Work Sharp Blade Grinder Attachment for Ken Onion Edition MK.1 Knife & Tool Sharpener (WSSAKO81112) – Professional Knife Sharpening for Chefs, Hunters & DIY Enthusiasts

Edit - I've had this attachment 4 years and it's still working perfectly, as well as the original Ken Onion motor that drives the belts. I'd use a flapper wheel on a hand held grinder for mower blades and axes as they are cheaper and faster for heavy duty blades, and you won't wear out your belts as fast. I use this for everything else from heavy duty pocketknives to my kitchen knives.I'd give this a 4.7 out of 5 stars...almost perfect.I've sharpened knives for 43 years on various types of stones and sharpening systems and I can get a crazy sharp edge already on just a stone, but I wanted to try this out and watched tons of videos including a couple dozen by a guy that works for Work Sharp, which were great videos.Edit - I re-read my review and I wanted to add that although polishing a blade with the highest grit belt may technically be a sharper blade, staying down one belt grit works better, and here's why. With a highly polished blade, there isn't any kind of tearing action. Think about a serrated blade. They cut well through meat and other objects with the serrations. With a non-serrated blade such as a chef's knife, the slightly lower grit blade will leave micro-serrations and make cutting through meat and other items easier as the micro-serrations tear versus sliding across. Test this with a piece of newspaper or magazine paper. Try cutting with a highly polished blade, then again with the next lower grit belt and you'll see the difference.The main things you need to know are:1) The motor is designed to allow you to lock it in the ON position when using the blade grinding attachment. Just don't use a ton of pressure of you can slow the motor and make it run hotter...plus putting a lot of pressure on a belt grinder isn't the best way to use it and you'll remove a ton of material that you probably don't want to.2) Once you get the blade onto the Reference Plate, pick up the blade and put it back on the reference plate a few times to make sure you're keeping the blade at the correct angle before going up to the belt to start working on the edge. When you first start using this, it is easy to accidentally put a slight twist on the blade when picking it up off the reference plate so the edge isn't against the belt at the angle you started out at. Tapping the reference plate a few times to ensure you're not accidentally changing the angle will give you a better and more consistent edge.3) Pull at a steady rate of about 1 inch per second - so an 8 inch knife should take about 8 seconds to go across the belt from end to end.4) If your blade has a curve, rotate the blade as you go across the belt so the surface being sharpened is at a 90 degree angle to the belt.5) When you are getting near the point/tip of the blade, lift up the blade just as the tip of the blade reaches the middle of the belt to avoid rounding the tip.Pro's"1) This is a quick way to sharpen a blade better than many people can do on a stone without some measure of skill.2) The initial abrasiveness of the belts wear away quickly, but the belts still sharpen (although slightly slower) for a LONG time. These are quality belts that will last much longer than many people think...don't throw away the belt. Keep using them until they are obviously not sharpening at all...then you can get some jewelers rogue and put on the belt and you have a spare high grit belt.Con's"I've sharpened for 43 years on stones and such, and I wasn't 100% happy with the Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition sharpening system because even with a few hours of practice, it would not give me results that I wanted and couldn't surpass using a stone...although after 43 years on stones, I'd say I have enough experience that it would be hard to surpass. So when I bought that Ken Onion edition sharpening system, I also bought this Blade Grinding Attachment. I absolutely love it. There are only two things I'd like to list as a CON.1) The default Ken Onion Edition sharpening system just snaps on and rotates and it is locked into place and ready to go. This Blade Grinder Attachment snaps on just the same, but there is an extra reverse screw wheel that holds the belt in place (officially called the "Hub Fastener" and it would be nice if the attachment could just easily snap on as the Ken Onion Edition does without having to manually add this "Hub Fastener". I've used the attachment and thought I had the fastener tight, and after a minute or two it came flying off and since I was working outside on my deck and it was spinning like a top when it came off, I immediately saw a potential to lose this and that would make the attachment worthless.2) The angle adjustment is easy to work and set, but it would be better if the angle was adjustable where you could use the reference plate to rest the blade on and have the belt at the angle you set without having to pick up the blade. and move it up to the belt. This doesn't matter to me specifically since I've been sharpening and such for 43 years and I'm used to keeping a steady angle, but for novice sharpeners, it would be beneficial. This would introduce the ability to scratch a knife, but to avoid this you could add a piece of leather to the plate, or a piece of felt.Overview - I'd buy this again, yes, and this is a good product, but I think the attachment needs a minor redesign to make it absolutely perfect, even for for amateurs.Lastly, this Work Sharp Blade Grinding Attachment (just under $70 at time of purchase) was a good investment for me. The belts are wider and longer than the default Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition so you have the ability to remove more material before the belts wear out, and you can also do things like mower blades and axes and cleavers easily and quickly on this attachment. Since I wasn't 100% thrilled with the way the belts were removing material with the default knife & tool sharpener, I have been sharpening blades by hand using a stone and then using this blade grinding attachment with the 3,000 and 12,000 grit equivalent belts. I use the X4 (3,000 grit) and make a couple of very light pressure passes to get the stropping effect, then use the 12,000 grit polishing belt to get that mirror edge finish just because I'm OCD about my blades. Most people use a grinder of grinding wheel to sharpen their mower blades and that takes away a lot of metal and makes keeping the blades balanced a bit more difficult. Using the 220 grit belt removes very little metal compared to a grinder and makes keeping balanced mower blades much easier, and removing less metal means your mower blades will last longer. That's not a big deal for most people, but if you mow professionally, this is probably going to be your best bet for keeping your mower blades in top notch shape versus other normal mower blade sharpening options, as well as extend the life of your mower blades.