I am enjoying mine. I was letting my chisels get too dull while working because the wet stones were messy and time consuming. This was especially true if a bevel needed correction or edge was damaged.

The sand paper in the port was intended to deburr but you can use a finer grit. A scratch is still a scratch though. I am still on sand paper disks here and may stay that way, don't know yet.

I haven't tried doing any carving tools yet as I am still waiting on 3 backordered one to complete my starter set. I just inspect the scratch lines and when complete I move to the next grit.

I am having trouble deciding if I want to build the disk holding tower to get the table for wide irons. I am kind of scared that with speed I can really screw up fast. I may go the diamond plate route instead but maybe some feedback here will sway me.

 

I only sharpen on the top, having given up long ago on that port. I use Micro-Mesh paper on glass disks. The micro Mesh is on a really tough fabric backing and lasts a long time…I have grits up to 3600 (I think) and it really does a polish. But that fabric backing is a little thicker than other paper backed media, so moving through the grits (on several glass disks) the bevel changes a little as i get to the Micro Mesh. I also have a diamond disk (only one grit) and while it works well, I still find myself going back to the paper and Micro Mesh. I am considering the CBN disks, I have one on my Tormek and really like it….I just wish it came in a finer grit.

 

I am hot and cold on mine. Adjusting all I want, I can't get the bevels dead square. I have yet to build a stage to handle plane irons. Working from the top may improve my view.

I bought some very fine diamond disks from lapidary supply, but they can only be run wet as dry they clog in a second. 2000 and 3000. Back to the expensive WS paper for that.

WS leather strop is a bit too soft. MDF has not worked for me. I have yet to try cardboard and paste.

Anyway, I find my M-power hand jig to be much better up to 1200 grit. For now, I finish by hand.

 

I built a disk tower with a wide top to use as a wide blade attachment. Still currently using the ws sandpaper. If I go all the way up to the 3600 grit I can get a very nice mirror finish. The sharpening port i will agree is so so. I have it adjusted as good as I can get it. I am wanting to switch to the diamond disks as well. All in all I like the ws way better than my old stones.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Fred, which grits/brand of micro mesh do you use.
Jerry, If you're getting a mirror finish, not sure the diamond disc will be much of an improvement.
I think they do save money vs sandpaper. tvrgeek is right on the higher grits. They do clog quickly.
I think the cbn disc are great. I don't use the two higher grits.

On one of the videos for the a cbn disc I saw is that to clean the disc use PB Blaster.
Rinse well and then use something like the Wonder Slick Stick. I have the Olsen saw blade lubricant.
I'm going to try that within a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

 

I've been using mine to hone the edge on a chisel I'm using to cut kumiko pieces. Scary sharp sure helps with that. The honing is done in the chisel port with carboard from a cereal box glued to a glass disc. After it is honed, I "clean" the back of the chisel with 1000 grit wet-or-dry. I still have some small scratches from being to impatient and not following the grit schedule to a "t", but I can barely feel them with my nail. That chisel tip is really shiny on the front. It's the only bench chisel I've ever taken that far, given that they generally are used for chopping. It's just a plain ol' Stanley 1". I'm thinking about NBC discs, because the paper wears out way to fast to suit me. I'd like some input on cost Vs longevity on them, if anyone has done that calculation.

I also use the cardboard disc face-up to hone my carving tools when I am at home. It makes short work of that, I'll tell you!

 

To the question asked.

"How to improve Worksharp 3000 process and results."

I love micro mesh, but it isn't a long distance runner by any means, so change that paper more frequently unless you are crazy happy with your results.

Not that it does anything for the sharpening, but it will certainly help with your wallet. Make plenty of discs of 1/2" MDF, and if you do use the bottom gate as I do, paper both faces. I make them, then use a Baltic Birch copy I made, and pattern route my edges to make them perfect circles, and a drill press with a jig made for dead centering your disc. That need not be more than a piece of plywood, with a cutout in a half diamond shape to have the disc sit exactly at the center point where the bit comes down. This is held fast to your fence.

You will find having a LOT of discs allow you to go up the grits, and that alone takes less time per grit level. Trying to stretch a 120 to a 320, just doesn't work. Nor does any other large jumps.

For paper source, versus buying from WS I go to Sisweb
Their per sheet pricing is much better. Make sure to order 6", and PSA discs. They come no hole, but making a hole is easy if your discs are already drilled out on center. They have 1500 up to 12,000 and I use them all. For regular grits I get them from https://www.supergrit.com but you can get them from many sources, including Amazoo.

https://www.sisweb.com/micromesh/mmr_discs.htm

 

I use the stuff SteveN linked, in fact it was he who directed me to them some years ago.

 

Thanks for this thread, I just started using my WS this weekend and I'm happy to see there are improvements to be made.
It came with 120, 400, 1000, 3600 grit, and some of the jumps seem laughable.
I also assumed it was square, and that the lopsided scratch pattern I was getting was due to me having hand sharpened off-square over the years. But now I see I need to check the sharpening port bed for squareness.

 

John, I thought the same thing about the grits. Big jumps after 400 and 1000. I think going to 600 and then 1000. 1000 to 1500, 2000 is much better.

 

ControlFreak/Jerry, I agree on using stones of any type. Because of the type of woodworking I do and limited time, I found them to be more trouble than they are worth.

If possible, I recommend the cbn type wheels for most grits. And fill in the other grits with diamond discs. I haven't used the highest grit cbn wheels. Even the seller mentions to be very careful with them. The four lower grits I do use are great and used them for several months. No problems with them. I think they will last for years. Not so sure about the diamond discs. Already scratched one of them. They are very inexpensive and do a great job. Will last longer than sandpaper.

However, I will be trying out the micro mesh that Steve mentions. Checked the web site and they sell a variety pack. Will start with that to see how they do.

 

Now I have a lathe, I can make some very true MDF disks. I tried raw MDF with not great results, but adding cardboard may be the trick.

 

tvrgeek, Agree on the mdf disc. I tried the mdf disk with the first ws3000 I owned.
Didn't care much for them.
Since I'm using the cbn/diamond disc for most grits, I don't have a need for lots of glass or mdf disc.

That savings from not buying additional glass disc helps with purchasing the cbn disc.

 

I use a 1200 grit diamond disk for rough sharpening. After the 1200 grit, I use green buffing compound on a MDF disk. I always sharpen from the top. For the 1200 grit, I use a jig to hold the blade in the right position. For the buffing, I hand position the blade. The buffing process is so slow, that I found that holding by hand works the best. Both bevel and back are mirror finish.

 

I built the flat surface to use a guide for using the top of the wheel, and I also built a frame with a 45 degree on one end and a 90 on the other to guide in sharpening scrapers etc. I use more power tools than hand tools but the WS works well enough for me. Here's a few pics.

 

JB Maine,
Thanks for sharing that. What an excellent build.

 

I built a station for my Worksharp too and it makes it much more convenient for me.


I had the wide blade attachment for mine so I didn't make the table flush with the top like jbmaine did. But the attachment has been out of production for some time and is hard to find and expensive when you do. I'd definitely recommend building one like jb's (or finding the attachment if you're lucky) as the single best upgrade for the machine.

I also have the Tormek-type bar attachment for mine. And for years it sat in a drawer unused. Then I delved into carving and now, with a couple of jigs (purchased and shop made) it's become a must-have for me. Again, it has been out of production for a long time and is even harder to find than the wide blade attachment. And the money people get for them is ridiculous. Like really ridiculous. So don't count on getting that either. And honestly it's not that useful unless you are a carver or have some other small gouges oddly shaped tools you need to shape and sharpen. However, if one were building a stand, it wouldn't be difficult to incorporate a Tormek bar into it and would actually probably work better than the WS version. The branded attachment is a real PITA to get set properly and has significant flex when working with larger tools/jigs.

I have always used the Worksharp abrasives and been satisfied with them. I have a glass platen for each grade so I have the same grit on both sides. Keep a rubber eraser stick thingy to prevent clogging and they're okay. The only ones I don't feel like I get my $'s worth on are the 220 and 400 grit. They seem to wear faster for some reason. The 1000 probably does too but by the time I get to that grade, I'm only using it long enough to remove the scratches from the 400 grit so it doesn't see heavy use. 1000 is as fine as I go most of the time. I do have the 3600 and 6000 grit MicroMesh disks too and use those when I really want a fine polish on carving tools, paring chisels or occasionally on a smoothing plane. It would be very easy to make any abrasive you want though just by cutting it out of any sandpaper and attaching it with spray adhesive. I've thought of doing this many times but I've always ended up being lazy and just buying more of the WS brand ones made by Norton.

I haven't tried anything other than abrasive paper thus far but I do anticipate getting the CBN disks from Woodturner's Wonders for my birthday next month so it's possible you'll see some glass platens for sale in the Trade and Swap forum section later this year ;-)

I always get long-winded when replying to posts on the Worksharp. I need to add a few more entries to the blog series I started when I first got it… I'll just add a couple of more things

The chisel port is a little bit of a pain to tweek so it produces a square edge but once I got it set, I've never had to touch it again. I do like the port and I use it on most of my chisels. I prefer to do plane blades on the top with the wide blade attachment but for some reason, I just like the port for chisels. The little slips of paper they give you to put on the tool rest to roll the burr on the back side are too coarse to suit me though. Just cut a piece of abrasive that's at least as fine as whatever the back of your chisels are polished to and put it on with some spray adhesive. I put a piece of 2000 grit wet/dry paper. Then I keep a leather strop sitting beside the machine and drag the back across that when I'm done to remove the final wire edge. To me, the biggest failing of the design of the chisel port is the inability to set the angle at anything other than the 20, 25, 30 and 35 degree angles. So no-go on my fine detail chisels that I sharpen at 15 degrees. And bad news for anyone who likes a secondary or micro bevel. There is also a bit of an art to making sure you hold the blade square and solid against the fence on the rest when the wheel is trying to rotate it.

The slotted wheels are useless to me. Anyone shaping small tools with better motor control and better synchronicity between their eyes and their hands might find them handy. But not me.

One word of caution using a platform on top and a honing guide. The platens are not the same thickness when you put abrasives on them. If you put a disk with 80 grit paper on both sides on and rough your bevel in then switch to a disk with 120 grit on both sides, you'll notice that it won't rub the bevel uniformly. Same thing switching from 120 to 220. (220, 400 and 1000 abrasives are all very close to the same thickness.) I take care of this using a couple of shims from a dado stack. I measured the thickness of all my glass platens with new abrasive disks attached to both sides and found that a platen with 80 grit on both sides and a platen with 3600 micromesh on one side and 6000 micromesh on the other side were within .002" of the same thickness. A platen with 120 on both sides was .011" narrower than the 80 grit and 220 on both sides was about .020" narrower than the 80 grit. As I said, 400 and 1000 disks were the same as 220. So, when I use the 120 grit disk, I put a .011" thick dado shim under it and when I use the 220-1000 disks, I put a .020" shim under them. So now my table is flush with the top of the abrasives within a couple of thousandths of an inch no matter which grade I'm using.

The leather honing wheel is obviously thicker than the abrasives. I have it but don't generally find it all that useful. When I do use it, I just hold the blade free hand rather than using the honing guide since the angle would be off anyway due to the thickness. I prefer to just strop by hand.

Thus endeth my sermon.

 

I use the sanding discs from Klingspor, they are a little hard to find on their website so here is the link

 

I built a station and a tower on a slide out under the end of my hand tool bench. Having it right there means I use it regularly and the tools stay sharper…and it slides away out of sight easily. My grits are all adhesive paper on glass discs, double sided with a different grit on each side. 120, 220, 400, 1000, 3600, 6000, and a leather honing strop/disc using yellow compound. Once a tool is shaped, sharpened and honed, it pretty much just gets the strop on a regular basis and they stay plenty sharp.

Of note, using a rubber crepe block regularly really helps extend the abrasive life. I also keep a block of solid aluminum right there to act as a heat sink when doing more intensive work on a tool. I find this especially useful on plane irons as they're wide and so generate a lot of heat, and relatively thin, so the heat spreads fast. A couple seconds with the aluminum block pressed against the iron and it cools right down.

I actually use my honing setup with the stop disc for all kinds of tools…my plane irons, chisels, gouges, turning tools, etc.. A good honing makes a world of difference on any cutting tool.

I don't usually use the adjustable angle section meant for chisels. I have a Veritas Mk2 that I fix the blade of most tools in so they stay flat and aligned how I want them. I added homemade platform atop the 3000, and it works fine. It's shimmed into position to be complaner and level.

Based on how I installed the 3000 on the slide out, it makes it not terribly easy to use the slotted discs to work on round nosed gouges, as the access is from the backside..which is a bit tough to reach on mine. I've done it, and it's not terribly hard to do, just a bit awkward. I do like the outcome though, especially on my larger hand gouges. I don't do my turning tools that way as they're too big and I have a Wolverine jig on a grinder just for that.

 

Kenny, that station is epic and I appreciate the long-winded writeup. Same to you, RyanGi - the slideout feature is so thoughtful.

 

I've used the rubber crepe block at times. But noticed on sandpaper rubbed some grits too much. On the diamond disc did ok with it. I started using a microfiber cloth. It works great on sandpaper and doesn't cause any wear.
Use it on the disc also. However, the rubber crepe block will have to be used at some point for build up on it.

 

I agree with John, that slide out is great. I thought about doing something simliar under my workbench top on the end but abandoned the idea because it would put the station too low to be comfortable for me. I keep mine out because I use it so often. It would be really nice to have a convenient way to tuck it away though without it being such a pain to retrieve that I get lazy about sharpening stuff…

 

I have some melamine cabinets in the garage that I put a shelf in that comes out on drawer slides. The belt/disc sander and the WS are on it. I can pull that shelf out when I need to sand. The doors were removed and used for other projects.