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Work Sharp Replacement Belts – Different Belt Kits You Must Know

As much as we loved to keep all knives sharp, the time will come to sharpen them after repeat uses.

Work Sharp belts are strong and durable to last a hundred times before a replacement is needed.

While this is true, it also depends on the usage and the conditions of the knives.

So, what type of belt is needed also depends on your requirement and preference.

Do you frequently use coarse and fine belts to sharpen and hone the knives?

It doesn’t matter, since there are plenty of Work Sharp replacement belts and individual belts available for purchase.

And it’s cheap. There is no reason not to get it replaced. But there are many different replacement belts for different models although it looks the same.

Do not buy the wrong belt and end up doesn’t fit the correct model.

It’s a waste of money. Although you could easily return it to the merchant and get it replaced.

Why not get it done right the first time?

In this article, we’ll list the types of belts for each model, safety advice, and the recommendation as needed.

So you’ll always choose the right type of Work Sharp replacement belts for the different Work Sharp Sharpeners you own.

Work Sharp Replacement Belt Kits Explained (Including Aftermarket Belts)

Combo Knife Sharpener

The Work Sharp Combo Knife Sharpener comes with two 3M flexible abrasive belts – ½ x 10 inches.

This is the only coarse grinding belt (P120) for use in this sharpener. Price-wise, it’s the cheapest belt among all the models.

This durable flexible belt is manufactured by Norton Abrasives. This is the same belt used by professional sharpening services and knife makers.

It has unique cool cutting characteristics that will not alter the blade’s temper. It’s very affordable and reliable, too.

The belt replacement kit (model WSCMB) consists of 3 individual belts. For just a few dollars, you can easily buy it on Amazon.

Dream of using the Combo Knife Sharpener for medium and fine honing?

As we know, the Combo Knife Sharpener comes with only the P120 grit belt.

Maybe Work Sharp thinks that this simple sharpening machine does not require honing, one belt does it all.

Aftermarket Belts

Fortunately, there are some Work Sharp aftermarket belts available on the market.

One of the manufacturers is Red Label Abrasives. You may take advantage of this opportunity to include more grits to test out the results against the original Work Sharp belts.

It’s also available on Amazon and still considered affordable with a pack of ten belts.

The pack consists of:

  • 2 coarse (P80) grit (for very coarse grinding)
  • 2 medium (P320) grit
  • 3 fine (P800) grit belts
  • 3 ultra-fine (P5000) grit belts (for honing the blade)

The coarse and fine grits are made of premium aluminum oxide and the ultra-fine grit is made of ceramic.

It’s a piece of good news for knife enthusiasts as they will have more belts to play with, thus sharper and smoother edges.

Some folks prefer to cut with a ceramic knife.

Unfortunately, there is no diamond abrasive belt available for this model, not even from Red Label Abrasives.

Nonetheless, it’s still a blessing as there are different grit belts for replacement.

Work Sharp Diamond Belts

People who also use ceramic knives at home may consider buying the Knife and Tool Sharpener instead of the Combo unit.

With just an extra diamond belt you can include it in your ceramic knife sharpening routine. (see below)

Due to the fact that ceramics is about four times stronger than steel, only use diamond belts to sharpen ceramic blades.

Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener (WSKTS)

This powerful and versatile sharpener is the first portable sharpening device by Work Sharp. It generously includes 6 abrasive belts, two each from coarse, medium, and fine grits.

Don’t ever think to use these belts on the Combo sharpener because it does not fit.

It has the same width but it is 2 inches longer than the Combo belts. The belts with different grits are represented in different colors.

The belts of ½ x 12 inches come with different grits:

  • 2 extra-coarse belts (green) – P80 grit (for very coarse sharpening)
  • 2 medium coarse belts (red) – P220 grit (for general sharpening)
  • 2 fine belts (grey) – 6000 grit (for honing and polishing)

Different grits are made from different materials. The P80 grit is made of aluminum oxide, ceramic oxide for P220, and silicon carbide for the 6000 grits.

Quality Belts Ensured

Of all the three types, Norton Abrasives manufactures P80 and P220 grit while the belt for 6000 grit is manufactured by Micro-Mesh.

Both are reputable suppliers for Darex Inc. (Work Sharp Company) so we’re very confident of the quality.

The WSKTS is a powerful tool with super strong addicted power. If you’re a knife enthusiast, you may quickly wear out the belts.

You can buy the complete replacement belt kit which includes 2 of each of the different grits – extra-coarse, medium, and fine grit. That’s what is included when you purchase the sharpener.

There are times when you use certain belts too often and only need to replace one or two belts. It’s economical to do it this way and save a few bucks.

You may purchase:

To sharpen ceramic knives, select the diamond belts below:

This diamond replacement kit includes one coarse diamond belt (180 grit) and one fine diamond belt (1500 grit) for repairing and honing ceramic knives respectively.

The above belt replacement kits are original belts sold by Work Sharp. And we’re very confident Work Sharp products are the best in the market when it comes to high-quality and versatile kitchen knife sharpener.

Cheaper Belts

The aftermarket belt manufacturer, Red Label Abrasives, also sells various belt replacement kits on Amazon.

Some people experienced compatibility issues with the WSKTS but some have good remarks. Please read the reviews thoroughly before making a purchase.

Work Sharp tools are so popular that also invited some other companies to share the pie.

Another aftermarket belt manufacturer from Texas, Pro Sharpening Supplies, also sells Leather Honing & Polishing Belt for this model. According to the specification, it’s a 10,000 grit leather belt.

It can be a direct replacement for the Work Sharp 6000 grit belt for honing the knives. As usual, read the reviews first.

Before you consider the aftermarket belts, ask yourself a question.

After all these efforts to save a few bucks, is it worth taking the risk?

We’re pretty sure the official Work Sharp belts will fit perfectly well and work with no issues at all.

Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition

Now, here comes the upgrade model of the original Knife and Tool Sharpener. The Ken Onion Edition Sharpener comes with 5 abrasive belts together with the device.

The belts of ¾  x 12 inches come with different grits:

  • P120 (120 grit) – Extra Coarse, made of Ceramic Alumina for coarse tool sharpening
  • X65 (220 grit) – Coarse, made of Alumina for general knife, scissor and tool sharpening
  • X22 (1000 grit) – Medium,
  • X4 (3000 grit) – Fine, made of Alumina Oxide for honing knives and scissors, gut hooks, and serrated blades
  • ½” wide (6000 grit) – Extra-fine, made of Silicon Carbide for fine polishing tasks

And these belts are exclusively used for the Ken Onion Edition Sharpener. It’s not interchangeable with other models except for the ½” wide (6000 grit) belt which is common to the original Work Sharp Knife & Tool Sharpener.

The original Replacement Belt Kits are:

  • Assorted 5 Pack which includes all the belts (1 belt each for different grits)
  • P120 Extra Coarse Grit Belt Kit (1 belt only)
  • X65 Coarse Grit Belt Kit (5 belts)
  • X22 Medium Grit Belt Kit (1 belt only)
  • X4 Fine Grit Belt Kit (5 belts)
  • 6000 Grit Belt Kit (6 belts), which can be used for the original Knife and Tool Sharpener

The Ken Onion Edition ¾” belts are more expensive than the ½” belts but you get more sharpening power.

Lots of knife enthusiasts agreed the Ken Onion Knife Sharpener is the most powerful and preferred sharpener.

The article on Work Sharp Original vs Ken Onion Edition compares and reveals the three selling points of the Ken Onion Edition.

In the case to repair ceramic knives, you can also buy the same belt for the original knife sharpener.

Look for:

Belts for Blade Grinder

Now, it gets a little complicated if you also have the blade grinder.

If you examine the belts carefully, it looks very similar to the Ken Onion belts but it is 1″ x 18″. Ken Onion belts are ¾”  x 12″. Do not use the wrong belt.

The original blade grinder replacement belt is also available on Amazon.

Look for:

Work Sharp WSSAKO81115 Blade Grinder Attachment Replacement Belt Kit. This pack includes one each of the P120, X65, X22, X4, and 12,000.

For extreme stropping and polishing, you need the cloth belt much like a leather belt.

Look for:

Work Sharp Blade Grinder Cloth Belt Stropping Kit Ken Onion Edition

Belts for Tool Grinder

The Ken Onion Edition Sharpener has an option for light-duty grinding.

The Tool Grinding Attachment does just that. The P60 extra-coarse belt looks similar to the belt used for the original Knife and Tool Sharpener and has the same size – ¾” x 10”.

The Tool Grinder Attachment Replacement Belt Kit:

Work Sharp WSSAKO81114 Tool Grinder Attachment Replacement Belt Kit.

This session pretty much summed up all the replacement belt kits for the Ken Onion Edition and the attachments.

Also read: Affordable and reliable Belt Knife Sharpeners for kitchen knives, hunting knives, and other tools.

Let’s move on to the workbench grinder.

Work Sharp WS3000 Wood Tool Sharpener

The WS3000 is a bench-mounted wood tool sharpener used to restore the edges of chisels, lathe tools, plane irons, carving tools, spoke shaves, scrapers, putty knives, and more.

The WS3000 Wood Tool Sharpener includes an abundance of different solid abrasive discs from coarse to ultra-fine grit.

There are a total of 11 abrasive discs for a complete range of sharpening.

The WS3000 Solid Abrasive Discs include:

  • 2 of P120 (coarse grit for coarse shaping the bevel of chisels/planes, remove nicks)
  • 4 of P400 (medium grit for general sharpening)
  • 4 of P1000 (fine grit for honing the edge)
  • 1 of P3600 (ultra-fine grit for polishing the edge)

The abrasive discs are to be attached to both sides of the tempered glass wheels which come with the tool.

That’s equal to 2 different grits for each tempered glass (top and bottom), so you need a total of 2 tempered glass wheels for the whole sharpening process.

Since Work Sharp sharpeners are so popular, Amazon has a lot of stock.

Look for:

The abrasive discs cannot be used for other sharpeners due to different designs but if you have the Belt Sharpening System Attachment for knives (optional) for the WS3000, you can actually use the belts (1” x 18”) from the Ken Onion Edition Blade Grinder except for the ½” wide (6000 grit) belt.

Look for:

Work Sharp WSSAKO81115 Blade Grinder Attachment Replacement Belt Kit.

We’ve included all the replacement kits for Work Sharp WS3000 Wood Tool Sharpener.

Let’s proceed to the last part of this session – the Automatic Knife Sharpener.

Work Sharp Culinary E5

One of a kind, the Culinary E5 is a pre-programmed knife sharpener with a fully automatic function to restore knives at 17° angle.

For this angle, you’ll only need the Red P120 Medium belt. This is the belt that is pre-installed at the factory before delivery.

The P120 Belt

Simple enough, it seems there is not much choice to play around using different grits. That means one belt does it all.

According to the manufacturer, the machine will vary the speed and duration of use from coarse to medium sharpening and to fine polishing. It plays with speed and duration to achieve the desired results with only one belt.

Strange but it’s true, this model has received very good reviews from the consumers although it depends on one medium belt for the whole sharpening process.

The Medium belt P120 (¾” x 12”) is the same belt used for Ken Onion Edition, and manufactured by the same company, Norton Abrasives.

If that’s the case, we believe this belt can also be used for other sharpeners if it fits well.

To buy the Medium belt P120 on Amazon, look for:

Work Sharp Culinary CPAC006 Kit Replacement Sharpening Belts, Red

This replacement belt kit contains 3 of P120 belts. This should be able to last a long time.

Upgrade Kit

This machine is not limited to 17° only. The Culinary E5 has an upgrade kit that can sharpen 15° and 20° of angles.

The East and West Guides upgrade kit also comes with various belts to sharpen knives at different angles, including the P120.

  • One of P120ZA Blue Belt- Coarse
  • Two of P120- Red Belt- Medium
  • One of X35- Grey Belt- Fine
  • One of X4- White Belt- Extra-Fine

Of all these belts, the Blue P120ZA belt is to be used only with the 20° West sharpening guides.

Do not be mistaken the P120 is the same as P120ZA. Any misuse will cause striations on the face of the blade.

If you’ve worn out the belts, get the Master Replacement Belt Kit below:

Work Sharp Culinary CPAC005 Master Kit Replacement Sharpening Belts, Blue

It includes every belt that comes with the upgrade kit.

Conclusion

To maintain the efficiency of the sharpener for the long haul, getting the replacement belt kit at hand is a must.

Different sharpeners come with different belts and it looks very similar. So, make sure you buy the exact belts to reduce the risk of damaging the sharpener.

But some models can share the same belts with other sharpeners. This will never happen unless you have both sharpeners that also use the same type.

We’ve summarized the different types of belts used for all the Work Sharp belt sharpeners.

We hope you enjoy this post and have gained a better understanding of the different types of belts for different applications.

Good luck to all Work Sharp fans!

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