Nicked up blade

[Neil m]

I have an old knife I found and the blade is nicked up. Should I flatten down the edge to level it out and then create a new edge.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I have an old knife I found and the blade is nicked up. Should I flatten down the edge to level it out and then create a new edge.

That's a common technique among some of the sharpening gurus here. Lightly scrub the damaged/weakened steel from the edge with the blade perpendicular to the surface of the stone (as if cutting through the stone). If your coarse stone is fairly soft and prone to gouging or nicks, it may be better to do this on concrete or a more durable stone first. Then begin grinding the new bevels in the usual manner.


David

 

[Neil m]

That's what I was thinking but I thought I would get the opinion of the more experienced. Thanks

 

[Noctis3880]

You're referring to running the edge perpendicular to the abrasive? I did that with a Chinese cleaver that was sharpened solely in the middle so much that there was a dip in the blade and so it couldn't cut anything in the middle. Turned out great:thumbup:.

 

[Magnaminous_G]

Can you post some pics of the edge? First the entire blade and then the specific portions with nicks? That would help a lot. I don't recommend perpendicular "scraping" grinding unless you have an appropriately coarse (and durable) stone and only if the bevel really needs to be changed radically as a result of the nicks. So it kind of depends what the nicks look like.

If the nicks are small enough, increasing your angle a lot (maybe at 50 degrees or more inclusive) and grinding normally on your coarsest stone would be more appropriate and would give you better results without the risk of substantially altering the shape of your blade--which you might not want to do.