Re-sharpening Tips of Knives?

C

Ctex412

Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Messages
8
After I use a knife for a while the tip wears out... This is expected but how can I get the tips sharp again?
 
If you are using flat stones for sharpening, then this is fairly easy to fix.

Just keep alternating sides until it feels and looks right.
 
Do you mean the tip is rounding out or just that the tip area becomes dull faster than the rest of the knife?
 
Ctex412 said:
It's rounding out
Click to expand...

A rounding out tip if it is not chipped out from "abuse" or accidents most likely results from sharpening. Do you sharpen your knives on a mousepad or belt or any other softer backing?

A picture also would help.
 
Sharpening tips is easier than you might think. The technique is essentially to sharpen right up to the tip, but to NOT GO PAST it. This means stopping your stroke when the tip of the tip touches the abrasive. Long sweeping motions that run the tip off of the stone can cause rounding as awestib noted above.

I find it helpful to color the edge bevel with a black marker and then do some strokes on the stone. Examine where the marker is being removed and see if you are getting all the way to the tip. A lot of people stop short of the tip. You might need to adjust your stroke length or the approach angle near the end to get all the way to the tip.

The more rounded the tip is, the more time you'll need to spend on that last 1/2" to 1/4" of the blade. It's not unusual to have to spend 3, 4, 5x the time at the tip as the rest of the blade. Again this depends on condition. A broken tip can be approached the same way, it just requires more grinding at the tip *and* blending of the blade shape through the curve that leads to the tip.

A "trick" you can use to restore dull points is to grind from the back side of the blade. Grind the spine on the stone with it elevated just a bit and that can restore some dull tips. Keep in mind that this steers the tip more towards the cutting edge of the blade, so you need to use this with caution and observe what you're doing to the tip.

This kind of thing is far more difficult to describe in words than to see done. Youtube has a number of good videos on restoring tips that you might want to look into. I keep meaning to make a tip restoration video with the WSKO and I keep not getting around to it! :)

Good luck to you.

Brian.
 
If it's rounding the tip upward, between the cutting edge and the blade spine, it may need a little grinding down of the spine at the tip, to make it intersect in a sharp point with the cutting edge. With minor rounding, not a big deal usually (a pic would be helpful here, for the most useful advice). Just lay the spine-side of the tip against a fairly aggressive hone, or wet/dry sandpaper on a hard backing, and drag it tip-trailing down the length of the hone/abrasive, being careful not to let the tip go off the edge of the hone, as mentioned earlier. Keep the blade's spine as low as possible near the hone, so the resulting tip won't be too broad or obtuse. Take your time, keeping each pass very slow and controlled. Check progress by examining the tip with a magnifier, to make sure it's truly 'pointy' again. With an appropriate hone, you should be able to see changes through the magnifier with each pass; a Coarse or Fine diamond hone is usually aggressive enough for this, but you could also get pretty fast results with a C/F SiC stone or some wet/dry sandpaper in the 220-600 grit range.


David
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
If it's rounding the tip upward, between the cutting edge and the blade spine, it may need a little grinding down of the spine at the tip, to make it intersect in a sharp point with the cutting edge. With minor rounding, not a big deal usually (a pic would be helpful here, for the most useful advice). Just lay the spine-side of the tip against a fairly aggressive hone, or wet/dry sandpaper on a hard backing, and drag it tip-trailing down the length of the hone/abrasive, being careful not to let the tip go off the edge of the hone, as mentioned earlier. Keep the blade's spine as low as possible near the hone, so the resulting tip won't be too broad or obtuse. Take your time, keeping each pass very slow and controlled. Check progress by examining the tip with a magnifier, to make sure it's truly 'pointy' again. With an appropriate hone, you should be able to see changes through the magnifier with each pass; a Coarse or Fine diamond hone is usually aggressive enough for this, but you could also get pretty fast results with a C/F SiC stone or some wet/dry sandpaper in the 220-600 grit range.


David
Click to expand...

What David just said in addition to the other tips on tip sharpening!
 
I've noticed some of my knives when new have very sharp points, but also I noticed when using my Manix 2 for cutting boxes that the tip did round a bit. I can sharpen the edge and get it sharp where it would be useful, but cannot restore the point without a lot of other grinding. IOW a knife like the Manix 2 or Para 2 would have to be ground along the spine. It is easy enough to sharpen the point but difficult to restore a splinter-picking point.
 
Wow, thanks guys, lots of good tips, I will definitely use these in the near future :thumbup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top