I only have one sharp knife left!

[Hop]

I'm seeing conflicting pictures of this "convex" edge online but I remember a video about a Japanese knife maker. He ground his blades "concave". If the knife edge looks like a concave lens then it should be called a concave grind not convex. A convex lens is thicker in the middle. Coming from a guy with an optics degree. School me on what grind you guys are talking about please.

I have this Smith's sharpener & it works OK if you can get the angle set correctly. It uses little round wheels and makes an ever so slight concave grind.
Smith's Adjustable Angle Pull-Thru Knife Sharpener : Cabela's

 

[Gabriel]

Even though we just talked on the phone about this I'll post up anyhow. The work sharp is awesome. especially when you just don't have a ton of time to set up the other systems. Simple to adjust and set up and super fast sharpening. I personally got the Ken onion edition as I buy most things used and got a heck of a deal. then I bought the blade grinding attachment at blade show and Love it. It works awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone looking at this thread. I have sharpened hundreds of knives on mine. The convex edge is perfect for edc use and holds up the best imo.

I can't believe you guys are going to talk me into another sharpening system.

 

[chezuki]

I'm seeing conflicting pictures of this "convex" edge online but I remember a video about a Japanese knife maker. He ground his blades "concave". If the knife edge looks like a concave lens then it should be called a concave grind not convex. A convex lens is thicker in the middle. Coming from a guy with an optics degree. School me on what grind you guys are talking about please.

I have this Smith's sharpener & it works OK if you can get the angle set correctly. It uses little round wheels and makes an ever so slight concave grind.
Smith's Adjustable Angle Pull-Thru Knife Sharpener : Cabela's

The term you're looking for is "hollow grind". The WorkSharp however, does create a convex edge, not hollow ground or "concave".

 

[ModernGunner]

Most of these sharpening systems are some sort of variation of the Lansky.

JMO, the 'secret' is to constantly monitor the edge and make sure the two bevels meet (except for the 'Chisel' in Chezuki's excellent image, above). Tilting the blade under some decent lighting, it's fairly easy to check the bevel on each side and see if the two edges match up. Depending on how well the edge was originally centered in the blade stock, this may require more work on one side.

At least for me, regardless of the angle chosen, this produces a fine, extremely sharp single 'edge' that also holds up pretty well. Touch up as necessary.

Just my experience, but it's not so much the sharpening 'system' as it is the person. It's an acquired skill, and like ANY good skill requires a bit of time and patience to learn the 'finesse' needed. But, IMO, it's definitely worthwhile to learn.

I can do it, so I know YOU can do it, too.

 

[grunt soldier]

You can grind much more than convex edge on a grinder. Pretty much every maker out there does 95% of their work on a belt grinder. You can get almost every single edge geometry out there on a belt grinder. Just a matter of you being able and willing to do it! the work sharp is no different.