Just the tip?

[aicolainen]

That's probably the best description of my "broken" tips as well

[mikey177]

I've never broken the tip off a knife.

Although someone who used to work for us had the nasty habit of using knives as can openers. She broke the tip off of the chef's knife below, so I reground it into a modified tanto.

[Wartstein]

...
I was watching a knife center clip today and the native chief salt was praised for its strength despite having a thin tip.
...

Watched the section about the Chief right now and I think you probably got wrong what is said there (no offense!):

Actually the guy describes the Chief as being perhaps NOT a "hard use type of knife", mostly due to the fine tip, but rather having a great slicing geometry.

What he is referring to as "working well in harder use applications" it the LC200N steel with its very high toughness - and that this "strength" of the steel could somehow make up for the "fragility" the tip might present due to its very precise shape and nature.

[Wartstein]

I have been talking about this a lot here already: The tip of a blade and its shape, strength, preciseness.. is kind of an important topic to me.
Some points:

- I think the only place where one could realistically snap a blade in more or less reasonable folder use IS exactly the very tip, and it happened to me like two or three times (really talking about just the very last fine part of the tip, so like the last 0.5 to 1 or so).

- I am also of the opinion that even on larger folders like the Endura 3.00 mm blade stock generally is way strong and thick enough, as long as the tip though remaining precise, does not get TOO fine.

- This explains why I am not a big fan of folders like the Para 3: Really fat blade stock for such a small knife, but still rather fine tip: So in many tasks not even in theory one could make use of that superstrong blade stock (not needed anyway imo) cause the tip would snap way before the whole blade ever could.

- I do prefer knives like the Endura by a lot: Thinner, 3 mm stock in a long blade, but a bit reinforced tip. Makes total sense to me, and I actually hope that the "Chap XL" will become a prime example for that approach: Thin, slicey blade, but rather "broad" and a bit stronger tip.

- Also have been mentioning this quite some times already: What people imo sometimes forget is that there are those scenarios where one has to do "hard" cutting tasks AND has to do those fast, so there is no way to keep an eye on a fine tip.
My prime example always is when I have to unpack helicopter loads / supplies for mountain huts in a real hurry: There is a ton of tape and wrapping and ribbons to cut in high speed (cause the stuff has to be unloaded and carried out of the way before the next load arrives), one can´t avoid that the tip of the knife hits metal barrels, tin boxes and stuff like that all the time.

This is when I very much prefer an a bit more robust tip on a still somewhat slicey blade.

[Netherend]

I have been talking about this a lot here already: The tip of a blade and its shape, strength, preciseness.. is kind of an important topic to me.
Some points:

- I think the only place where one could realistically snap a blade in more or less reasonable folder use IS exactly the very tip, and it happened to me like two or three times (really talking about just the very last fine part of the tip, so like the last 0.5 to 1 or so).

- I am also of the opinion that even on larger folders like the Endura 3.00 mm blade stock generally is way strong and thick enough, as long as the tip though remaining precise, does not get TOO fine.

- This explains why I am not a big fan of folders like the Para 3: Really fat blade stock for such a small knife, but still rather fine tip: So in many tasks not even in theory one could make use of that superstrong blade stock (not needed anyway imo) cause the tip would snap way before the whole blade ever could.

- I do prefer knives like the Endura by a lot: Thinner, 3 mm stock in a long blade, but a bit reinforced tip. Makes total sense to me, and I actually hope that the "Chap XL" will become a prime example for that approach: Thin, slicey blade, but rather "broad" and a bit stronger tip.

- Also have been mentioning this quite some times already: What people imo sometimes forget is that there are those scenarios where one has to do "hard" cutting tasks AND has to do those fast, so there is no way to keep an eye on a fine tip.
My prime example always is when I have to unpack helicopter loads / supplies for mountain huts in a real hurry: There is a ton of tape and wrapping and ribbons to cut in high speed (cause the stuff has to be unloaded and carried out of the way before the next load arrives), one can´t avoid that the tip of the knife hits metal barrels, tin boxes and stuff like that all the time.

This is when I very much prefer an a bit more robust tip on a still somewhat slicey blade.

I agree with you on the 3mm thickness. It’s a good sign when your blades hold up after all of those accidental bangs.
I personally feel most confident using the spear/leaf blades though the pacific salt is is a even more robust.

[RustyIron]

My prime example always is when I have to unpack helicopter loads / supplies for mountain huts in a real hurry:

Please explain!
Are you talking about the huts where mountaineers stay the night when they're up in the mountains? All I know about such things is what I've read in climbing and outdoor magazines. We don't do that here in the U.S.... at least not on the scale of you Europeans.

[b-crow]

I received my new Sage 5 LW SPY 27 this week. The morning after receiving it I bumped it off of the storage shelf and onto a ceramic dog dish. It opened and damaged the tip. I don't recall ever dropping a knife on a hard surface before. It is a real bummer because it was my best out of the box experience with any knife.

[Cletus]

I did a stupid with the nameless brand with the strange springs. Being as it was a work knife I just ground it back. D2 steel. Never have I damaged a Spyderco, although I did drop a PM2 and caught it with my foot. It stuck a good 1/2 inch into the top of my foot, through the boot. What a great blade design! What fast reactions!

[VandymanG]

I have not broke one yet. I carry a Lynch Northwest titanium pry bar for prying. But if I did break one it would be an opportunity to create a Tanto or reverse Tanto.

[Bill1170]

Only one, I was doing some maintenance and placed my open Caribbean SE leaf on the top of my stepladder. The ladder shifted and the knife landed tip-first on asphalt, busting off 1-1.5mm of the tip. I reground the tip to a sort of micro tanto profile, but it just doesn’t feel right anymore. Sad, because I really liked the knife before that accident.

[JoviAl]

How many of you have broken your knife tips? I feel like I have been lucky with my knives and have yet to break any of them.

I was watching a knife center clip today and the native chief salt was praised for its strength despite having a thin tip.

A few months back I was browsing blade forums and saw a post on the stretch 2 and chief where Sal responded to a poster and advised that they avoid prying with their knives.

I personally do not pry with my knives.I do keep an Izula around as a beater/scraper and I have on occasion done a few questionable stabs with my spydies to create space between two objects but I guess I’ve been lucky because I’ve yet to break a tip.

I am sure there are probably some databases of returned knives that can capture the real data on broken tips but I am curious to hear from folks here who have broken tips. Maybe you can help us avoid the same fate and educate us on what NOT to do.

How did you do it? Was it just the tip? Did you save the knife or was it a total loss? Did you turn your military 2 into a paramilitary 2?


Knife center video that I referenced :

Broke the tip off on of my Rockjumper SE’s last week at work - trying to gently level a tiny loose bolt out of a countersunk hole. Turns out it’d wiggled around just enough to engage an 1/8 turn into the thread of the hole. Hey ho, them’s the breaks luckily I have several more BNIB stacked up and the one that is damaged is far from unusable.

[Bill1170]

Inspired by my earlier reply, I converted my Caribbean tip repair from micro American tanto to micro Japanese tanto. I’m carrying it now. It’s a great knife, though heavier than most of my other Spyderco knives. I had previously reprofiled the scallops to 15 degrees on my Sharpmaker, so it cuts very well, similar to my K390 Endura. And now the tip is properly useful again.

[sn0wman72]

Dropped a Chaparral while closing the knife tip first onto a the tile floor of a kitchen, broke the tip. Into a vice the knife went and some quick passes with a hand file brought the knife back to a pointy tip.Result was maybe a tiny change to the blade profile.