No real experience sharpening knives/tools but this looks like a pretty good “do it all” amateur sharpener. This will be used to sharpen a handful of cheap $20-30 knives to practice on and then a couple of better $50-90 knives when I get the hang of it. Maybe the occasional scissor, hatchet, etc. touch up.

What do you guys think? Is this a good product? Is it worth the extra cost to buy the “Ken Onion” edition?

I have the product below the "Ken Onion".
It works just fine.

It stopped the bitchy spouse syndrome about dull knives.

I bought one and use it for pretty much exactly as you described. I have the Ken onion edition.
Like anything, it takes a little practice to get just right but you'll have it down in a knife or two and they'll be plenty sharp

I have the Ken Onion and like it. Puts a convex grind on the knife...

I know lots of people love it.

I hated it.  Could not quite get the hang of it.  Being left-handed seemed to make it harder for some reason.

It actually dulled my knives.

But, I think in that price range, you should look to the Lansky system.  Gives you a bit more control.

Get the diamond stone and it takes just a couple minutes to get a blade shaving sharp.

I had very good success with the Lansky.  Happy with it, but upgraded to the TSPROF.

Bump for the night shift crowd.

I have the base model and I like it.  It gets my knives hair-flinging sharp with minimal effort.  I managed to get a shaving-sharp edge on my Cold Steel Tomahawk with it too. It may be prone to rounding off the tip of the blade a bit, so be aware of that (I need to study up on this a bit more; my technique may be the problem).

MY REVIEW:

My lifelong quest to be able to sharpen a knife well continues.  I absolutely suck at it.  My problem is and has been getting and maintaining the angle of the knife to the stone (or stone to the knife) perfectly to get an even edge on both sides of the blade.    This is why a whetstone never works for me, and why I keep trying the fancier more expensive systems.

I've used Lansky and the EdgePro systems (both were their top-of-the-line versions) and still wasn't confident enough to use them on my good knives.  The problem I had with both of these systems is they rely on the knife having a flat along the spine to anchor the blade into the clamp- not all mine did.  Without that square/straight reference the actual angle of the blade is a mystery, and one side of the blade is different than the other.

I tried and still have the Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker and I have a lot of problems making that work.  This system relies on your eye being able to tell when the blade is perfectly vertical for the down-stoke, but that seems to be impossible to do.  What looks vertical through the right (dominant) eye isn't so vertical for each side- your hand is in the way, how can I tell?!  I still fiddle with it for sharpening the garage and toolbox knives.

I recently did some research and picked up the WorkSharp Ken Onion with the blade grinding attachment through Expert Voice since they had a good deal on them.  I've been trying....

This also relies (more heavily) on your eye being accurate as you move the knife off the little horizontal table up to the belt; you must hold it perfectly level in three dimensions during that travel or the actual angle is unknown.  Like the Lansky and EdgePro the knife needs a square/flat area along the spine to set it on the table and square it to the machine; so if your knife doesn't have it, or the flat spot is small (almost all my folding knives), it's a guess.  

Compounding that the Worksharp belt is spinning away from the blade which creates a burr that is difficult to get rid of; the burr will swap sides as many times as you turn the blade over, but it never seems to go away.  There are ways to get the burr off, like dragging the knife through a block of wood or stropping, but FOR ME it's nothing like their videos where you come off the machine and the knife makes ribbons in the paper.  So far all I've gotten is an edge that feels pretty sharp but hangs in paper and tears/shreds its way through.  

I will add this- I have followed the Worksharp instructions perfectly and did not get the results they get in their videos; not even close.  Obviously it can be done; I've watched them do it, but I haven't been able to match their results.  

I also briefly tried the plain Ken Onion WorkSharp (it's part of the whole kit) which has their angle holder and it seems like the knife can move around a lot within the holder, and again what's square within the holder to be the reference of the knife to be angled to the belt perfectly?  Heck if I know.  

I sharpened my axe and hatchet with the Worksharp and they came out sharper than they started, so I'm happy about that.  I suppose the first whack will knock the burr off so for those tools it's working ok.

The WorkSharp would benefit a lot if the belt direction was reversible.  I'd rather have the belt spinning into the work, like the pro sharpeners do, than away.  Spinning away would be a great way to get started using the coarser belts, then switch to spinning towards for the finer belts.  

Maybe I'm overthinking it and demanding perfect angles, but I don't want to totally screw up my expensive knifes.

The quest continues...

I have the ken onion. Works great. Has wider belts I think. And. Etter guides for knives. I can sharpen knives very quickly. And if you don't let your knives to to sbit, you only need to touch them up with 1 belt. 2 minute job to plug the thing in and sharpen.

Just be sure to read about the technique in the manual to avoid dulling tips.

It takes a bit of practice to avoid messing up the tip of your knife.

I prefer stones and my Sharpmaker. It’s difficult to explain but I can feel and hear when I am doing it right with them.

I use the work sharp for reprofiling or fixing a damaged edge and not really fine work.

Appreciate all of the information. I decided to order the Work Sharp “Ken Onion” edition. I’ll start with some cheap knives and see what I can do with it. I’ll update this thread later, if anyone cares.

I think I’m going to try the new Precision Adjust Knife Sharpener

Looks pretty interesting for $50

I ended up buying the sharpener.. and the Ken Onion one at that. I’m certainly no professional with it but it’s definitely made a noticeable difference with all of the blades that I touched up. Not sure how it compares value wise to the other options that others have posted but I’m pretty happy with it so far.

I use a different but similar sharpening system. Get a variety of belts and work your way down the grits. If you can’t get a leather belt get a leather stop with some polishing compound to finish up with.

The secret is to get all the way to the edge with each belt to form a burr.

It’s hard to tell at first but if you darken the edge with a sharpie you will be able to tell when you gave sharpened all the way to the edge.

After some practice you will be able to do that fairly easily.

Also the grinder attachment is probably worth the extra expense.

A belt sander using a leather belt and polishing rouge works for best for me.

I have the work sharp and it’s ok. If you want to grind  in one direction I think you can sharpen using opposite sides of the work sharp.

It’s really hard to find on system that works for all sizes and shapes and steel types of knives.

i finally found DMT diamond stones, been searching for how to sharpen a knife for years

I was so worried about rounding off my tips with the work sharp I ended up biting the bullet and I ordered a wicked edge.  I know it will also take a lot of practice  but I love the idea of knowing my angles and being able to adjust them as I want.  I guess I’ll see if it was a good decisions or an expensive waste of money.

I do see that some of the knives I’ve done on this Work Sharp have the tips a bit “rounded off.” Honest question, why are people worried about that? Again, I know nothing about proper sharpening of knives. All I know is that with a very small learning curve and a few minutes a piece my knives are sharper and more useable than they have been in years.

What's the hardest steel anyone is sharpening with the WSKO?  
And getting good results

I’m sure it’s a lame reason for me but after spending a ton on a nice knife I’d hate to change the blade profile.  Stupid excuse I’m sure, and I know the worksharp is a great tool.

The worksharp is great for sharpening fast.  Been using one for several years.  Awesome for the deer camp when your skinning deer and going through several knives.

I plan on buying the WS precision sharpener as well.  I had a wicked edge and it was probably the best sharpener I've had, but for the small amount of knives that I sharpen, I couldn't justify about $700-800 sitting in a cabinet and getting used once every 6 months or so.

My simple fix for that is just not buying nice knives.

I just got the worksharp precision in.  For $55 this thing is awesome.  

There are some YouTube videos using lapping paper to get a mirror finish.  But for sharpening kitchen and work knives, this is one of the beat I’ve had for the value.

My co-worker told me about this. I've been busy with other things and haven't got around to watching review videos.

I have a small chip in on new knife I bought. I'm looking for something to grind it out.

I just ordered it to go with my Ken Onion.  I can't wait for it to get here so I can try it out.

I use it on all my skinning knives in the spring when I'm trapping beaver hard.  I've been happy with it.  During the winter I dont go through nearly as many animals so I just use a steel.

For kitchen knives that are cheap?  Don't put your Bitchmade or other decent blades on one.

I’ve used it on half a dozen knives at this point, from single digit cheap up to just shy of $100 knives. No issues either way and I’ve been happy with it. Maybe I’m easier to please than others?

Why not?

Is it not capable of sharpening higher quality steels?  
Or is the warning just because people might use it incorrectly and ruin decent blades?