In the above video you’ll see my review of a new sharpening tool that works swimmingly for restoring chisels and handplane irons; especially moulding plane irons. You can read specs and details about the Work Sharp on their website (here).
My friend Bill Anderson introduced me to the Work Sharp WS3000 while I was producing the DVD “Choosing, Refurbishing, & Using Moulding Planes with Bill Anderson”. He showed how amazing it is for flattening the backs of hand plane irons & chisels, which had been a frustrating process for me (sharpening stones take too long and belt sanders are too dangerous). It’s a super fast method for flattening moulding plane irons and chisels, due to their smaller size.
I still prefer a hollow grinder for major reconstructive work on the bevel side, but the Work Sharp does an ace job on quickly touching up an edge.
I found the best price ($50 off) for the Work Sharp WS3000 and accessories right here. The unit comes with two tempered glass wheels and a hand full of sticky sandpaper discs. It also comes with a neat-o see through wheel that lets you see your bevel while sharpening it.
You can certainly purchase extra sanding discs from Work Sharp, but I found that 6″ sticky-back sanding discs (like these Diablo discs) work amazingly and are more affordable. I got mine from Lowes. All you have to do is puncture a hole so that it fits onto the sharpener. The instructions and DVD that comes with the Work Sharp are really clear and concise, so I won’t spend time explaining how to use the unit or apply the sanding discs to the plate glass wheels. The instructions even tell you how to use other brands of sanding discs…what a cool company!
I realized that the sanding disc grits that come with the Work Sharp aren’t course enough for tough flattening jobs. So I purchased 40 grit, 80 grit, 120 grit, and 200 grit. Work Sharp included much finer grits, which I’m still using (up to 3000 grit, I think).
THE WORK SHARP GIVEAWAY RULES
WINNER UPDATE (11/09/2015):
The U.S.A. winner of the Work Sharp WS3000 is Harold Dean Sink (please contact me here).
The International winner is Scott Mitchell, of Australia (please contact me here). The “mystery gift” is a digital download of my new 2-disc DVD “Build a Traditional Windsor Rocker with Elia Bizzarri”!
This giveaway is for a Work Sharp WS3000 tool sharpener (and a mystery gift for international readers)! The retail price is $249.95, so you’re getting an amazing prize! I’ll also be giving away an awesome mystery gift to a lucky international winner. Here are the simple contest instructions, which will introduce you to my amazing new forum for woodworkers who love hand tools (check out the new messaging feature, so you can correspond with forum buddies):
- Make sure you’re a subscriber on Wood and Shop (click here if you’re not…don’t worry, it’s free)
- Then visit and register on my Hand Tool Woodworking Forum (here). Create at least one awesome new topic on any of the forum categories and also respond to at least one topic that someone else has posted.
- That’s it! Then just visit here to confirm that you’ve completed the above two steps.
***Must be 18 years old to enter. The “International winner” will receive the mystery gift, and the Work Sharp winner must live in the lower 48 states of America (sorry, I gotta pay shipping and don’t wanna have to pay to ship it to a winner in Thailand!). The two winners will be chosen on November 7th, 2015 via random.org. Only one entry per person (not per email address). New winners will be chosen if the winners don’t respond within 48 hours.
***In the video I mentioned a T-shirt and hat in the giveaway, but my friend Bill Anderson had to shave his hair off, so I gave the hat to him as a gift and the shirt is lost somewhere in my workshop renovation!
Good. Wish I could win the international gift
Well, did you enter to win it?
I registered. Hope I win
I registered and replied to a forum but couldn’t post to projects gallery as my modern phone takes too high res images.
Guess I won’t be winning. :(
Shucks, try again on your computer! My phone makes way too big photos too. But you can temporarily set your phone to take smaller photos. Let me know if that works.
Hope I win
Have the winners been posted yet? Excited for the news!
I just posted the names. Sorry for the delay!
Hey Joshua….really like your website! FYI…There’s a cool video series called mastercraft put out by the BBC and on youtube. It’s a show about people learning traditional crafts like hand tool woodworking (the greenwood episode), blacksmithing, etc. As a fellow traditional woodworker and teacher, I couldn’t stop watching it. Definitely worth googling…..may the grain be with you…
I’ll check Mastercrafts out..thanks Rob!