Flat blade on paring knife question.

S

schnellschnell

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Sep 28, 2011
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8
I have an old Henckels paring knife that has sentimental value. Problem is that the edge is almost perfectly flat, as in the cutting surface has no curve.

http://flic.kr/p/arcBTS - darn flicker won't let me link directly to pic. Sorry.

For sharpening I have an EP Apex and a lansky but I think it needs more than sharpening.

Without spending too much money what can I do to bring back a useful edge. Or am I best to put it in my toolbox?

Jason
 
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Not sure what you're talking about. Are you saying the knife is so dull that the edge is flat? I would think that a kitchen paring knife would be thin enough that sharpening shouldn't be too much of a problem. Have you tried sharpening it?
 
To clarify, if you don't follow the link - if you were to put the cutting edge down on a flat surface, no light would pass under the blade at any spot from point to handle. The edge is sharp enough, but it has no curve.

Jason
 
Looks to me like you sat the knife on the heel and never once pulled the knife back to rest the edge on the tip of the table while sharpening, which is basically why there's no curve to it.

Sorry to say, but there isn't enough metal to remove in order to put a curve back on the blade again. Not without taking off about half an inch from the blade length anyway. Given the original shape it must have had, I'd say you sharpened it too much as well.
 
i can fix it up for you or help you fix it. i would not send a knife to anyone who is not a member on the forum. you could end up with a screwed up knife or worse.
 
When you write "curve", do you mean that the blade edge bevel has worn away from use? Sounds like something you can easily bring back with a Lansky.
 
I have never sharpened it, it was one of my father's knives. I think he would use the guy in the truck that drives around and sharpens lawn mowers. :(

It would be nice to keep using it. But perhaps I retire it to hard work in my work shop. Not something I want to put much money in to at the end of the day, but thanks very much for the offers.

So, the take away is that bad sharpening not only ruins the edge but can shorten the life span of the knife. To re-new it would mean to shorten it and add a new curve.


Thanks all for going easy on my first post.

Jason
 
after looking at the picture, it might not take that much off in length to make it a useful knife again.
 
Even without a curve that knife if sharpened would still be usable as a paring knife. Since it's already so worn down just draw a small curve with a magic marker the way you want it to look and using an angle grinder just make quick passes and grind it back to the magic marker line until you get it to look like what you want. Dip the blade in water after every few passes to keep the blade cool. As long as you can touch the blade with your fingers and not be too hot you will be fine and won't ruin the temper of the blade. Stainless takes quite a bit higher temperature than carbon steel to ruin the tempering. I have done this to many knives with broken tips and not managed to ruin one yet. After you shape it just sharpen it up on your Lansky or whatever you use to sharpen and it will be fine. You will still have plenty of blade left to cut with for many years.
 
That kind of straight, flat edge that it has, as long as it is sharp, should still work fine for most tasks. I'm just thinking it wouldn't work very well for boning or skinning. Should work fine for vegetables.
 
alex said:
Even without a curve that knife if sharpened would still be usable as a paring knife. Since it's already so worn down just draw a small curve with a magic marker the way you want it to look and using an angle grinder just make quick passes and grind it back to the magic marker line until you get it to look like what you want. Dip the blade in water after every few passes to keep the blade cool. As long as you can touch the blade with your fingers and not be too hot you will be fine and won't ruin the temper of the blade. Stainless takes quite a bit higher temperature than carbon steel to ruin the tempering. I have done this to many knives with broken tips and not managed to ruin one yet. After you shape it just sharpen it up on your Lansky or whatever you use to sharpen and it will be fine. You will still have plenty of blade left to cut with for many years.
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Uhh, maybe we're thinking about two different things when you said "angle grinder", but I would expect it to be difficult to use in that manner, especially without a lot of experience. For one, I would find it difficult to even turn on with one hand, much less with the wheel facing up. Plus I prefer both hands on my knife when sharpening.

Might be easier to use a coarse stone and just sharpen the half of the knife towards the tip with an exaggerated curving motion. At least, that's how I usually regrind my tips, and that's essentially what would need to happen to that knife.
 
toss on your 120 stone and get to work, if you really want a belly on the knife and you don't have a grinder, grab a couple vice grips and snap the tip off, it'll save your stone a lot of needless grinding.

Sander would work too.
 
Noctis3880 said:
Uhh, maybe we're thinking about two different things when you said "angle grinder", but I would expect it to be difficult to use in that manner, especially without a lot of experience. For one, I would find it difficult to even turn on with one hand, much less with the wheel facing up. Plus I prefer both hands on my knife when sharpening.
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I have done it two ways, one of them just laying the angle grinder down on the floor and keep it running locked on and moving the knife across the grinding stone in quick light passes. this would allow you to quickly dip the blade in a water can close by. Can be done safely if you don't use a lot of pressure which you shouldn't do anyway. The second and probably safer way is to clamp the knife blade in a vise and use the angle grinder using both hands like you would if grinding a weld. the key is to make the passes quick and not overheat the blade. A belt sander works even better but most folks would more likely have an angle grinder than a belt sander. I have both and for quick removal the angle grinder is faster for me. I use the belt sander for convex sharpening mostly.
My old Milwaukee 4 1/2" angle grinder also can be locked to run continously without having to hold the trigger down.

Bottom line, that knife can definitely be salvaged, regardless what method you use.
 
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i myself would not want to use an angle grinder to work on an edge. that would eat the blade up real quick and make more work than its worth. a belt sander would be the easiest but it can be done just as easily by hand.
 
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