Spyderco Forums

My son came home from a fishing trip with about 2mm missing from the tip of his Military. Any tips on grinding a new point? Seems like it wouldn't be a complex task, but I thought I'd ask, since I've never done this before. Thanks!

It's usually easier to grind the spine of the blade down than it is to bring the edge up. I would probably give it a bit of a drop point to make it easier.

I suggest fixing it it by hand with sandpaper or a very coarse bench stone. Power equipment can heat up the tip very quickly and wreck the temper of the steel. Im not the guy to talk to about tempers/metallurgy but I figured id say something incase nobody else does.

Donut wrote:It's usually easier to grind the spine of the blade down than it is to bring the edge up. I would probably give it a bit of a drop point to make it easier.

This.
And be sure to cool frequently with water to avoid overheating.

It's not covered under warranty, but W&R might be able to help you by reprofiling the blade. The fee is $20 for reprofiling + $5 for shipping. It would be done by our crew so you wouldn't need to be concerned with damaging the steel. You can find all of the info here, http://www.spyderco.com/edge-u-cation/index.php?item=10 (look under "Repair Information" a little more than half way down the page.

Hope this helps.

Great advice, all. Thanks! I think we might follow TazKristi's suggestion.

Donut wrote:It's usually easier to grind the spine of the blade down than it is to bring the edge up. I would probably give it a bit of a drop point to make it easier.

That sums up my suggestion as well.

cant go wrong with sending it back to spyderco

Agreed, Holland. Thanks again for the info, TazKristi. We're going to follow your suggestion. I appreciate all the other advice as well.

I would make it more stout by keeping it as thick as possible, so that it doesn't break again.

Can we have a before pic and then an after pic when the work is done? :)

Will do, ChapmanPreferred.

You have two main options, IMO. Put a straight angle near the tip to the broken edge, making for a stronger and more obtuse tip, much like the Michael Janich reground Enduras (pictures below), or you could do a completely straight spine from the top of the hole all the way down to the new "tip", keeping that classic Military look and sleek tip (but it will be fragile, so more likely to break again)

I personally love the original tip and would pick option number two.

My quick mock up. From top to bottom: original Military, "reverse tanto" Military with stronger tip, straight spine regrind for finer tip.



The Janich inspired endura type tip(not my pictures, just googled):


Obviously you can do anything in between. Having any variation of rounding the spine, etc... But I love the straight spine for both utility and aesthetics, so those would be my two first picks. And it's easy to grind a straight spine that way.

For a 2mm break, you won't have to remove much. Round the back towards the new tip, like an Endura's drop point.

I have an old sharpening kit (stones) that I use for stuff like this. Going slow, it's hard to mess up. I don't think you could heat it up enough, using stones by hand, to damage the temper, but I could be wrong? Regardless you want to go slow so you don't remove too much material.

This is a great project to aquire a new skill for yourself and inspire confidence for future tip and edge repair. If you use knives with full flat ground blades, this might not be the last time you experience a broken tip.

Thanks for the detailed info and pics, GoodEyeSniper. Really appreciate it! Good thoughts!

MatthewSB, I appreciated your comments as well. You're correct in saying that if I tried the repair myself (or better yet, had my son do it...it's his knife, and he broke it!) it would be a great DIY project and confidence builder, although I can't help add that echoes of my late father's voice came through in your message. Lol. He was always trying to encourage his kids to try to do things on their own.

Thanks again for all the comments. I'll keep you posted.

I'll show you what I would do:



Now I did this with a belt sander. You will notice that the tip has a bit of color from one pass that was too slow and it discolored a bit which undoubtedly changed the temper in that section at least. If you send it to Spyderco to have them fix it, you should not have to worry about it being over heated. They will do a rock solid job.

I tried the reverse Tanto point prior to doing the full spine regrind and I just could not get accustomed to the profile personally. I thought my attempt looked more like a D'Allara rescue more than a reverse Tanto. Looking forward to seeing the rejuvenated point. :)

SE Military had tip cracked off and was sent to factory to be reground (both by previous owner).