Getting back that needle point

R

reapinItUP

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So I have a paramilitary 1 that has been my trusty edc for the last year. It has seen a lot of use and has held up great.
But I've noticed the tip has gotten pretty dull. Not completely blunt but definitely doesn't have that needle tip that came from the factory.
I have an edge pro and can get a hair popping edge but just can't seem to get the point the way I want it. Is there some sort of technique that I can use to achieve my desired results. Any advice out there from the sharpening veterans? Would greatly appreciate it. Thanks! !!
 
Might post a pic of the tip of your blade, if you can.

Seems like most tips round over vertically, from the edge up to the spine. If so in your case, I straighten these by inverting the spine and dragging it, tip-trailing, down the length of a coarse/fine diamond hone, using very careful, light pressure. Take care not to raise the handle too high while doing this, to keep the spine's intersection with the tip as crisp as possible; raising the handle will round it off again. It helps greatly to use a good magnifier (10X or so) to check progress. Look at the tip from all sides (spine-on, edge-on, and from each side of the blade) to check for sharpness and symmetry. Observing the tip with a light background, behind the blade, helps to highlight the shape and symmetry of the tip.

If the cutting edge at/near the tip is in need of work, it's often best to crisply apex that edge before doing the above. In other words, bring the spine down to the crisply-apexed edge; the resulting intersection of the two should therefore be very sharp and pointy, when they meet.


David
 
David, I have found your method to be the best and easiest for me. I wish it were possible to also do it from the bottom up and so keep the point high, if that's your preference. But moving the point up and keeping the end of the edge sharp at the same time is way beyond my skill level.

Also, just curious as to why you use a diamond hone rather than a quick sandpaper progression---is it because it's faster?

Thanks,

Andrew
 
AFAustin said:
David, I have found your method to be the best and easiest for me. I wish it were possible to also do it from the bottom up and so keep the point high, if that's your preference. But moving the point up and keeping the end of the edge sharp at the same time is way beyond my skill level.

Also, just curious as to why you use a diamond hone rather than a quick sandpaper progression---is it because it's faster?

Thanks,

Andrew
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Yes, I've found the diamond hone to be very fast with this, and it cuts so very cleanly in each pass. I even prefer it for this on simple steels, like 1095. For the sake of very pointy & fragile tips, light pressure is premium, and the diamond is best-used exactly in that manner, because it cuts so cleanly with a minimum of pressure. Sandpaper affixed to a hard backing also works well; but I've found it's just too easy to quickly grab my DMT 'Fine' credit card hone, or my 6" Dia-Sharp (either Coarse or Fine) for the same job.

(Edit: BTW, I prefer to bring the spine down, as opposed to bringing the edge up, in order to save the thinner steel closer to the edge. Assuming a tapering grind from spine down to edge, trying to grind off the edge to meet the spine above it, will eventually put much thicker steel behind the cutting edge, which makes it much harder to keep keenly sharp in the longer run.)


David
 
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(Edit: BTW, I prefer to bring the spine down, as opposed to bringing the edge up, in order to save the thinner steel closer to the edge. Assuming a tapering grind from spine down to edge, trying to grind off the edge to meet the spine above it, will eventually put much thicker steel behind the cutting edge, which makes it much harder to keep keenly sharp in the longer run.)
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Yes, that makes sense. So, easier and more effective. Thanks.

Recently I was trying to get an Opinel tip a bit pointier. Because of the pronounced upsweep, a flat medium wouldn't do. I ended up wrapping a small piece of sandpaper around a chopstick and used that to pretty good effect!

Andrew
 
AFAustin said:
Yes, that makes sense. So, easier and more effective. Thanks.

Recently I was trying to get an Opinel tip a bit pointier. Because of the pronounced upsweep, a flat medium wouldn't do. I ended up wrapping a small piece of sandpaper around a chopstick and used that to pretty good effect!

Andrew
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
That's a good idea; used it like a needle file, more or less?


David
 
AFAustin said:
But moving the point up and keeping the end of the edge sharp at the same time is way beyond my skill level.
Click to expand...

You might be surprised at yourself. Simply working the area in front of the point (at the edge) will grind away enough material to make the point sharply apexed again. If you think of a blunt tip as having some roundness leading up to the point, then your job is to draw a line through the round part that shows where your new edge should be, to intersect the spine, thus making it sharply pointed again. Then remove everything outside of the line. This is hard to describe in words but really not nearly as hard as it might seem to actually do it!

After watching Murray Carter do it, I was inspired to try it myself and was very surprised at my good results. As usual using a loupe really helped me. It let me see exactly where the roundness was, and let me monitor my progress as I gradually removed the rounded area and eventually ended up with a very sharp point again. Honestly this was very satisfying to me and I now think I'm pretty good at restoring points.
[continued in next post...]
 
[continued from previous post...]

Some people will argue that doing it from the edge side will change the curvature of the blade in the belly area. I say you can blend it all together and retain a very similar shape through the belly and you can absolutely keep it looking very continuous and "correct" if you pay attention as you go.

I've tried the "from the spine side" technique and it certainly works, particularly for very minor blunting. But I don't like how it alters the shape of the spine and the position of the point; it brings the point forward, towards the cutting edge. This isn't so bad, but in some cases it really changes how the knife looks and behaves for cutting. I prefer to do it from the edge side. But I see both sides, so to speak. :)

Brian.
 
Well I took your guys advice and tried taking down the spine of the blade to meet the edge. I just used my coarse edge pro stone and rubbed back and forth along the spine
concentrating more at the tip and it worked wonderfully. I now have that tip that's been missing for so long. There was really nothing to it. Even taking away very little metal
on the spine made a world of difference. Ill try to get some pics of my para up in a little but just wanted to thank you guys for your tips.
 
^ Murray shows tip sharpening on his first DVD (Introduction To...) and then shows the restoration of a broken tip on the Advanced Techniques DVD. If you do a youtube search, he repairs some chips in a blade in a video there, but it's kind of hard to see the details. I'll look around some more and see if I can find a relevant video.

Brian.
 
bgentry said:
^ Murray shows tip sharpening on his first DVD (Introduction To...) and then shows the restoration of a broken tip on the Advanced Techniques DVD. If you do a youtube search, he repairs some chips in a blade in a video there, but it's kind of hard to see the details. I'll look around some more and see if I can find a relevant video.

Brian.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Andrew
 
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