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I bought an old knife, the previous owner botched up the blade. The sharpening was done so bad there are sections that look like a one sided knife blade and some that are sharpened on both. I can usually get a good hone on a knife if its been factory sharpened and then I take good care of it. But I'm not sure how I would restore this blade to a factory condition. I'd normally contact the manufacturer but they are no longer in existence.

How can I get my knife back to factory sharp condition? I'd like to get it ground down, how do I do this? What is the easiest way to do this?

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  • Duplicate of outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/7285/… ?
    – Beanluc
    Commented Sep 26, 2017 at 18:34
  • @Beanluc it's only a duplicate if a whetstone is the way to go. Depending on the knife you might start with a tungsten carbide V block, diamond file, or even a bench grinder.
    – Chris H
    Commented Sep 26, 2017 at 18:58
  • What sort of sharpener do you have at your disposal? I have had positive success cleaning up rust and tarnish with steel wool and oil, then if you have a vise and guide type of sharpener with an adjustable angle you can use a heavier grit block to get the bad side close to the correct angle by concentrating more on it, then proceed to sharpen like you would any standard dull blade once the correct angles are achieved. Likely if its really bad you will be removing a good amount of metal, but hopefully you wont have too.
    – Nate W
    Commented Sep 26, 2017 at 19:10
  • @NateWengert I just have ligher grit sharpening, I'm also worried that if I take a lot of metal off and do it wrong then I'll mess up the knife for good
    – Voltage Spike
    Commented Sep 26, 2017 at 19:27
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    You should really put a picture of that blade as the tools that can be used are various and from your description its not clear if you could go away with some light work or you would really need to re-grind the thing. If the previous owner took away too much metal it might never go to any condition close to original
    – Erik vanDoren
    Commented Sep 26, 2017 at 20:45

3 Answers 3

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Take it to a knife smith. They have specialized equipment, experience, and knowledge. They'll be able to put an appropriate grind back on it and address any other issues.

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The next time a Gun & Knife show or an Outdoor Gear show comes to your area, take the knife. Visit a vendor who is selling knife sharpeners and giving demonstrations. Use the line,

Your sharpener won't be able to get THIS knife sharp.

If the knife comes out sharp, then buy the product. You will then have a sharp knife and a method to keep it that way.

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  • That is a great idea
    – Voltage Spike
    Commented Sep 27, 2017 at 21:56
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If you want to go the DIY route, use a stationary/bench grinder.
These often have adjustable guides to help you set an angle equal to the original.
After getting the angle back on both sides of the knife and getting rid of all the dents in the blade you can use a whetstone to sharpen the rest of the knife.

Example of a stationary grinder

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