Small Chip; How Easy to Repair?

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Migraine

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Have this small chip on a Konosuke GS+ petty.

Was planning to try and repair it today thinking it would be easy when it dawned on me perhaps it might not be super straightforward.

I've fixed a few tips but never a chip. Is this something I should be attempting, or should I really be sending it to someone who knows what they are doing? It's not a crazy expensive knife but it's not one I particularly want to accidentally destroy.
 

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You’ll be fine. It’ll need thinning at some point during the fix. Just make sure to thin/sharpen evenly over the length of the blade so you don’t f up the profile. That’s the only thing to watch out for imo.
 
i chipped a konosuke MM not too long ago, by dropping it in the sink 🤦‍♀️ two or three chips, significant, but a little smaller than yours.
i'm not an experienced sharpener, but eager, so a leap of faith later i was grinding along, beginning with a SG500. it was a success. i learned a lot and gained some confidence.

it's not rocket science (admittedly a bit of magic though), but as already been brought up, keep the angle low enough to keep it thin behind the edge.

if you're not happy with the result – just give it to someone else.

.
 
Migraine said:
Have this small chip on a Konosuke GS+ petty.

Was planning to try and repair it today thinking it would be easy when it dawned on me perhaps it might not be super straightforward.

I've fixed a few tips but never a chip. Is this something I should be attempting, or should I really be sending it to someone who knows what they are doing? It's not a crazy expensive knife but it's not one I particularly want to accidentally destroy.
Click to expand...
its about half an hour job.

i'd start with a 220 or so. to get rid of the chip and then fix the profile. and then thin it out. basically moving everything that exist now upwards. as it is.

then shapton glass 500 to reduce the scratches.

then a 1k. to reduce the scratches.

and then its up to you. i'd probably finish that blade on a 3-4k straight after the 1k.

-------------

i did a 3x larger chip in about half an hour on blue super. i got carried away when i did one of my beer can dura-marathons, where i chop up beer cans. and i did that whole job on the glass 500 and atoma 400. i'd say it reduced the atomas life by about 60% or so. and the shapton 500 by about 1%. and then i got some 220ies!
 
Troopah_Knives said:
That chip should be pretty easy. The bevel seems very narrow right now so you won't have to remove too much material. My advice would be to start with a fairly coarse stone as the faster material removal rate will help a lot to avoid rounding.
Click to expand...
Not sure what rounding you mean.
 
sumis said:
i chipped a konosuke MM not too long ago, by dropping it in the sink 🤦‍♀️ two or three chips, significant, but a little smaller than yours.
i'm not an experienced sharpener, but eager, so a leap of faith later i was grinding along, beginning with a SG500. it was a success. i learned a lot and gained some confidence.

it's not rocket science (admittedly a bit of magic though), but as already been brought up, keep the angle low enough to keep it thin behind the edge.

if you're not happy with the result – just give it to someone else.

.
Click to expand...
do you try to remove the chip by sharpening at a low angle ?
isn't it faster to remove the chip by using a high angle and afterwards thing the knife ?
 
r0bz said:
do you try to remove the chip by sharpening at a low angle ?
isn't it faster to remove the chip by using a high angle and afterwards thing the knife ?
Click to expand...

depends on how big the chip (in my honestly limited experience).

i just did a full progression at a slightly lower angle than usual – and then i keep track of edge thickness in subsequent sharpening sessions in the future.

.
 
r0bz said:
do you try to remove the chip by sharpening at a low angle ?
isn't it faster to remove the chip by using a high angle and afterwards thing the knife ?
Click to expand...
6 of one and a half dozen of the other. I prefer to go very low angle first. Fix the chip and thin the knife at the same time. Then cut a new apex / micro bevel / primary bevel whatever you want to call it.

But some people wil do a high angle and then thin.

Some will breadknife the whole edge until the chip is gone and then thin and sharpen.

Any way you look at it, fixing a chip involves removing material along the whole edge down to the depth of the chip. This will fatten the geometry of the knife and require thinning if you want to achieve the same performance. Fixing damage eats steel. But for home cooks it should never be that big of an issue. When I was really throwing down I ground through a gyuto every three years or so. Most height loss of the blade occurs from repairing chips.

Over time I started sharpening knives with a different strategy. I thin the tip half of the knife to improve speed and performance but I thicken the heel of the knife to improve durability. I expect my gyutos to be able to do precise to work. And split chicken sternums without chipping. If they can't do both then I'll generally modify them until they can.

 
Sorry, I was joking/being an idiot. Not entirely sure myself.
 
Watch how the angle changes. Near the tip I have the knife lying flat down on the stone. Near the heel I have a fatter angle. Same thing when I apply the micro bevel. I make it narrower/more acute/thinner toward the tip and fatter/more obtuse/thicker near the heel.



Here's another one with sound and a little explanation. Fixing a chip in my shi.han.

 
stringer said:
Watch how the angle changes. Near the tip I have the knife lying flat down on the stone. Near the heel I have a fatter angle. Same thing when I apply the micro bevel. I make it narrower/more acute/thinner toward the tip and fatter/more obtuse/thicker near the heel.



Here's another one with sound and a little explanation. Fixing a chip in my shi.han.

Click to expand...

when thinning do you apply both pressure on edge trailing and leading ?
 
Migraine said:
Have this small chip on a Konosuke GS+ petty.

Was planning to try and repair it today thinking it would be easy when it dawned on me perhaps it might not be super straightforward.

I've fixed a few tips but never a chip. Is this something I should be attempting, or should I really be sending it to someone who knows what they are doing? It's not a crazy expensive knife but it's not one I particularly want to accidentally destroy.
Click to expand...


Dunno if this post of mine might help at all. But yeah - it’s not difficult tbh, you’ll be grand!


https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/repair-and-restoration.56984/
 
i know stringer likes the naniwa SS 2k. but are the lower grit ones suitable for thinning? these are all "soft" resinoids right?
 
inferno said:
i know stringer likes the naniwa SS 2k. but are the lower grit ones suitable for thinning? these are all "soft" resinoids right?
Click to expand...
They are surprisingly fast on simple steels with some pressure. As long as you keep them clean. But they are very soft too. It is paradoxical. I keep mine convexed actually by scrubbing it frequently with a dished out old shapton glass 500. When it glazes I scrub the swarf glaze off with a wet kitchen rag. That is my SS2K in action in the first video up there. Surprisingly, I bought it before any of my Shapton stones and have used it 4 or 5 times as much over the years but it somehow still has a ton of life left in it. So the resinoid is pretty soft if you cut into it. But the abrasive releases in such a way that the stone actually lasts a really really long time (mine is 15+ years old). I usually broke out the shaptons for chip repairs that required a lot of thinning, so it makes sense that even though they got used less they dished more. But the super stones was sufficient for maintenance thinning for routine sharpening or touchups (just like in that video above). And I repaired dozens of tips over the years by shaping them in a groove I cut into the side of the stone. In the meantime I am on my third shapton glass 500 (1 regular and 2 double thick) and my second shapton glass 2000 and my second shapton pro 1000. So I actually consider them to be soft yet dish resistant if that makes sense. Much more so than a Suehiro or King 1000 for instance.
 
stringer said:
And I repaired dozens of tips over the years by shaping them in a groove I cut into the side of the stone.
Click to expand...

you know what. i have to admit i actually stole this idea from you. heheheh

but i use the groove to reprofile blades with lots of small chips in them, and also "recurves". its convenient. what can i say :)
 
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