DIY Advice Blog

Do it yourself knife sharpening

My dad kept a sharpening stone in the kitchen drawer and taught me early on how to sharpen knifes. But sharpening with a stone is slow and requires patience and practice to get a good edge. So over the years I’ve tried all kinds of sharpeners to simplify the job. I’ve tried kits that have angle guides and stones, inexpensive electric sharpeners and sharpeners you drag the knife though, but they all have downsides. They’re either too messy, too time consuming or they won’t fix a knife that’s got a nick or gouge in it.

Then the folks from Work Sharp Tools visited us at The Family Handyman’s DIY workshop to demonstrate their new WSKTS Knife and Tool Sharpener electric sharpener.  It uses an abrasive belt rather than grinding wheels, and it works great. I took the sharpener home and was able to sharpen all of our kitchen knives in about 15 minutes. This sharpener is versatile, too. It has angle guides for kitchen knives and hunting knives. You can also use it to sharpen scissors, hatchets and axes. I’m sure you could even find uses for this tool as a mini belt sander. I just haven’t thought of them yet.

— Jeff Gorton, Associate Editor

Knife and Tool Sharpener video
Here’s a video that shows the Work Sharp Tools' Knife and Tool Sharpener in action:

You can purchase the Work Sharp WSKTS Knife and Tool Sharpener through our affiliation with Amazon.com.

Other related DIY sharpening articles:

- How to Sharpen Knives

- How to Sharpen Garden Tools

Also see our DIY Tools & Tips section for more do it yourself advice.