Sorry I'm not sure if this is an okay forum category. I am wondering how to sharpen a knife I have. It's a custom balisong that I just had resharpened by Larry Chew. A few months after, I dropped it and made a tiny chip in the tip of the blade. I would like to fix this myself, but the little sharpening stone that my friend gave me does absolutely nothing to the blade. How can I fix this little imperfection in the blade? Can you recommend a sharpening stone that will definitely work? Thanks
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How To Sharpen
- Thread starter ljfe
- Start date
A course stone is what you want to restore the tip. A good diamond stone will work on any type of steel, and is a good purchase. I'm not familiar with the Lansky diamond stones, but I suspect they will get the job done and it sounds like a very good price. I have a couple of large DMT bench stones myself, but they are considerably more expensive than that Lansky set.
If the knife is not made of a really high wear resistance steel, then silicon carbide (wet-dry, black in color) sandpaper will work well and is available in a wide range of grits. That is the cheapest way to get started- you just lay down a sheet on a hard flat surface that you've wetted and the paper will stick to it, then you can use the sandpaper like a stone. 220 grit is probably what I would start with. You can get up to 2500 grit.
Do you have any experience sharpening? Also, is your balisong double-edged? Normally I would restore minor tip damage by working down the spine, but if it's double edged then there is no spine. You'll have to work on the bevel from both sides of the tip. The tricky part is to keep the belly curves the same shape as before (or as close as you can). The smaller the chip the easier this will be.
If the knife is not made of a really high wear resistance steel, then silicon carbide (wet-dry, black in color) sandpaper will work well and is available in a wide range of grits. That is the cheapest way to get started- you just lay down a sheet on a hard flat surface that you've wetted and the paper will stick to it, then you can use the sandpaper like a stone. 220 grit is probably what I would start with. You can get up to 2500 grit.
Do you have any experience sharpening? Also, is your balisong double-edged? Normally I would restore minor tip damage by working down the spine, but if it's double edged then there is no spine. You'll have to work on the bevel from both sides of the tip. The tricky part is to keep the belly curves the same shape as before (or as close as you can). The smaller the chip the easier this will be.
Your topic says "sharpen", but what you're describing is blade repair or reshaping.
If you've never sharpened a knife before I would NOT advise you to try to repair your blunted or chipped tip. It's not rocket science, but it is a skill. Not a skill I'd want to practice on a custom knife. If you are an experienced knife sharpener, it's a different story, but I suspect that you aren't.
I'd advise you to find someone who's experienced with blade repair and let them tackle this particular job.
Brian.
If you've never sharpened a knife before I would NOT advise you to try to repair your blunted or chipped tip. It's not rocket science, but it is a skill. Not a skill I'd want to practice on a custom knife. If you are an experienced knife sharpener, it's a different story, but I suspect that you aren't.
I'd advise you to find someone who's experienced with blade repair and let them tackle this particular job.
Brian.
I have to agree with bgentry, if you're worried about messing it up and you have limited experience.
If you do decide to try it, what I was saying about the spine is to remove metal on the spine so that the spine is brought down to meet the undamaged portion of the tip. The other approach is to remove metal along the edge so that the edge line moves back (shortening the knife slightly at the tip). Then you have to blend that into the belly curve, and it would destroy the sharpening that you had done. If you work down the spine, the existing edge will still be intact, and you won't have to worry about changing the shape of the belly curve.
If you try it, the main thing to avoid is working the spine at too steep of an angle. You would get faster results that way but the tip would have an abrubt drop that it didn't have before. You need to remove metal evenly along the spine so that it retains the same shape.
Go slowly and I recommend taping up all parts of the blade except where you're working, and taping up the handle.
All of this is assuming you don't have filework or something like that on the spine, obviously.
If you do decide to try it, what I was saying about the spine is to remove metal on the spine so that the spine is brought down to meet the undamaged portion of the tip. The other approach is to remove metal along the edge so that the edge line moves back (shortening the knife slightly at the tip). Then you have to blend that into the belly curve, and it would destroy the sharpening that you had done. If you work down the spine, the existing edge will still be intact, and you won't have to worry about changing the shape of the belly curve.
If you try it, the main thing to avoid is working the spine at too steep of an angle. You would get faster results that way but the tip would have an abrubt drop that it didn't have before. You need to remove metal evenly along the spine so that it retains the same shape.
Go slowly and I recommend taping up all parts of the blade except where you're working, and taping up the handle.
All of this is assuming you don't have filework or something like that on the spine, obviously.
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2009
- Messages
- 1,134
given that the knife is a clip point with a swedge be very carefull with the spine method, it can be tricky to get the clip nice with an even curve etc. it will obviously thicken the false edge and shorten the swedge's bevel but it's possible.
anyway if i were you, i'd send it back to the maker so you are sure the work will be nice, he can at least advise you the best approach for him, he'll give you some advises etc. send him a good pic of the tip.
you can post one here too so we can have a more precise idea of the damages. we are all making theories but the situation is perhaps way less problematic than what we think.
anyway if i were you, i'd send it back to the maker so you are sure the work will be nice, he can at least advise you the best approach for him, he'll give you some advises etc. send him a good pic of the tip.
you can post one here too so we can have a more precise idea of the damages. we are all making theories but the situation is perhaps way less problematic than what we think.