Bent tip repair - Wusthof / Zwilling

[over40]

I have a few knives where the very end of the tip is sligthly bent. Wondering if there is any way to fix this other than grinding it down. I want to place the tip on my counter and push down on it with some force to see if I can get the bend out... but am afraid it will break. Wondering what others do about this type of damage. Any info is appreciated. I am attaching a pic of a 8" Wusthof with the bent tip...

 

[cooktocut]

Whether it breaks and you fix it, or if you reprofile it now, it’s basically the same amount of work. So I’d say you’d have nothing to lose to try and bend it back. Those are relatively soft steel so you should be fine.

 

[Pie]

Cut a slot in a piece of wood and use that to bend - it’s a lot more accurate and you can modulate the force applied a bit better. It also will bend along a flat plane theoretically.

I recently did this and straight snapped the bent piece off. Ngl it was easier to hog off a bunch of steel from the spine than to massage the tip back into place.

 

[refcast]

Put the tip between two pieces of wood and hold the wood down or clamp it. Or put the tip between a counter or surface and wood. Or flat pliers, though that will marr the steel slightly. Bend very very slightly to see if it straightens, and repeat and increase angle slightly until it straightens. I've straightned monosteel that's around 61 hrc, so whustoff should be fine to straighten, since it's softer, though the heat treat might lead to coarser steel, which could also break anyways

 

[over40]

thanks for the replies. I may try using a couple of blocks - gently - to see what happens...

 

[TB_London]

If something gentle straightens it - then something gentle will bend it again. In which case grind it back.

Wear eye protection in case it pings off and then apply some persuasion either with pliers, bending stick, or some taps with a hammer

 

[Delat]

I managed to mostly bend the tip of my Yoshikane back into place after dropping it. It still looks a little wavy but hasn’t affected functionality at all. Your wusthof/zwilling should be much softer so I don’t think it’ll snap off. Do wear hand and eye protection though.

 

[M1k3]

I managed to mostly bend the tip of my Yoshikane back into place after dropping it. It still looks a little wavy but hasn’t affected functionality at all. Your wusthof/zwilling should be much softer so I don’t think it’ll snap off. Do wear hand and eye protection though.

The Yoshikane is also san-mai. Makes bending much easier.

 

[Delat]

The Yoshikane is also san-mai. Makes bending much easier.

The tip is the exposed core steel though. The SKD is surprisingly tough/flexible and bends vs breaking/chipping.

 

[Qdog]

I managed to mostly bend the tip of my Yoshikane back into place after dropping it. It still looks a little wavy but hasn’t affected functionality at all. Your wusthof/zwilling should be much softer so I don’t think it’ll snap off. Do wear hand and eye protection though.

Exactly what happened to mine today! I was coring apples, and must've use the tip too much and it slightly bent. What technique did you use to bring it back?
Would heating the metal slightly with a blowtorch help?

 

[refcast]

https://www.amazon.com/Crescent-C71...lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Crescent auto wrench, bent slightly and check. Please wear safety glasses and leather gloves or cut resistant gloves. Possibility of breaking the tip, keep in mind. Otherwise a hardened steel (harder than the knife) or carbide chisel hammer.

 

[Qdog]

https://www.amazon.com/Crescent-C71...lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Crescent auto wrench, bent slightly and check. Please wear safety glasses and leather gloves or cut resistant gloves. Possibility of breaking the tip, keep in mind. Otherwise a hardened steel (harder than the knife) or carbide chisel hammer.

You wouldn't heat up the tip slightly to make it more pliable?

 

[mahwen]

Dont heat the tip, you will very quickly destroy the temper and will effect a much bigger area of the blade than just the tip.

Bend gently back as others have suggested with blocks or just pushing the tip on a hard surface. Will need to go slightly past straight to reverse the bend. Can be done pretty easily

 

[Jovidah]

-Don't heat knife blades to 'make them more pliable', you'll just ruin the heat treatment permanently.
-Core with the heel, not with the tip. Is more ergonomical anyway.

 

[refcast]

Yeah heating would make it more pliable but I don't recommend it , straightening can be done without heating, but it's your knife

 

[Qdog]

Dont heat the tip, you will very quickly destroy the temper and will effect a much bigger area of the blade than just the tip.

Bend gently back as others have suggested with blocks or just pushing the tip on a hard surface. Will need to go slightly past straight to reverse the bend. Can be done pretty easily

Yeah I was worrying about messing the tempering. Thank you for confirming this!

 

[Delat]

Exactly what happened to mine today! I was coring apples, and must've use the tip too much and it slightly bent. What technique did you use to bring it back?
Would heating the metal slightly with a blowtorch help?

I forget exactly. I think I put the tip against a flat piece of wood and used a flat screwdriver wrapped in tape to gently apply pressure at the bend along with lifting from the handle end as needed. Once I got it reasonably flat I tried tapping with a hammer a times to reduce the waviness but that had minimal effect.

 

[Qdog]

Successful bending back!
It was only the first 2mm so not a big deal but nice to have it straightened.
There is still a slight waveyness and I knock the very tip (0.3mm of that) but happy with the result.
Thanks KKF for the help once again