Chipped my first knife

I was careless with my blue Zakuri petty, dropped it on the wooden floor, and the back edge chipped. Ughhhh. I'm new to sharpening, so I'm leary of trying to fix myself. I emailed Jon @JKI and I'm thinking of having him fix and also round the choil a bit anyhow, since it's pretty raw. This look like an easy fix for a pro? I couldn't find any info on the interwebz on this type of damage.



Thanks!
Brian

That's nothing. Just keep using it and eventually it will sharpen out. I had a brand new Carter come to me like that. It still has a little chip there. No biggie.

Yup. tk59 is dead on. No biggie.

Yeah i will say no biggie too i will even maybe round the chip a bit on some coarse stone and it will help you not cutting your self on that

Thanks, guys!!! If I were to round the choil a bit, is it as easy as sandpaper in "buffing" motion? Does the kurouchi finish pose a problem?

brianh said:

Thanks, guys!!! If I were to round the choil a bit, is it as easy as sandpaper in "buffing" motion? Does the kurouchi finish pose a problem?

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I think you're thinking about grinding a lot more surface than you need to accomplish what Maxim describes. It would take 10 sec on a med/coarse stone. Maybe use the edge of the stone so you don't jack up your stone surface. No need to touch the kuro uchi. Just the little sharp point.

Sorry, I just meant should I wish to round the whole choil a bit. It's square, currently. Rustic knife. Figured that might lessen the chip a bit and make the choil more comfortable.

Ohh yeah hehe. You can just use sandpaper if you dont have stones lay it flat and run the chip part (Heel) on it so it get straight and not concave

I am just talking about do like that

Sweet, I'll do what you describe! I have a 500 grit stone I will try this on (on stone's side).

As for rounding the choil, it's best to mount the knife in a well padded vise tip down and sand with wet/dry sandpaper in a shoe shine motion.

Thanks again everyone. I rounded the edge as maxim said and then sharpened on 1200 stone, 5k Rika, and diamond sprayed leather. I have to admit, it was my first attempt at sharpening. The magic marker trick is REALLY helpful. I know I didn't do a perfect job but its sharper than OOTB and passes the newspaper test.

Glad it worked out well... sorry i didnt get back to your e-mail sooner, but we would always be happy to help in situations like this. That being said, being able to do it yourself is the best, as it will help you learn far more about your knife than having me do it for you. Any pics of the completed work?

No worries, Jon. I was impatient. I'll take some pics once I work it a little more, but it looks just like Maximo's illustration. I haves lot to learn about sharpening but it was fun having my first time under the belt.

i'm totally calling maxim maximo from now on

brianh said:

No worries, Jon. I was impatient. I'll take some pics once I work it a little more, but it looks just like Maximo's illustration. I haves lot to learn about sharpening but it was fun having my first time under the belt.

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The best advice when it comes to learning how to sharpen is to take it slow and really pay attention to the angle and burr formation. It's taken me a couple of years but now I am confident in sharpening any knife and that's because I force myself to slow down when sharpening.

Here's a pic. I took back the choil a bit and the chip is mostly gone. Went up to 1200 grit sandpaper and it feels great. You can still see some wonkiness to the edge near the chip, but that and what's left of the chip, will work out with future sharpenings I suppose. Hopefully as I get better.

My wife said I'm crazy so that must be a good sign?

Looks great, you seem to be figuring it all out just fine.

I love those little Zak's, and blue 1 is a nice steel to learn on.

Thanks! I really like this little knife and it looks cool, too.

looks good to me

It's a pity that it happened on your new knife. But your job looks very nice! Learning is the key...

Nice work. I'm actually contemplating doing that to a couple "perfectly good knives", because I like less risk of jabbing myself when I get moving quickly.

I've ordered that on one of my custom's as well.

I had no idea I was being so hip, hehe.

If I were going to have a chip on my knife, that would be the preferred location! Good job!