Bent tip on detail knife

[jmischel]

Stropping my Flexcut mini detail knife last night, I discovered that I somehow turned the tip. It's a very slight turn at the very end ... maybe 1/16th (probably less) from the tip. I don't quite know how to go about repairing that.

I'm reasonably certain that I can't just bend it back. There's no way I'd get the thing straight. Should I just put it on the 600 grit wheel of my Tomz Massager until it's flat again, then sharpen the rest of the knife to match?

Or is this a case of "send it to Rick"?

[Tom Ellis]

Jim, I would try to straighten it , and sometimes it will work, and other times it will break off. If it breaks, grind the backbone back down to the shape you want, rather than sharpening the cutting edge through all that blade. You will save a little more blade that way.

Good luck, Tom

[Mark Dellinger]

Jim,
Tom is correct. I broke the tip off my detail twice. One word of caution, when you grind. Don't let it get too hot. This does work fine.

Mark

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

I also agree with Tom, plus you won't have to worry about overheating the blade if you are using Tomz knife massager.

Dave

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by Gulf Coast Handyman

I also agree with Tom, plus you won't have to worry about overheating the blade if you are using Tomz knife massager.

Dave

Very true.

Good luck!

[Goody]

I am not a fan of Flexcut kinves. They seem soft to me. I love the chisels and gouges no problems there. I have spoiled myself to Cape Forge knives that are about a 62 rockwel. I had to reshape a couple of Flexcut knives and don't get the same spark off the grinder as most of my other blades. To unbend the tip I would not try "bending it" Place the blade of the knife on a hard surface ie: anvil, bodywork dollie , And lightly tap the blade with a small hammer to flatten the blade then resharpen.

Goody

[jwd]

jim,
I would try Goody's method 1st just to try and save as much of the blade as possible.

[Claude]

Jim:
Don't grind off the whole blade edge. Just grind off a bit of the back near the tip to reshape the tip. I've had to do this 3 times on my Flexcut detail knife. Grind for 2 seconds, dip into water, repeat...

Claude

[jmischel]

Thanks, everybody, for the suggestions. I'll try the hammer on anvil trick first, and see if I can get the thing straightened.

I have two Flexcut knives. The first, a "cutting knife" works well for roughing things. I especially like it for working with found wood. That blade holds up to quite a bit of abuse. It's not quite as convenient as my old Stanley box cutter (because I have to sharpen the Flexcut), but the blade has a bit more reach.

I picked up the detail knife on special at Woodcraft some time back. Not my favorite knife, but it works well when I need a really small blade for detail. That is, it did work well, until I turned the tip in a piece of oak.

I'm sure I'll collect more tools (although I do try to resist). So far, the few I do have are keeping me quite well entertained.

[R-OLDS]

If your blade bends and stays bent then it no longer in that bent area is HARDened so will probably not hold an edge.. Grind it past the bent area or re-heat treat it...