Fix tip poking out of closed handle

nphelps4130 · Jul 7, 2008

I'm mostly a Spyderco user, and I am surprised by how little the tip is covered by the handle in the closed position on many knives. For example, on my Caly 3, Kopa (brand-new), Salt, and Kiwi, the tip/edge is just barely covered by the handle when closed. It seems to me that it would be wiser to cover the edge a little better for safety and to allow room for future sharpenings.

Anyway, my Salt and Caly 3 are beginning to show some bevel above the handle in the closed position. With the edge barely covered when the knives were new, a little bit of tip damage on the Salt and many sharpenings over time (using DMT diamond stones and maintenance with Sharpmaker) are shrinking the blades by reducing width a little and I am afraid the tip will be poking out someday. I would hate to think that I will 'run out' of blade someday and these knives will have to die a premature death because of it.

Does anyone else have this problem, or am I just being overly picky?

In the future, I am thinking I will grind down the kicker a little with DMT XX-coarse to sink the blade a little farther into the handle. Unfortunately, this also has the undesirable effect of moving the opening hole closer to the handle.

If that doesn't do it I will probably take the DMT XX-coarse to the blade spine and shorten the blade by a few mm so that it will be better covered by the handle when closed.

What is the best tool to reshape a blade in this fashion? Is a DMT XX-coarse appropriate? Any tips on how to proceed?

Thanks for the help.
-Nick

me2 · Jul 7, 2008

Filing or grinding down the kicker is the easiest way I've found. The knives you have may not have steels that can be filed, so the DMT or other abrasive may be the only way to go if you dont have a grinder or sander of some sort. The amount of material that needs to be removed is surprisingly small. Just a touch with a belt sander or grinder will do it.

Lucky Bob · Jul 7, 2008

I'd definitely go with modifying the tip instead of the kicker, but that's me. The tip is essentially aesthetic, whereas the kicker was designed to hold a certain function (like keeping the opening hole in the right place, as you alluded to.)

Broos · Jul 7, 2008

If there is a detent ball/hole (don't know if that is the correct terminology) you would have to consider that and couldn't adjust closed blade postion just by taking some material off the blade or the stop, could you?

I have thought about it because I have a knife that has a little wiggle room between the detent position and the stop position (you can push the blade in slightly when closed), and it irritates the crap out of me (someday I might send it back to get fixed).

nphelps4130 · Jul 15, 2008

Thanks for the info guys.

What is the best way to shorten a blade by a few mms? Is a DMT XX-coarse stone sufficient to modify a blade tip by removing a few mm of edge and grinding down the spine? I would prefer to do this without power tools. Files or sandpaper?

Bill DeShivs · Jul 15, 2008

Removing metal from the "kick" is the way to accomplish lowering the tip. That is one of the reasons that kicks are on properly designed folders.

Greg · Jul 19, 2008

If the knife closes on a kick then a touch of a stone on the kick is what you want to do.
If it closes with a stop pin then grinding a tad off the portion of the blade that touches the pin will work.
If it closes with a ball and detent then taking a bit off the back of the blade (assuming the blade edge is curved) will lower the point back into the handle. The usual sharpening stones, DMT or otherwise will be suitable for this--be careful, its a lot harder to add steel than it is to grind it off. I'd be using a medium or fine DMT and trying the results often.
Lastly, if the point isn't exposed yet, do nothing! (i.e. If it isn't broken--don't fix it!)
Greg

nphelps4130 · Jul 21, 2008

Thanks for the advice, Bill and Greg. Especially the last part - if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I suspect that it will take longer than I originally thought to expose the tip on a few of my knives. So it's not a problem YET, I guess.

On a related note - I bought a used Case slipjoint this weekend. It was dull and the blade tip was right at the top of the handle when closed. I used a XX-coarse DMT stone to reduce the kick a little and it worked great - it brought the tip safely within the handle. I did some significant re-beveling and then added a microbevel and didn't really lose any blade width at all.