Unless you're very confident with sharpening I suggest you either become profilent with other, more conventional methods or invest in a number of cheap blades to try it out...

I'm not good at sharpening, but I see some immediate pitfalls:

1) Getting the optimum sharpening angle with a freehand is going to be challenging.

2) The dremel is unforgiving. Do it wrong, and the edge is practically ruined because you have removed so much metal that you'd practically have to remove about half of the remaining knife to get it right again.

3) You have to be careful or the heat will ruin the temper of the steel.

4) It is going to change your edge profile unless you REALLY know what you are doing. If you sharpen so that the edge bites into such a small diameter wheel, two tings could happen. Hold it too high, and you create a very obtuse edge profile. Rock solid, but not very sharp. Hold it too low, and your knife will turn into a "hollow ground" edge profile. This is the oposite of a convex edge. I.e. an edge that is very thin, potentially very sharp, but also quite easy to break.

A skilled sharpener will probably pull it off easily, but he'd probably be able to make it sharp with basically anything. Me? I am not convinced I could pull it off at all...


That being said, I enjoy a dremel for most other small McGyver cutting, filing or polishing tasks.