Japanese Knives
Sharpening
How to Fix Your Broken Knife Tip
So, you broke your knife tip. I know your pain, I’ve done it too. Sometimes you just set the knife down a little too vigorously, or your coworker fires it into the sink, or you simply just drop it and next thing you know, it’s missing its tip. While chipping a tip is heartbreaking, luckily there’s a very easy way to fix it. Here’s what you need, and how to do it.
The gear
- A knife with a broken tip (for the love of god, get one that’s already broken)
- A rough whetstone, such as a 220 or 400 grit. A Naniwa "Lobster" stone is a great budget option, while a diamond plate will make the process MUCH faster.
- A stone holder, such as the Knifewear Stone Holder or Knifewear Sink Bridge.
- A ceramic honing rod.
- A sharpie.
- *Optional* A medium grit stone, around 1,000.
The Process
Step 1 - Secure your stone or diamond plate in the stone holder. If you’re using a stone, soak it for 15-20 minutes first, and secure it in the holder so that the long and narrow side of the stone (the edge) is facing upwards. You don’t want to ruin the main surface of your stone!
Step 2 - Use a sharpie to mark off the part of the knife you intend to remove. You can sharpen the edge upward on the tip, but this will create an awkward profile. It’s almost always best to remove steel from the spine of the knife, towards the edge. Ideally, you should end up with a nice curve down the spine to the tip, where the chip was.
A broken tip marked off with a sharpie and ready to be ground.
Step 3 - With the edge facing upwards, drag the spine of the knife back and forth on the stone, focusing on the tip portion. Rock the handle of the knife up and down to create a curved grind, as opposed to a completely flat grind. Check your knife regularly to ensure that you get a smooth curve from the spine down to the tip.
Optional Step 3.5 - If you’re picky about looks and you want your knife to look like it was when it was new, switch to smoother grit stone such as a 1,000. Repeat the same motion as before, sliding the spine back and forth, focusing on the area you’ve ground, rocking the knife as you go. You won’t need to do this for long, but it’ll polish up the ground area so it looks more like the rest of the knife’s spine.
Voila, a fixed tip! Time to sharpen this puppy.
Step 4 - You’ll be left with some rough burrs on the spine of your knife. Set your ceramic honing rod at 45 degrees to the spine of the knife, on the corner where the face of the blade and the spine meet. Gently run the rod along the edges on either side of the knife to knock off those rough burrs.
And you’re done! This method is the exact one that we do in the shop to repair broken knife tips. If the damage is bad it may take a while, but patience is your best friend when repairing your precious tools. If you think you’ve going to screw it up, don’t be afraid to contact us and we’ll be happy to help you figure it out.
Now if all of this sounds a bit scary or difficult to you, worry not! We can do it for you. We’ve fixed many, many knife tips and we’ve become very good at it. Swing by one of our shops and drop your knife off. We won’t offer any judgement, most of us have done it several times! If you can’t make it into our shops, we also have a mail-in sharpening & repair service that you can take advantage of. Happy sharpening!
