How to fix a blunt tip?

M

M4J0R T0M

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Jun 6, 2012
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141
Hey guys, I just finished stonewashing a couple of my Spyderco's which turned out great except for the fact that it blunted both of the tips ever so slightly. I did some searching on this site and found a thread that had some great info and a pic of what my knives look like pretty much.

Here is the link: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Endura-best-way-to-fix?highlight=rounded+tip

I want to fix my blades but I didn't really understand what they are talking about. I'm not sure what they mean by starting at the spine and removing metal. I know what the spine is, just can't visualize it. Can any of you guys explain it in noob terms please.

The only sharpening device I have right now is a Sharpmaker, and I know I have to be careful about tip wear with that thing. I was planning on getting some sandpaper to wrap the stones with for heavy reprofiling jobs. Should I just use the sandpaper method on the tips?
 
I wont comment on reprofiling the tip because Ive never done it, but I can tell you the spine is the back end of the blade opposite the edge. Say you were holding your edge down against a cutting board, the spine is the portion your looking down on, or better yet the spine is the flat portion you hit with a baton when splitting a log.
 
The spine is the back of the blade. You can also put a slight swedge going from abouth the middle of the spine to the tip on both sides if it wasn't stone washed already that also takes care of a blunt tip. With cutting edge pointed down to the floor the spine will be what your looking at.
 
Are you thinking about grinding significant metal off? Almost making it a drop point or something like that? If you're doing that, I'd use sandpaper to remove the metal, then polish it off with higher grits.

As for the spine, it's essentially the opposite of the cutting edge.
 
M4J0R T0M said:
I want to fix my blades but I didn't really understand what they are talking about. I'm not sure what they mean by starting at the spine and removing metal.
Click to expand...

A picture is worth 1000 words here, but I couldn't find one quickly. Essentially the advice from the thread you linked is to *grind* the spine down, in the area near the tip, until the spine meets the edge in a point again. Depending upon how bad the damage is, you might be able to very easily fix this problem with your sharpmaker.

On one of my knives I had blunted the tip a big through use and incorrect sharpening. I ground the spine down, in an area perhaps 1/8 to 1/4" long until it met the edge again. Voila', nice and pointy again.

If my verbal explanation doesn't work try this video. I find this guy mildly annoying and he talks a LOT in his videos, but he illustrates the point, starting around the 2 minute mark:

Reparing a tip by CutleryLover

Good luck.

Brian.
 
Here's a pic of some Leek repairs I did. The top is a standard leek, the middle one was fixed by removing metal from the edge, the bottom one by removing metal from the spine...

LkTpFx01.jpg


(Both of these had tips that were actually broken off.)

If you want a more gradual approach, you can start farther back on the spine (or edge for that matter). If though, it's as minor as you say, you should just be able to sharpen in a new tip, without removing metal from the spine. Sandpaper will help, if the Sharpmaker is all you have.

cbw

p.s. Probably won't matter in your case, but when making a major tip repair, make sure that when the knife is closed, the new tip doesn't stick out above the handle (for this reason, removing metal from the spine becomes necessary).
 
Last edited:
bgentry said:
A picture is worth 1000 words here, but I couldn't find one quickly. Essentially the advice from the thread you linked is to *grind* the spine down, in the area near the tip, until the spine meets the edge in a point again. Depending upon how bad the damage is, you might be able to very easily fix this problem with your sharpmaker.

On one of my knives I had blunted the tip a big through use and incorrect sharpening. I ground the spine down, in an area perhaps 1/8 to 1/4" long until it met the edge again. Voila', nice and pointy again.

If my verbal explanation doesn't work try this video. I find this guy mildly annoying and he talks a LOT in his videos, but he illustrates the point, starting around the 2 minute mark:

Reparing a tip by CutleryLover

Good luck.

Brian.
Click to expand...

cbwx34 said:
Here's a pic of some Leek repairs I did. The top is a standard leek, the middle one was fixed by removing metal from the edge, the bottom one by removing metal from the spine...

LkTpFx01.jpg


(Both of these had tips that were actually broken off.)

If you want a more gradual approach, you can start farther back on the spine (or edge for that matter). If though, it's as minor as you say, you should just be able to sharpen in a new tip, without removing metal from the spine. Sandpaper will help, if the Sharpmaker is all you have.

cbw

p.s. Probably won't matter in your case, but when making a major tip repair, make sure that when the knife is closed, the new tip doesn't stick out above the handle (for this reason, removing metal from the spine becomes necessary).
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the great info guys, that's really a big help. I'm honna check out that video now.
 
I watched the video that was linked and also liked through that thread. I've decided I don't really want to grind the spine. I think it will look awkward on my Tenacious and PM2. Can you guys point me in the direction of any methods of grinding from the edge?
 
I'm not sure if its the best way to do it but, I've taken a blunt tip and sandpaper and done cutting motions with the tip until it ground into a point, this will really dull the edge but then all you have to do it regrind the edge and sharpen it and you are good to go.
 
I've had a few blades with a "slightly" blunted tip.... I didn't grind the spine down, what i wound up doing was grinding away just a tiny bit of the belly very close to the tip. Then a quick sharpening and Done! Do a little at a time and use a 10x loupe to see how much you need to take off. It may be less than you think.

photo-12.jpg
 
Here is a video showing how to fix a tip blunted with a Sharpmaker with a Sharpmaker it does work, probably the easiest way to do it without buying more sharpening gear.

[youtube]kSG_W5BSwcw[/youtube]
 
hunter s thompson said:
Here is a video showing how to fix a tip blunted with a Sharpmaker with a Sharpmaker it does work, probably the easiest way to do it without buying more sharpening gear.

[youtube]kSG_W5BSwcw[/youtube]
Click to expand...

He was taking metal off the spine in that vid, do you think that method would still work for taking metal off the edge? I'm trying to avoid grinding the spine.
 
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