I Do Knife Repair — Broken or Bent Points or Tips

When people bring me knives to be sharpened I am often brought knives that need repair. The most common reason that a knife is brought to me for repair is because of a broken point.

The very end  of a knife is called the point — though most people call it the tip.

Henckel Knife with Broken Point

Here is a 'before' picture of a Henckel knife with a broken point. The usual cause of a broken point is using the knife as a pry bar, and trying to break apart frozen food.

Henckel Knife with Reground Point

Here is the after, after the knife was reshaped to restore the point. I see in this picture that the tip of the blade does not look as smooth as the repair looked in real life.

Kitchen Knife with Bent Tip

Here is a knife with a bent tip. This can be repaired. Sometimes the tip can be straightened, sometimes it can't be straightened and the tip has to be removed and then reshaped.

Other common problems that I see and repair are chips in the blade, loose handles and rust spots. I usually clean up rust spots that are on the knife as part of the sharpening, along with most chips in the blade. Loose handles can be repaired — glued usually — right during the sharpening, though in some cases I would want to take home and return to the customer the next week.

Pitted Blade on Shun Chef's Knife

I can remove pits, nicks and chips on the blades. This picture is a Shun knife with a pitted cutting edge. The pits are bad news because — while the blade can be sharpened back to as new condition — to do so means grinding off a fair amount of steel... I see a lot of pitted blades on Shun knives.

Broken Point on Kitchen Knife

A GIANT portion of the tip was broken off of this knife. The decision was made to simply reshape to a blunt tip — as the condition did not warrant a complete reshaping.

Kitchen Knife with Reshaped Tip

Here is the finished knife. The tip was reshaped, the bolster was trimmed back, and the knife was sharpened — all ready to go back to work!

Serrated knives can be sharpened — I sharpen them all the time. What can't be done is to replace or restore worn serrations, or teeth. After a certain time a serrated knife can be worn smooth — and can no longer be sharpened as a serrated knife.

Very Worn Serrated Knives

The picture above shows two serrated bread knives brought to me for sharpening. I explained to the customer that the serrations were too worn to sharpen as a serrated knife. 

We decided to sharpen them as a plain edged knife.

Serrated Knives Sharpened as Plain Edged Knives

Here are the knives after sharpening. These knives were serrated bladed knives that were sharpened as a plain edged knives.

The knives are sharp and have a nice, proper cutting edge. There are visible remnants of the serrations — the decision was made to sharpen to just where the cutting edge is restored and then stop. The remnants are cosmetic only — and will gradually disappear after repeated sharpening.

Mundial Knives

I offer the Mundial line of knives and items at my knife sharpening booth. I always have a rather good selection of their black handled forged kitchen knives, and some items of their commercial kitchen knives.

I can special order any of the Mundial kitchen or commercial knives.

Mundial Forged Kitchen Knives

Here is a picture of an opened box of Mundial knives that I received today. Mundial are high quality knives offered at a very attractive price.

In this picture we see two paring knives, a utility knife, and a 6" chef's knife.

Mundial Three Piece Starter Set

Packed below all those knives are some bread knives and this three piece set. This set includes a 8" chef's knife, a serrated 6" utility knife, and a paring knife. The set is a great value!

Salad 'Before' Shot

I ripped off these photographs from a friend's Facebook page. Here is a 'before' shot that my friend took in his kitchen as he was about to prepare a salad.

Salad 'After' Shot

Here is the 'after.' Preparing and cooking dinner is a simple pleasure — made even more pleasurable when using a sharp high quality knife.

Everything is easier and better with a sharp knife! Even cutting onions. Use a sharp knife to cut onions and you will notice that your eyes will not tear up as the knife cuts the onion more cleanly, does not tear the onion which would cause your eyes to tear up. 

A good quality sharp knife is a real pleasure to use. Everybody should buy these nice Mundial knives for their kitchen.

OK — yes — there are plenty of nice knives, not just Mundial. Pick a nice set, take them home and enjoy them!

Received Knives to Replenish My Stock

I have just received a box of knives:

Box of Knives

I opened the box and took a picture of what was in there — kind of ran out of time to open each knife and shoot pictures...

In this picture — starting at the lower left — is a set of Old Hickory carbon steel kitchen knives. I almost always have these knives on hand. The timing on receiving these was a bit off as I had sold my last Old Hickory butcher and slicing knives. Now I have a full set again.

Clockwise is a SOG, then a Spyderco, another SOG. This SOG is sitting on a D.Light lantern.

I use solar power to run my knife sharpening business, and so I thought to dabble in some solar products. This lantern has a solar panel, a storage battery, a light, and a USB connector. The solar panel charges the internal battery, the battery then will charge a cell phone or run the lantern.

The bottom right is a Emerson. This Emerson has the 'Wave' feature — a hook on the top of the knife.  As you pull the knife out of your pocket, push the knife back so that the hook catches on the back top of the pocket opening. Keep pulling and you will have the open knife in your hand!

Day to Day Random Pics of the Mobile Knife Sharpener

I took this picture — a customers knives in the In Tray — at Zanotto's Family Market Rose Garden

Knife Sharpening at Zanotto's Market Rose Garden

I took this picture because I like the composition of it: the three knives in the in tray and the Zanotto's Market sign in the background. This customer brought her knives wrapped in a kitchen towel, a good method. I sharpened them, wrapped them back into the towel for the trip home. There are four knives in the set — I had the paring knife jigged up in the sharpener.

Rubber Band Ball

I always have newspapers and rubber bands on hand. I wrap just sharpened knives in newspapers, and I use the rubber bands to keep the knives bundled up. I use the rubber bands on both the newspapers and on any cloth towels that the customer brings in.

Last Sunday a customer noticed me wrapping and using rubber bands, he asked if I could use some rubber bands, he gets two newspapers and he has plenty. I said yes, yes please. Well, besides a handful of rubber bands, he brought me this rubber band ball! I have not yet felt right about pulling it apart...

Twice As Sharp Rotary Blade Sharpener

Here is a Twice As Sharp Rotary Blade sharpener. This was bought for a project that did not get off the ground. Its been sitting in storage — it's now on the Great eBay in the sky.

Wood Chipper Blades

A customer approached me at Piazza's Market in Palo Alto. She had three sets of these wood chipper blades to be sharpened. I knew that a crony of mine would be perfect for this job so I accepted them.

Sharpening Corona Grass Shears

Here is one half of a pair of Corona grass shears clamped up and ready to go. I sharpen most all garden tools: hand pruners, loppers, hedge clippers, shovels and hoes.

Unusual Made in Japan Combo Knife Brought for Sharpening

This knife was brought to me at Lunardi's Bascom in San Jose. I believe it is plated carbon steel. It is a combination knife, consisting of a cutting blade, a (pry) bottle cap opener, the inside is I believe a twist off bottle cap opener, and my guess the bumps on the top might be for meat tenderizing.

More Knives from Estate Sale Shopping

I went early, stood in line, and got to be among the first into an estate sale today.

As is usually the case nothing really excellent available — and the desire to buy usually overwhelms my good sense — so I came home with a bag full.

Knife Selection Bought at an Estate Sale

This picture shows the knives that I bought. The block of knives are Wusthof Silverpoint, which are good German made knives, but are the least expensive of the Wusthof knives. Also in the shot is a Henckel cleaver, a Henckel paring knife, a Henkel steak knife, a knife steel and an old Carmichael 'cannery' knife.

Wusthof Silverpoint Chef's Knife

Here is a picture of the Wusthof chef's knife. A chef's knife is what everybody usually buys — so I need to decide if I want to keep the knives as a set or sell piecemeal.

I will sharpen the Wusthof and Henckel knives and offer for sale at my sharpening booth. The sharpening steel will also be sold at the sharpening booth.

Hand Axe, Hand Pruners and Hedge Clippers from Estate Sale

Here is  the garden tool section of my estate sale purchases.

A real nice hand axe, a rather cheap pair of hand pruners and a nice Fiskars hedge clipper. 

I like to have displayed at my sharpening booth at lease one of each item that I sharpen. That way it is quite clear quite quickly what I items I sharpen!

All three of these will be used to that purpose. All will get cleaned up and sharpened. The axe will also have the handle sanded and oiled — it will look beautiful!

Estate Sale Chisel Purchase

The last piece is this chisel. I sharpen chisels, so I should have one on hand. I like this guy — the aged wood handle with the paint splatters and such. I will pretty much leave the handle alone — clean the steel and sharpen, let the age show.

White River Filet Knives Just Arrived

UPS has delivered the box from White River Knife & Tool that I have been expecting.

Box of Knives from White River Knife & Tool

I had ordered four of their fish filet knifes.

White River Fish Filet Knives with Leather Sheaths

Here is a picture of the four knives that I received.

The fish knife pictured at the top has a 6" blade. Next is the largest blade, the 11" blade model. The third from the top is the 8.5" blade knife, the knife pictured at the bottom is the 8.5" step up model.

These White River fish filet knives are made of 440c stainless steel, have cork handles, and a leather sheath. The leather sheath has a leather strap that snaps onto the the micarta cap of the knife so as to hold the knife securely in the sheath.

The knife has a full, hidden tang.

All of these knives are made in USA.

Step-Up and Traditional Fish Filet Knives by White River

Here is a picture showing the step-up and traditional fish filet knives.

These hand crafted knives made by White River Knife & Tool are high quality knives to be treasured — what I like to call a heirloom knife. A knife to be treasured for a lifetime!

I will have them — displayed on my knife table — with my mobile knife sharpening business. Look up my schedule come by!