Work Sharp has launched the Drill Doctor X2, the first new drill bit sharpener from the iconic brand in over 10 years.
In addition to being able to sharpen drill bits, the Drill Doctor X2 features tool sharpener slots for use with kitchen and pocket knives, scissors, and axes, and other such bladed instruments.
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The Drill Doctor X2 comes with a 1/2″ chuck for use with drill bits 3/32″ to 1/2″ in diameter with 118° points. It can sharpen standard high speed steel drill bits, masonry drill bits, cobalt, and TiN-coated drill bits.
There are two tool and knife sharpening guide inserts, one with a 20° kitchen knife guide and ceramic skew wheel for honing, and another with a 35° angle for edged tool and 65° guide for scissors.
Drill Doctor describes the new X2 as the Ultimate Dual Purpose Sharpening Station.
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Is this truly an All in One Sharpener for Knives, Tools, Scissors, Drill Bits, and More…?
Drill Doctor says that the X2 reflects the new look of Drill Doctor, suggesting that perhaps they’ll be revamping their existing lineup.
Looking at a features comparison, the Drill Doctor X2 matches the drill sharpening capabilities of their 350X entry level and hobbyist machine. Stepping up to the 500X gives you the option to sharpen 135° drill bits as well, and stepping up to the 750X gives you an even broader tip angle sharpening range as well as the added capacity to sharpen drill bits up to 3/4″ in diameter. There’s an optional 3/4″ bit chuck accessory for the 500X.
Price-wise (on Amazon), the Drill Doctor X2 fits in between the 500X and 750X, and is more than double the price of the 350X.
Drill Doctor X2 Features & Specs
- Diamond sharpening wheel
- Drill bit capacity: 3/32″ to 1/2″
- Sharpens 118° drill bit point angle
- Easy align chuck
- Dual speed motor
- Ceramic honing wheel
- Interchangeable guides
- 20° knife guide
- 25° edged tool guide
- 65° guide for scissors
Price: $104.49 after 10% clickable coupon (at the time of this posting)
Buy Now via Amazon
See Other Models via Amazon
Discussion
I probably should sharpen my drill bits, but I don’t. Would this sharpener change things for me? Probably not. However, I do know that a lot of people do sharpen their drill bits, especially users that tend to rely on frequent use of the same sizes for a lot of their work.
The new Drill Doctor X2 features broader sharpening capabilities, giving users the ability to also sharpen different kinds of knives, scissors, and tools.
This does look to be a versatile sharpening station for users who mainly work with 118° drill bit point angles and are interested in also being able to sharpen a variety of knives and bladed tools.
Drill Doctor has a solid reputation, and they say that this is their first new drill bit sharpening product in more than 10 years.
I don’t quite see this as the “ultimate” or “all in one” sharpening station, but it does seem to be an interesting multi-functional product. And, if you need 135° split point compatibility, you can step up to the Drill Doctor 500X or 750X and purchase any of Work Sharp’s other sharpening products for use with knives and bladed tools.
Jared
I’ve been thinking about a drill bit sharpener for a awhile. It just seems handy. Sometimes even new bits don’t seem that sharp. This model doesn’t seem to have enough capability though – nor do I need the knife/tool sharpening aspect. I think the 750X might be in my future.
I must say – I have the Work Sharp Combo knife sharpener and love it. I use it with third-party belts in various grits because Work Sharp only sells one grit (I assume that so it doesn’t overlap so much with their higher-priced products). It might take longer than if I had the Ken Onion edition – but I can get my knives crazy sharp!
I do better with it now than I do with stones – and I sharpened my knives by hand for quite awhile before I got the Work Sharp.
I assume these drill bit and knife combination products use a stone rather than a belt like the knife sharpeners though. I don’t think any of the automatic stone-based knife sharpeners do as good a job as the belt sharpeners.
MoogleMan3
From everything I’ve ready by knife and blade enthusiasts, those kinds of knife sharpeners are horrible on blade steel.
IMHO, learn to sharpen knifes proper with a stone.
That said, the drill dr is amazing for drill bits.
fred
Maybe they have gotten better but I suspect not.
It is worth your while to learn how to use a sharpening system and stick with it.
You don’t need a fancy and expensive Tormek machine even though it gets good reviews. I use waterstones – sometimes adding in a slurry from a Nagura stone- and some diamond hones and leather strops. I’m no expert – but can get a mirror finish on most of my chisels, gouges and knives. For axes and garden tools I’m happy using a combination of a file and a stone for final touch up.
At the low cost end – I saw a fellow at a woodworking show demonstrating using a granite floor tile as the backer for various gits of sandpaper – up to extremely fine grit (like 2000 and 2500 used for automotive polishing) to achieve a mirror finish.
For sharpening supplies here is my favorite source:
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/
Jared
I have a wood lathe and struggle to sharpen my chisels effectively. I don’t use it often so I’ve been unwilling to invest in a proper sharpening set up.
Any suggestions?
Currently I use a series of diamond files by hand to get me close, then finish up with stones or sandpaper. Recently I’ve been using my worksharp with the angle guide removed (but that’s for final touch up only – it’s slow).
I hear there are grinder jigs that would speed up the process. I’m not sure what’s required for that though. My attempts to freehand sharpen on a grinder… didn’t go well.
Is a Tormek or Work Sharp 3000 the only solution?
Alex
I have a Tormek and its amazing. Costly but works very well. Not using it to grind lathe chisels but do use it for knives, chisels, and plane blades. I have the drill sharpening attachment for it but have not used it yet. I think its worth the investment. It sharpens everything extremely well and will last for as long as I do.
fred
Sharpening Supplies is having a limited-time 10% off sale on Tormek
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Search.aspx?k=TORMEK
fred
Turning was never my thing – but I know some folks who swear by using turning chisels with carbide inserts:
https://www.woodturningz.com/Lathe_Turning_Chisels.html
MoogleMan3
Fred, for my kitchen knives and EDC I use shapton stones; nothing more. They do the job nicely. The learning curve was there, but not overwhelming.
fred
Yep – clever those Japanese at Sharpton. Their waterstones are very good and they took the idea of using different grit sandpaper adhered to a piece of float glass a step further. Their glass-stones use grit particles coated onto flat glass:
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/search#q=shapton&t=product-search-tab&sort=relevancy&layout=card&numberOfResults=25
Koko The Talking Ape
I use waterstones for all my sharpening, including chisels, plane blades and kitchen knives (I don’t have lawn tools), but they are wearing pretty fast. I might switch to something like Norton or Shapton stones when they get too worn.
Or I might try that sandpaper idea you mention (called the “Scary Sharp” method back in the old Usenet boards). The materials certainly are cheap, and they never need flattening.
fred
A diamond or other lapping plate can help flatten your used waterstones. A cupped sharpening stone is a bummer.
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Search.aspx?k=lapping%20plate
MM
I use Naniwa Chosera synthetic stones for sharpening my kitchen knives & fine tools, and a DMT XX-coarse diamond plate to flatten them. The diamond plate is also great for changing blade profiles or for sharpening garden tools.
I greatly prefer waterstones to the shapton or other hard type of stones. The waterstones cut so much faster and have such a better feel (“feedback”) in my opinion, especially on harder to sharpen alloys like many kinds of stainless.
Koko The Talking Ape
@fred, I know, but why should I use stones that need flattening at all? A large diamond stone is pricey, so I use silicon carbide sandpaper on a stone tile, but it occurs to me I could just use sandpaper on a stone tile to sharpen the knife in the first place.
Koko The Talking Ape
@MM,
So waterstones cut faster? Any idea why that would be? I know they feel different/better than other stones, but I’d be willing to give that up for something cheaper and lower maintenance like sandpaper on glass. And you can find diamond on plastic film that’s very fine indeed, finer than any waterstone I believe. I likely wouldn’t bother, but it’s nice to have the option.
Serendipity
For my chisels I use a cheap diamond hone and it will do clean shaves. I know I can get better edges by using a strop and finer stones but I don’t need to. I don’t think most people need to. I’ve watched a pile of YouTube videos learning how to sharpen chisels and everyone has their own view.
Marvin
Mucho dinero, but the answer is a Tormek. Mine’s the older “original” with 10″ diameter (the newer ones use an 8″ stone) 100 RPM wet stone (it runs in a water bath), base grit back then was is 600 but now it’s 1,000, and 2,000, 4,000 and extra fine diamond stones are available (none are cheap, though, figure about $250 each). And on the other end of the 100 RPM shaft is a leather strop wheel, so with polishing compound you can buff the edge to scalpel sharpness, and with the 4,000 grit Japanese water stone you can get a knife so sharp it will cut by looks alone, and chisels so sharp you’ll be surprised how much you can do by hand, no hammer needed.
The comes-with 600 (or 1,000 grit, now) grit wheel will put a razor-sharp edge on anything, especially chisels. Tormek sells different tool holding jigs that are adjustable for grind angle so whatever you’ve got to sharpen there’s a jig for it.
Lotsa money, though,
Adam
If they had the spade bit capability on this, then maybe it would be more worthwhile. Love the drill doctor, but don’t see value in the knife sharpener.
I won’t sharpen one bit at a time, but rather wait for a decent # to build up, unless it’s a rarer size bit. The machine has definitely paid for itself.
Peter Fox
Spade bits are really easy to sharpen on normal bench grinders. Probably the easiest type of bit to sharpen.
Personally I find it is not worth the time to sharpen small twist drill bits. and larger ones can be sharpened free hand on a grinder with some practice.
We have an older model drill doctor where I work and it hasn’t been used in at least 10 years. It worked but was quite finicky and definitely not cost effective (we mostly used bits under 1/4″).
Wayne R.
For all the old-school forged steel scissors available (made well before plastic was even a thing), I’d like to know more about the scissor sharpening. Doing that manually with a stone is a real PITA, though getting it done at Farmer’s Markets around here is fine.
There’s something really satisfying about a super-sharp, 100-year-old pair – with a lot of life left in it.
Jared
Using the belt-style sharpeners is all but guaranteed to give you better results.
fred
Wolf probably makes the largest line of sharpeners devoted to scissors and cutter sharpeners for the garment trade:
https://wolffindustries.com/collections/sharpeners
MM
I can’t speak to how well these sharpen blades but my gut feeling is to keep my good kitchen knives far, far, away from this thing. But for shop knives and yard tools it might be useful.
All that said if it’s anything like previous drill doctor models it’s actually quite good at sharpening drill bits. I first learned to sharpen drills on a very expensive specialized grinder that had several sets of collets (fractional, metric, wire gauge, letter gauge) for use in holding the bits. The whole assembly was the size of a large roll cart. The drill doctor is faster and does 95% as good a job. The only real advantage that the proper drill grinder had was that you could make specialized tips like brad points, flat points, or split points that cannot be done with a drill doctor.
Koko The Talking Ape
I don’t know why people are so worried about letting their nice kitchen knives away from this thing.
I can think of only a few ways a sharpener could do a bad job. First, it could fail to make a new, uniform edge (because the angle is not uniform, etc.) I’m sure this and similar devices can do that. Second, it could leave too coarse an edge. But that’s easily remedied with a strop or hone.
I suppose it could remove too much metal at a time. Is that the worry? If so, how often would you use it? I need to use a waterstone on my daily-use laminated Japanese chef’s knife only about once a year or so, though steel it (actually hone it with a ceramic rod) maybe twice a week. The knife is about 12 years old, and isn’t shrinking that I can see.
Jared
They can also overheat the blade, leave uneven marks, create an uneven bevel, etc.
I’m sure you can sharpen a dull knife with a tool like this – I just share the prejudice that it isn’t going to give you razor’s edge results like you can achieve with stones, sandpaper or a belt sharpener.
Stone based sharpeners also create a concave bevel, whereas you get a more durable edge from the convex shape from a belt.
JoeM
I’m with you on that, Jared. But, I would put one caveat on there. If you have a fresh knife… something they used to do ages ago, where they’d ship kitchen knives or other products, with a nearly rounded off blade, for safety, then I would see giving this type of machine a good first pass at those knives to actually start the edge. Then honing by hand to the right amount of sharpness.
I have a Dremel 6500 sharpening station. Yeah, one of those “Only made for a year” types of things they did. And to be honest, I do prefer sharpening with either the sharpening stones on my Dremel Rotary tools, or with a honing stone of some sort. But when a knife either just needs a quick brush up, or is so bad it is a lost cause… I pull out the sharpening station to try and recover as much as possible.
The sharpening station has a drill bit guide as well, but thus far I have yet to find it useful. The Drill bits I’ve dulled most are too small for any of these systems, and I don’t trust any other method to work as small as the bits I’ve dulled.
MM
There’s other concerns as well. This tool appears to have a fixed 20 degree bevel. That’s generally correct for German or French style chef’s knives but the idea that every knife should be sharpened with that same bevel is absurd. It’s not correct for cleavers, butcher’s knives, filet knives, or any Japanese style knife and that includes the ever popular Japanese-made western style knives (Gyuto). It also cannot handle asymmetrical bevels, that makes it right out for me, most of my knives are either Glestains with asymmetrical bevels or they are traditional single-bevel types.
Koko The Talking Ape
@MM:
The old wisdom was that western or German-style chef’s knives should be sharpened at a 25 degree angle, because they used softer steel than Japanese knives. But nowadays German-style knives can be just as hard as Japanese. Anyway, (hold onto your hats) the precise angle doesn’t make much difference in actual use (shocking!)
That’s probably not true for axe-like knives like cleavers, but I don’t use those, and I imagine they might not fit into these sharpeners.
But yes, this style of sharpener isn’t good for asymmetrical or single-sided bevels. People who have those knives shouldn’t use this sharpener. Otherwise, I don’t see much problem with it.
MM
I wasn’t commenting on the hardness of the metal, as you said that’s “conventional wisdom” with little basis in fact, but rather with the overall geometry of the blade. German and French styles tend to be quite thick at the spine and–in my opinion anyway–perform better with a wider angle on the high side of 20 degrees, while thinner style knives like most Gyutos benefit from a steeper angle on the low side of 20. Admittedly I’m nitpicking there though, I doubt the average user is familiar enough with a truly sharp knife to notice simply because the average person doesn’t seem to bother to sharpen their kitchen knives period. They seem to start with the biggest knife in their set, when that gets dull they start using the next-biggest one. Repeat until all are dull.
And in some extreme cases the hardness can matter. I have a very very thin Sugimoto Chinese knife with traditional multi-layer construction and the edge is crazy hard, way into the high 60’s HRC. If I try and sharpen that steeper than about 15 degrees it’s so incredibly fragile that even an onion root can chip it, but at 18ish it’s very durable and it still cuts like a lightsabre. On the other hand I’ve tried a variety of bevels on my old Victorinox chef’s knife I relegated to backyard grill duty and it doesn’t seem to care what angle I put on it.
Koko The Talking Ape
Yep, not razor sharp, but again, a few passes with a strop or a fine stone should fix that.
Not all stone-based sharpeners create a concave bevel. Some essentially use the side of the stone to grind the knife, leaving a flat bevel, though an odd scratch pattern.
Koko The Talking Ape
@Jared
And I would bet overheating the blade is impossible with these sharpeners with tiny stones and tinier motors. If you put any load on them they’d just stall out.
Serendipity
Well, when I use my shun knives I want to make sure that when I slice my hand open the edge wasn’t put on by a machine. I want that edge hand lapped by a artisanal Brit who only uses the finest whetstones.
Koko The Talking Ape
Aha. Are artisanal Brits expensive? Where do you buy them? 😀
Serendipity
You have to be sneaky, they startle easy. The best time is to wait for the kettles to start up.
X Lu
How much skill does it take to sharpen a bit or blade with this? How about with a stone? I just see myself destroying the metal.
Joe H
Axes really benefit from a convex edge and I don’t think this could do that. You want your axe edge to contour with the convex shape of the bit as well. Axes split as they cut to break off the chips to clear the cow’s mouth. Too thin and your axe wont split out the chips properly, too thick and you don’t cut as deep. It takes a lot of skill and practice to get the balance right for the wood you are cutting in your area. Most cheap axes need to have their bits completely rebeveled and properly profiled and just addressing the very edge won’t make it a good cutter.
TJ Cornish
It looks to me that unless your knife blade extends significantly below the handle, you’re not going to be able to sharpen the bottom 1/2″ of knife blade due to the plastic guard. That would leave out 70% of the knives I use regularly.
Marcelo
I had a 750x. Flimsy, never really got drill bits sharpened, except the largest sizes.
Sold it and bought one of those Vertex Chinese industrial-grade for less than twice the price of the DrillDoctor. Now I can repeatedly sharpen drill bits as small as 3mm (1/8”) with great easy and consistency.
I think that a workshop has got to have a good sharpener, it repays quickly