The new Dremel 6700-01 sharpening station is a near all-in-one sharpening solution for DIYers and hobbyists. It comes with several attachments and guides that allow its internal grinding wheel to be used on knives, scissors, drill bits, chisels, and even plane blades.
Dremel built the 6700 sharpener with a diamond-coated steel sharpening wheel that should provide great results and long life. Each of the 3 attachments can be stored on the sharpener housing for convenience and easy access.
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The knife attachment can handle sharpening of pocket, outdoors, and kitchen knives alike.
There is also a slot for sharpening scissor blades. This is probably meant for use on scissors whose blades can be disassembled, as shown.
It can also be used for sharpening drill bits, thanks to the drill bit holder and alignment guide. You can use the Dremel sharpening station on drill bits as small as 7/64″ and as big as 3/8″.
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Wood-cutting chisels and [smaller] plane blades can be sharpened using the Dremel sharpening station’s magnetic blade holder and guide.
Street Price: $66 at the time of this posting.
ETA: Possibly the Fall of 2014
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First Thoughts
I find myself with mixed feelings over the new Dremel sharpening station. It does look to be a highly versatile all-around sharpening solution, but the fact that it is targeted at DIYers and homeowners might make it a little light duty or less featured for enthusiasts.
Even if the Dremel 6700 sharpening station is more of a light duty homeowner or DIYer accessory, its seemingly simple construction is nonetheless quite brilliant. The entire product consists of a black box, a power switch, motor, diamond-coated grinding wheel, and different plastic attachments that expose different parts of the grinding wheel depending on what you want to sharpen.
This simplicity is probably why the Dremel 6700 is priced less than any powered knife sharpeners, all but the cheapest drill bit sharpeners, and any chisel and plane blade woodworking tool sharpeners.
The Dremel 6700 sharpener looks to be an appealing product for those that don’t want to spend a lot of time of effort on individual sharpeners.
Dremel has long been associated with rotary tools, but they have really been breaking out of their comfort zone in recent years. We can’t wait to see what they come out with next!
Update1: There are strong similarities between this and a Harbor Freight multi-purpose sharpener. There are minor differences, but it seems that the two products are nearly identical in design and presumably performance. Thank you to Pete and Todd for pointing this out in comments!
Update2: Dremel eased our concerns about the two products’ similarities:
The Dremel brand stands by its reputation for providing innovative, quality tools, and the Sharpening Station is no different. The guides on the Sharpening Station are unique to Dremel even if they look similar, including better access and support on the knife/scissor guide. Dremel is also offering a 2-year warrantee with the Sharpening Station.
mike
Looks like it has a really small footprint which is really nice,compared to a Darex or something of the sort which are generally pretty large in footprint.
Stuart
Agreed. I also like that there’s the option of clamping or screwing it down to a workbench.
Pete
We had something exactly like this that we had years ago. it was a piece of junk. Maybe if it used a more rigid plastic it could work but bleh, it was terrible so much so I threw it away.
Harbor Freight tool has something similar to this design.
Todd Fuller
You weren’t kidding about HF having something similar. More than similar, I would say.
http://www.harborfreight.com/multipurpose-sharpener-99823.html
Stuart
Wow, you’re right! There are a few distinctions, but for the most part the Dremel and HF sharpeners appear to be identical.
fred
HF and Dremel – similar – with the exception of price – as the HF comes out at $30 if you use one of those ubiquitous 20% off coupons.
Seriously – I would not buy either. Years ago I invested in a Darex drill sharpener for our commercial shop – and bought one of their Drill Doctor (750pk) for my home shop – both are decent enough – but I’m not sure that they really paid back – especially the Darex machine which I think cost in excess of $2000 about 10 years ago.
I also bought a Makita (98202) horizontal blade sharpener for my home shop in the 1990’s thinking that I would use it for jointer knives, plane blades, chisels and the like. While I’ve occasionally used it for my jointer knives (it comes with a fixture that holds them in place) – Its so messy (spins water around) that I seldom take it out for anything else – rather using a combination of diamond “stones, Japanese waterstones, hones, lapping plates and a strop to hand sharpen everything else. I had been tempted to buy a Tormek – but then I’m reminded that I’m retired so its being speedy is not as big a deal.
GaryT
Nothing beats the Ken Onion Pro sharpener for knives.
http://www.amazon.com/Work-Sharp-WSKTS-KO-Sharpener-Edition/dp/B00EJ9CQKA
Had it for about 6 months now with the tool attachment and it is amazing.
This looks like it is just going to grind down your knives into useless metal after a while. Looks like it may be useful for drills, though (albeit the Drill Doctor is out there). Chisels I would get a dedicated chisel sharpener if I were big into wood work.
Thanks for the review.
Stuart
I’ve had that Work Sharp in my wishlist for a while now, but cannot quite pull the trigger. For the time being, I use my water stones with great results.
GaryT
It is ridiculous… I got the whole kit including all the attachments. The belts go from 60 to 12,000 grit. My wife almost divorced me after I sharpened the kitchen knives. The nice thing is the “quick reference” card that runs you through the right grits and angles for different tools/knives. In about a couple hours, I had my whole house all up to spec.
I beyond recommend it. I don’t know what I did without it.
Dave L.
Looks pretty clever. I’ve been using a HF belt grinder for sharpening and it works well for the price.
Deano
Can’t wait to see a good hands on review of this sharpener. I need something small that can do the job, but as other’s have said they usually don’t stack up. It would be nice to see this one live up to it’s description.
Glenn
Yes it appears to be a re-branded generic item. Same as the one branded Ozito here in Aus.
http://www.bunnings.com.au/ozito-65w-multi-function-sharpener_p6290088
joe
I’ve been using this computer hard drive made in to a mini disc grinder for years. Have discs from coarse to fine grit. Perks of being a DIYer I guess.
http://i.imgur.com/YexB5vU.jpg
Stuart
Nice looking setup you’ve got there!
Allen
Wow, good job there. How did you ever think of doing that ?
joe
“How did you ever think of doing that ?”
Well I have a bunch of computer hard drives that I don’t have a need for…the hard drive magnets can also be used to locate studs in the walls as this tool does….
http://www.amazon.com/Biary-Innovations-MSFL-T1003-Targets-included/dp/B001IIJY8C/
…since it is basically magnets that stick to the drywall nails/screws.
Magnet straight from the PC hard drive sticking to a drywall nail, hence locating the stud….
http://i.imgur.com/W7BN30z.jpg
…PC hard drives shrink wrapped (removed from their metal base) used to find stud nails/screws…
http://i.imgur.com/r7dUe4R.jpg
The magnets can also be used to magnetized non-magnetic screw driver tips….they can also be use to hold drill bits as well.
Is not like I’m inventing anything, it is just I’m using the things that are “disposable” to use them what other dedicated tools are meant to do.
The hard drive motor is spinning at 7,000 RPM but has little torque by itself since it’s job is only to spin up the platter. By me adding 4 more disc plates (as shown in pic), it gives it more torque. Enough torque to sharpen chisels and grind metal.
You can re-purpose a lot of things if you know how they work :)….If a hard drive fails in the circuit board, the magnets and brushless motor stills works and will go to the trash….which I find it wasting materials. IMO.
Sergiux
I don’t see the grinding stone replacement for this tool.
I would like to have an answer…
Carlos
Don’t need one. They stone will long Outlast that piece of shit.