Sharpening the point

B

ballsagne

Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
196
Through use and sharpening I have noticed that some of the points or tips of my knives arent so pointy anymore, any suggestions or sharpening techniques on how to get a knife to as sharp or "pointy" at the tip as it was before?
 
I chipped the tip of a drop point knife and I stoned the point on the spine.(If that makes sense.) In other words with the cutting edge pointing up I worked the tip at the spine.That brought the point back.
 
mmarkh said:
I chipped the tip of a drop point knife and I stoned the point on the spine.(If that makes sense.) In other words with the cutting edge pointing up I worked the tip at the spine.That brought the point back.
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I believe this was more or less the advice I got from Fiddleback when I had a similar question on another forum a few years back. That and taking care not to round over the point during sharpening in the first place, but that's only a preventative measure. If anyone DOES know of another way to get the pointiness back though, I'll be interested to know as well.
 
When sharpening on a benchstone , I bend my wrist slightly down as I approach the tip. In other words ,I change the angle at the last inch or so (acuter) so the tip gets hit more. Works for me.
 
mmarkh said:
I chipped the tip of a drop point knife and I stoned the point on the spine.(If that makes sense.) In other words with the cutting edge pointing up I worked the tip at the spine.That brought the point back.
Click to expand...

That's how I get my tips back. The hook sharpener in the Spyderco Sharpmaker stones work great for this. I go a few swipes on the Diamond stones, smooth it out a bit ont the Med. Brown stones, and then finish it up on the Fine White stones. Works great and if done correctly you can barely even tell that it's been done.
 
I start with the tip on the stone at the desired angle, then move toward the handle. It gives good control of the tip shape.
 
It is most likely happening as you sharpen. Don't pull the blade off your sharpening device. In other words stop with the tip still in contact with the stone.

The action of pulling the tip off the stone removes metal from the very point and will eventually get rounded off.
 
All my tips were rounded from using crock stick styled sharpeners, once I went to free handing with sandpaper, belt sanders, and stones, the tips stopped getting rounded.
 
All good advice above. But there's one more thing you can do to get the tip super pointy. To expand on what Tony8179 said above:

Once you are happy with the edge, turn your knife upside down and very lightly push the back of the spine closest to the tip across your stone. You'll find a few MM's at the very tip that will lay flat against the stone (unless its a clip point). This is the area of the spine you want to work on. Be slow, checking the tip after each pass. On my knives, one to three passes will restore the needle tip.
 
I've fooled with knives a long time and never could a decent point till I got an Edge Pro. Nice precise! It's a good tool for those who are not very good at sharpening:).
 
When I used to rely on round ceramic sticks to sharpen a knife, I had a lot of rounded tips. Since I now use mostly flat diamond hones, the tips are staying pointy.

Learn to free hand sharpen on flat hones and the round tips will go away.
 
I sharpen the tip on the spine as well. Try and keep the knife as flat as possible to blend the spine in with the tip so you dont have an arc in the spine at the tip. When i'm done i then use a piece of fine or medium sandpaper depending on the knives finish to blend it in so you cant tell it was even fixed.
 
I completely remove stock from the belly of the blade to regain the tip. Done properly, you wont ever know that the tip was gimped.
 
I bought an Al Mar folder on ebay that had the tip broken off about 1/16". I ground the spine down mostly, and the belly slightly about 80/20. I was able to keep the distinctive blade shape, it is just a little shorter. Come to think of it, I will put it in my pocket tomorrow. It is surgical sharp.
 
It's important to remember when you are restoring the tip on a folder, never remove stock from the edge, always grind down the spine.
If you remove enough material off the edge side it moves the tip up along the spine, and eventually the handle won't cover it anymore. Then you've got a knife you can't carry, and the only way to fix it would be to grind the blade down until the tip is back in the handle. Not pretty.
 
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