Work Sharp Sharpening System - Manual (Page 3)

my toes so didn’t ever appreciate the
need to adjust for the cutting angle differ-
ences as well.
Most of the devices I used in the past
tried to overcome this inherent design
weakness by suggesting the grinding of a
“micro-bevel” after grinding the primary
bevel angle. The micro-bevel is just a
second cutting edge five or so degrees
different from the angle of the primary
cutting edge that only extends a millime-
ter or less back from the point. The idea
is that this micro-bevel can be estab-
lished quickly since little material has to
be removed, so even though the micro-
bevel angle is likely different from sharp-
ening to sharpening, it is at least fairly
quick to produce. Kind of the “no harm,
no foul” mentality.
I never have been able to buy into that
idea and always wanted a simple, fast,
convenient way to reestablish the exact
same bevel angle each time I sharpen.
That way I wouldn’t need to remove very
much material to reestablish the perfectly
sharp edge and would not have to spend
the extra time and set up to do a micro-
bevel.
Only recently did I find a way to do
that time after time, edge after edge,
across the whole gambit of my hand
cutting tools.
It all started with a call from the Profes-
sional Tool Manufacturing company lo-
cated in Ashland, OR. This company is
well known for it’s excellent “Drill Doctor”
brand of drill bit sharpening systems.
The caller said they were developing a
new hand cutting tool sharpening system
and asked if they could come talk with me
about it. I was intrigued because their
Drill Doctor line is so well received in the
marketplace, so I agreed to the meeting.
At the appointed time the product man-
ager and the lead designer/engineer on
the project came in carrying a box. I ex-
pected some sort of cobbled together
model or prototype to be used to explain
their idea. I was stunned when out of the
box came a fully functional, well ma-
chined, pre-production prototype con-
structed from polymer and metal materi-
als carefully EDMed to simulate the form
and function of what were to become the
cast metal components of the production
machine.
It was clear from the first glance that
they had addressed and perhaps
solved the problem of reestablishing
the exact same bevel angle every time
you sharpen.
Here we were less than a few moments
into the conversation, and they were pre-
senting what I had always hoped to find -
the same cutting bevel angle time after
time, no matter what grit of media was
being used and with no need for jigs or
fixtures! This was no arm-waving white-
board discussion of what might be. Here
was a fully functioning machine that did
exactly what I wanted, and it was sitting
on the table in front of us. Sure, it was a
prototype so it would not stand up to the
rigors of daily use, but it worked and
worked very well indeed.
Now let’s jump forward a whole bunch in
time and talk about the production ver-
sion of what they designed, now called
the “Work Sharp” machine, and how it
has changed my work habits so dramati-
cally.
In the past the process of sharpening my
hand cutting tools had to take place