really only need 30º.