Nicks In A Knife Blade

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

So how do you get not one but two nicks in a sharp knife blade ? One minute I am carving (soft Basswood) with no problem, all of a sudden Iam getting 2 scratches in the wood with each chip. I didn't hit hard wood, I didn't drop the knife, nothing out of the usuall, out of no where 2 nicks?? I just can't figure it out.

Dave

[carver33]

I have also seen small dents or nicks in the edge of a blade. Most likely you hit a little harder wood or cut cross grain which is a little harder on the knife.

I would guess that the bevel is too sharp for the hardness of the steel. I like to sharpen my knives with a full bevel (Scandinavian bevel) with a small secondary bevel in all but the hardest steel.

[Tom Ellis]

Dave, I would guess that you are having a little sharper knives now, and you could strop just a little longer, and that tends to give you a little micro bevel at the cutting edge.
One other thing that people have a tendency to do is to make their cut, then scrape the chip off to the side to get it off the carving. That little sideways pull on the fine edge will break little micro nicks in the edge. Just take your knife back to the strop, or a buffing wheel, and you should be good to go.


good luck, Tom

[brent]

I have had this happen also. Could be a bad spot in the metal due to the hardening process.
Bevel thinness, grit in the wood. Could be any reason.

[Iowa Carver]

I put them on my leather belt sharpenner and then buff them out.

Corey

[AlArchie]

GREMLINS.......they are still around!

Al

[Sam]

I guess you could say this happens when your blade is a little too sharp. Continue sharpening as you have been, but when done, raise the back of the blade off the strop a little more, and give two or three strops each side. This creates a micro bevel that strengthens the cutting edge by actually dulling the blade a little (nothing you would notice) but it prevents the dents in the blade.

[cgm]

I'll second what Sam said. The micro bevel will not chip as easily!
It works for me.
Carl

[davidinsarasota]

Very odd Dave. Since I know that you are quite knowledgeable about knives and sharpening, I think a too high carbon inclusion in the material of the steel has to be suspected.

Two inclusions are just as likely as one in any particular run of high carbon steel, but I would continue looking for an explanation for the two nicks.

[Eddy-Smiles]

Dave... Could it have been something in the wood that you might have hit and didn't realize it?..i.e... a micro chip of sand or stone? Like Al said, who knows what those Forest Gremlins did over the 50-100 years life of that tree?