Tip Repair Done Right! Er…Wrong! No…Right! Um?

Probably the best “tip” (pun intended) I ever learned was, never work the tip to repair the tip. Work behind the tip up to the tip. Doesn’t make sense in writing, but if you think about this while sharpening, it will begin to. You want to work enough behind the tip to maintain the profile and geometry of the blade.

So, for example, in Technique 1, by scrubbing right at the tip, with the stone overhanging, no matter how careful you are, you’re probably continually “eroding” the tip, which makes it harder to repair.

And in both techniques, especially Technique 2, by just trying to work the very tip, you’re essentially blunting the knife. You’ll eventually end up with such a steep angle leading to the tip, it will no longer be “pointy”, even though the edge and spine meets at a point. (Think of this, you won’t create a “tanto”, you’ll create closer to a 90 deg. square). You’ll also reach a point where the tip will be above the handle when you close the knife (how long this takes depends on the style), because you’re basically moving the tip up the spine.

In your case, it doesn’t sound like it’s a big repair. I would just give the knife a good sharpening, paying a litle more attention to the area near the tip (maybe 1/5 or 1/6 of the blade), to restore the tip. If it’s a larger repair, like the knife I did in this thread, and you want to do it on the Wicked Edge, try setting the angle as high as you can, (30 or 35 deg. depending on the model you have), and “sharpen” around 1/3 of the blade or so, to establish a new tip. Stop when you’re close, and return to your sharpening angle, when you’re done, the tip will be there.

You can also repair it from the spine side (some repairs can be made entirely from the spine), and again, at some point you’ll need to, or the tip will be above the handle when closed. In the case of this knife, laying the whole spine flat on a fine stone should do the trick, or you might work 1/3 or so into a curve toward the tip. But again, don’t just do it right at the tip, or you’ll blunt the knife. On the knife I referenced above, I dd some work on the spine side, if you look at this photo of it on top of another Blur, you can see it easier…

To learn this, get a cheap “junky” knife, and practice by grinding off the tip and fixing it. It also helps, if it’s a larger repair, to mark the blade with a Sharpie of how you want it to look when you’re done.

I used to buy Kershaw Leeks with broken tips off Ebay and fix them various ways, for example, in this photo I had two Leeks with broken tips (the top knife is undamaged). I fixed the middle one from the edge side, and the bottom one from the spine side, to show different examples..

Hope this helps!!! 🙂

Great post, Curtis! I had a small paring knife I sharpened for a friend of the family which had a broken tip. I handled it much the same as you describe, from the edge side in this case. I guess I sort of intuitively considered working from behind the tip as “blending” in a manner of speaking, and it worked out great.

I think re-pointing a broken tip can be a daunting task at first because it’s hard to visualize exactly how you want it to come out before you start working. Very cool photo, the different styles make a great comparison!