Asking for advice: How to restore a (just slightly) blunted tip?

[Wartstein]

My quite new Endela had from the factory together with my PM2 probably the pointiest / sharpest / most delicate tip (it is the SE version and consequently comes in chisel grind all the way to the tip, which makes it pointier of course).

Now I was silly enough to stab it quite hard into wood several times.. silly, cause that´s not a task I´d normally do very often, and I really did it just for taking pics.. :o

The Endela took that stabbing very well, still has a sufficiently pointy tip, without magnification one can´t see any damage and even in normal "tip-tasks" it is hard to notice a difference.

Still, this extreme "pointiness" is gone, and I specifically liked that in the SE (chisel grind) Endela. It was great for removing splinters or ticks for example.

Now, maybe some of you could help me out, I´d really apreciate that!: What´s the best way to restore the tip and bring it back to its extreme initial "sharpness"? Just regular sharpening?
I don´t have too many tools, just quite a massive belt grinder, a regular sharpmaker (medium and fine rods), a leatherstrop and a worksharp guided field sharpener that includes a coarse and fine diamond coated plate..

I tried to do some pics (see below): Tip Endela (slightly blunted) compared to tip HAP 40 Stretch (initialy less pointy, but now a bit more) - as said, the tip really still IS in very good condition, if it stayed that way it would not be the end of the world, but specifically in the Endela I´d like to have that very pointy tip again...

ENDELA: Left; STRETCH: Right


ENDELA: Below; STRETCH: Above

[Pelagic]

I always grind away some from the spine with a bench grinder (patiently to avoid any overheating), shaping it to my liking, followed by a stone progression and eventually a strop or 2, whatever best mimics the factory scratch pattern on the spine. Then sharpen near the tip to remove any burr. My s110v military has a tip very similar to an Endura. Although I did a great job, it's not as pleasing to look at imo (Military's tip looks better than the Endura's to me). But at the end of the day it is a work knife. It has a stronger tip now and has more than enough piercing ability for my needs.

[Wartstein]

I always grind away some from the spine with a bench grinder (patiently to avoid any overheating), shaping it to my liking, followed by a stone progression and eventually a strop or 2, whatever best mimics the factory scratch pattern on the spine. Then sharpen near the tip to remove any burr.

Thanks a lot! As a non native speaker in English, may I ask: a bench grinder is a belt grinder that´s solidly attached to a bench, right (my belt grinder is to be held in hand...)?

[Pelagic]

You can use many tools to achieve this. At work I have access to a rotary grinder bolted down to a work bench. It has one grinding wheel and one wire wheel (wire bristles). This is what "bench grinder" typically refers to. A belt sander or grinder could work as well. Even an angle grinder (handheld rotary grinder) could suffice in the right hands. It's your call, you will be sacrificing 1 millimeter of blade length to restore your tip.

[Wartstein]

You can use many tools to achieve this. At work I have access to a rotary grinder bolted down to a work bench. It has one grinding wheel and one wire wheel (wire bristles). This is what "bench grinder" typically refers to. A belt sander or grinder could work as well. Even an angle grinder (handheld rotary grinder) could suffice in the right hands. It's your call, you will be sacrificing 1 millimeter of blade length to restore your tip.

Thanks!

[Doc Dan]

That tip is not much to worry over. I’d simply sharpen the edge by hand and then assess whether I needed to do some minor touches on the spine by hand.

[Wartstein]

That tip is not much to worry over. I’d simply sharpen the edge by hand and then assess whether I needed to do some minor touches on the spine by hand.

Thanks, Doc! You are right, on probably all my other knives I would not be bothered at all by such a very minor blunting.
Even on the Endela I could absolutely live with it, the knife is a user like all my others and eventually the tip would get blunter one way or the other anyway.
But in hindsight I would have liked that very pointy tip specifically on the Endela for a longer period of time, cause as said: The factory chisel grind makes it a great splinter picker tool.
I´ll give it a sharpening on the SM now and than maybe work a bit on the spine with the coarse diamond plate of my worksharp guided field sharpener. Maybe it will look a bit "rough" afterwards, but that´s something I really don´t mind or even like...

[Pancake]

Well, yesterday my mother threw my Waterway in a steel bucket (she thought that was her cheap kitchen knife) and a bit of tip broke off.
So, it took me only about 10 minutes on X coarse DMT plate to grind the spine back and make it a sharp point again. It is not as nice and a bit more robust as factory point, but it will work.
With power tool (bench grinder, belt grinder) you can make it pointier in like 3 minutes. But you have to careful with power tool and cool the blade in water (you dont want to ruin heat treat).

[ABX2011]

Using flat benchstones like my DMT plates would quickly restore that tip to a needle point with normal sharpening.

[bearfacedkiller]

Grind the spine down.

If you do not have an extra coarse bench stone you can use sandpaper. Tape a piece of 100 grit to your kitchen counter and grind the spine away. You can then move to 220 and then 400 grit to give it a smoother finish if you want.

I have done this many, many times.

This is small job and I would skip the power tools.

[mb1]

You don’t need a bench grinder for something that minor. I’d recommend a hand file, followed by sand paper to refine the finish once you have the shape you want.

I did this with a file and sand paper in about an hour. I WOULD recommend a bench grinder for this. I don’t have one though and volunteered to do this for a family member. Just an example of what you can do with some sweat. :)

[Pelagic]

It's true that most tip issues don't require power tools (technically none do). I'm just in the habit of preserving my stones as well as getting the job done quickly.

[soc_monki]

I dropped my zt 0470 and the tip was pushed down. Squashed. It was quite unusual! I just got out my coarse diamond lansky stone and it took me about 10 minutes to get it back to normal. I've done the same to my Tenacious since I dropped it and broke the tip on it as well. I still want to do more work on it, but it's OK for now.

Also did it to my 0562cf because the previous owner had rounded the tip. It's really not hard and if you're going to be using a knife I think it adds to the character. Gives it a nice history!

[Wartstein]

I dropped my zt 0470 and the tip was pushed down. Squashed. It was quite unusual! I just got out my coarse diamond lansky stone and it took me about 10 minutes to get it back to normal. ...

So you just sharpened it regularly or worked on the spine ?

[Wartstein]

Have to leave now and want to carry my Endela. So I literally took at max one minute and worked a bit (will do more later) on the spine with a diamond coated plate and the brown SM rods...

Below two comparison pics: Pic one: BEFORE, Pic two AFTER working on the knife... as you see, I gave it some sort of swedge. Almost nothing, but it´s amazing how much pointier the tip FEELS after that tiny change...

BEFORE



AFTER

[Evil D]

I usually just grind down the spine a bit. This is also a big reason I've moved away from coated blades.

[awa54]

Grind the spine down.

If you do not have an extra coarse bench stone you can use sandpaper. Tape a piece of 100 grit to your kitchen counter and grind the spine away. You can then move to 220 and then 400 grit to give it a smoother finish if you want.

I have done this many, many times.

This is small job and I would skip the power tools.

I second (or third) the suggestion to skip power tools for your situation. That damage is minimal enough that even a medium grit sharpening stone could remove the damaged area pretty quickly, and working slowly by hand gives you more control and more chances to check your progress and correct the results.

[soc_monki]

I dropped my zt 0470 and the tip was pushed down. Squashed. It was quite unusual! I just got out my coarse diamond lansky stone and it took me about 10 minutes to get it back to normal. ...

So you just sharpened it regularly or worked on the spine ?

On the spine, I should have said that! Would have taken a lot of metal off to fix it sharpening the edge! I think I did lose a little length on the blade, but it's barely noticeable. I don't mind, I use the knife, and if I ever need a new blade I'll get zt to put a new one on. That will probably be a while though!

[Evil D]

Gotta be careful on some knives trying to sharpen out things like this, it's easy to end up with a tip that is higher than it started out and on some models that leads to a blade tip that doesn't close all the way into the knife (Caly 3 I'm looking at you). Much safer to bring the spine down a bit.

[Woodpuppy]

Have to leave now and want to carry my Endela. So I literally took at max one minute and worked a bit (will do more later) on the spine with a diamond coated plate and the brown SM rods...

Below two comparison pics: Pic one: BEFORE, Pic two AFTER working on the knife... as you see, I gave it some sort of swedge. Almost nothing, but it´s amazing how much pointier the tip FEELS after that tiny change...

AFTER

Wartstein, if you imagine using the coated diamond plate to grind off most of the swedged zone in your pic, you’ll bring the front of the spine down into new edge material and restore the tip. You effectively will shorten the blade by a thousandth or two.