Restoring Tips

res1cue

res1cue

Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
2,138
Okay so through use, abuse, abuse by buddies, sharpening, etc, there are many knives in my user rotation that have gradually lost their tips

So far I have been fixing this by puting using the spine of the blade on some sort of coarse stone and grinding off enough steel so that the spine actually meets the tip.. this adds an ugly abrupt "drop point" though, I was wondering if anyone had some other good tips or techniques to restoring tips?
 
Do that, but as youre doing it, roll the knife back so that youre taking the hump off of it. Start at the tip, and roll the knife so youre pushing the spine towards the stone. This will either flatten the tip or smooth out the round shape so it looks normal. Did i explain it good enough or are you confused? Lol, im horrible at explaining things to visualize.
 
Thanks for the tip! I think I understand what you're saying, I'll be trying it tonight
 
The correct way is to work the edge, not the spine. You don't have to take nearly as much steel off of the blade at the edge as you would the spine. Use a stone, file, belt, whatever, and take it against the edge. Once you have a point, then you just re-profile/re-sharpen the edge and you're down.

I used to work on the spine too, then after being on here for a while, and reading lost of posts, I learned that doing the edge is the way to go.

I just did it to my Kershaw Skyline last week, actually, and used the Work Sharp to do it. Took me about 3-4 minutes to do it AND re-sharpen the blade after I had the point back on the blade.

I did the same thing to a Kabar FIN fixed blade in D2 a couple of weeks ago. I didn't have my Work Sharp yet. I was trying to convex the blade (not the edge) and really rounded the tip off with my 1x30 sander. All I did was run the edge at a 90 degree angle on the belt lightly to put the point back, then I sharpened/profiled the blade with my Lansky kit. Good as new.
 
Folderguy said:
No kidding. I use a Worksharp knife sharpener. The coarse belt works great for grinding the spine.
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that. There is a guy over on the maintenance board who rounded off the tips on some knives using the worksharp and he is looking for advice on use of the worksharp.
 
GallantEdge said:
Funny you should mention that. There is a guy over on the maintenance board who rounded off the tips on some knives using the worksharp and he is looking for advice on use of the worksharp.
Click to expand...

The Worksharp will do much worse things than rounding off tips. It's a powerful tool that should be respected, and used with care. That said, it's my favorite sharpening tool these days. Best bang for the buck, without a doubt.

I'll head on over there and see what the trouble is! :D
 
I do the drop point deal as well, but I tend to contour it evenly with the existing drop point-if there is one. So far the only two blades I've had to do it with were the HEST and the RC5, both after a year's worth of rough use. I think the extremely minimal amount of material I remove from the spine to touch up the points doesn't affect the feel or looks of the blade significantly.
 
I usually remove material from both the top and bottom of the blade using a coarse belt running over a contact wheel (slotted rubber wheel). Dip the blade in water frequently to avoid burning the steel. When the blade is properly contoured, you can refine the finish with finer belts and also sharpen the blade where it has been blunted. I like sharp points, so I gravitate towards the clip point profile. You can get knives for $1 at the flea market to practice on.
 
If you can't visualise what you want to do, and then do it, try marking the blade with a marking pen until you see what you want, then grind to the lines.

Sharpen the blade, round the spine (if appropriate) after you have the blade shaped.

Greg
 
is there anyone on here that would be willing to do this kind of a fix on a cold steel steel tiger? i need a professional look. very professional. out of box professional.
 
welcome to the forum 13mschen, i can do it for you. send me an email. rje196021@gmail.com
(i seen you only made 1 post and thought you were a new member, i guess you have been a lurker for almost a year :D)
 
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