best way to fix a bent blade tip?

Bend it the other way with pliers.
Or you can try putting it on a flat piece of wood, and use a brass hammer to tap it straight.
 
stabman said:
Bend it the other way with pliers.
Or you can try putting it on a flat piece of wood, and use a brass hammer to tap it straight.
Click to expand...
that sounds simple and logical but I am affraid of snapping the tip off. AAHH hell I guess I should just do it and stop being a puss.
 
The best way will likely involve grinding the tip off. Depending on the steel. 154CM?
I'm surprised the tip on a Leek would bend and not just snap.
 
A hardened blade should not be straightened at temperatures below 400 F. Is it just the tip 1/16- 1/8" or bigger ?
 
Yeah, what mete said.
And yeah, grinding it off (as mentioned) would be the better route.
Of course if you don't have access to a belt grinder, that's another thing.
 
I'm no expert, but "bent" means plastic deformation which induces stresses into the material. You can try bending it back, inducing more stresses into the material, which will make the tip more prone to breakage. Like Mete said, you could heat it to alleviate the stresses (during or after), but the hotter it gets the more your heat treat will suffer. I'd say heat it with a hair dryer (to keep the temperature well below being problematic), bend it back, and hope it doesn't snap. If it does, you're no worse off than some have recommended, and you just file it down. If you do file it down, be comforted by the fact you now have a custom knife with a stronger tip. :)
 
I severely doubt the heat of a hair dryer would mitigate anything.
 
Maybe not, but think of it this way... stress a knife when it's 20 deg below 0, and it's more likely to snap (demonstrated many times). So I'm betting that heating 100 degrees just might keep it from snapping.
 
Reasoned1 said:
Maybe not, but think of it this way... stress a knife when it's 20 deg below 0, and it's more likely to snap (demonstrated many times). So I'm betting that heating 100 degrees just might keep it from snapping.
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Maybe.:)
I've had good luck with thin blades like the Leek which got bent. Of course, it also depends on how bent we're talking about.
A picture would help.
 
Try to bend it back (always take Mete's advice) it will probably break, then grind/shape it to fix it. A rough sharpening stone will make quick work of the job, no problem doing it by hand and taking your time. I have seen what you can make, this will be easy for you! :D
 
Kevin, something I have done in the past is take and stab the blade into a medium density piece of wood, like wet pine 2x4 and use that to bend it back. It will help distribute the stress better by giving a smoother surface rather than like pliers.


-Xander
 
Get pieces of steel plate about 1/4 to 1/2 thick even a couple of sq inches. Heat those to 400-450f, stick the blade in between them past the bent, wait a few seconds for the plates to heat the tip and then clamp. Best bet. No chance of overheating tip. even pressure.

On a side note. I have a little jig that set up in my little arbor press for straighten warped blades after HT. I seam to have problems keeping big thin blades dead straight in HT. This does very well straightening
DSCF0591.jpg

the flats on the bottom brass pieces are angled a bit so that the top one contacts the full blade width on standard grind. By sliding the bottom plate left or right you can change the proportion of force as the blade narrows top to bottom. Placing shims under the blade limits how much you load it. I use it close to my tempering oven
 
Clamping it flat won't straighten the bend. You have to OVERBEND the blade in the opposite direction.
 
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