[pamopfl]

I bent the tip of my chip carving knife. Can I sharpen it down past the chip or is the knife now junk?
Thanks

[Donald K. Mertz]

A knife is never junk until it is totally broken off. My suggestion is resharpen and reshape the blade which will make it a little smaller, but still functional, but then of course this gives you a good excuse to buy one, two or three more knives, isn't that what we are suppose to do?

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

Yes you can sharpen it past the bent point. If your going to do that, I'd try laying it on a flat hard surface and give it a few TAPS with a hammer and see if it will come straight. If it breaks, your essentially back where you started and can sharpen/grind it to a new point.

[Claude]

I dropped my Flexcut detail on the concrete floor and broke about 1/8 inch off the end (three times!!). To get a point back on it, I ground down the BACK side of the blade until I had a nice point again. By grinding the BACK side, you don't mess up a good tapered blade. When grinding, though, have a glass of water handy. Grind for 5 seconds, and then dip in the water, then repeat. You absolutely don't want the knife blade to get so hot you can't hold it in your fingers. It takes more time, keeping it cool while grinding, but that way you don't ruin the hardness or temper of the blade.

By the way, I solved my dropping problem by buying a nice thick rubber mat from Woodcraft for $10. Now when I drop a tool, it bounces instead of breaking or ruining an edge.

Claude