HUB 02 · Sharpening
How to Fix a Chipped Knife Edge
A chip isn't the end of a knife — it's a coarse-grit job. Here's how to grind the edge back below the damage and rebuild a clean edge from there.
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A chipped edge looks alarming but is usually a straightforward repair: you grind the whole edge down until it is level with the bottom of the chip, then rebuild a clean edge from there. It takes patience and a coarse grit, but almost any chip a home cook creates is fixable on a stone. Here is how, and how to avoid the next one.
What causes a chip (and whether it's fixable)
Chips come from a hard, thin edge meeting something it should not: bone, a frozen food, a hard glass or stone board, a twisting or prying motion, or a drop onto a hard floor. Harder Japanese steelschip where soft German steel would just roll, which is the trade for their keener edge. A small to medium chip — up to a couple of millimetres — is a routine fix. A very deep chip, or a bent tip, removes a lot of steel to repair and may be a job for a professional; but most kitchen chips are shallow and well within a home sharpener's reach.
What you'll need
A coarse stone or plate is the key tool — a 220–400 grit stone or a coarse diamond plate removes metal fast enough to make this practical; trying to grind out a chip on a 1000 grit alone takes forever. You then finish on a medium and fine grit — a 1000/6000 combination is ideal. Diamond is especially good for the coarse stage because it cuts hard steel fast and will not dish.
Step by step
How to do it
- 01
Assess the chip and pick your grit
Look at how deep the chip is. For anything past a tiny nick you want a coarse 220-400 grit stone or a coarse diamond plate; a 1000 grit alone will take far too long. Soak a water stone if it needs it.
- 02
Grind the edge down to the bottom of the chip
On the coarse stone, sharpen the whole edge at your normal angle, taking the entire edge down until it reaches the depth of the chip. You are lowering the edge line until the chip disappears. Work both sides evenly so the edge stays centered, and check often - stop the moment the chip is gone.
- 03
Re-establish the bevel on a medium grit
Move to a 1000 grit. Rebuild a clean bevel at a consistent angle along the whole edge, raising a small burr on one side from heel to tip, then the other. This turns the freshly ground edge back into a sharp one.
- 04
Refine and polish
Switch to a fine 6000 grit (or a finishing stone) and lighten your pressure to polish the edge and remove the burr. A few light, angle-matched passes per side is enough.
- 05
Deburr and test
Strop the edge on the stone's finest side, a leather strop, or the back of a notebook to remove the last of the burr. Then test the edge on paper or a tomato. If it still catches where the chip was, go back to the medium grit briefly.
- 06
Prevent the next chip
Keep the knife off bone, frozen food and hard boards, never twist or pry with it, and store it protected. Use a wood or plastic cutting board, never glass or stone.
Why the whole edge has to come down
It feels wasteful to grind good steel away to chase one chip, but there is no way around it: the edge is a continuous line, and you cannot leave a notch in it. By taking the whole edge down to the depth of the chip, you restore a straight edge line that you then re-sharpen. On a shallow chip this removes very little steel and costs the knife almost nothing; a knife has years of sharpening life in it. The one rule is to keep both sides even so the edge stays centered — the same discipline as a normal sharpening session, just starting coarser.
When to stop and call a professional
If a chip is very deep, if several chips run along the edge, or if the tip is snapped or badly bent, the amount of steel you would remove — and the risk of changing the blade's profile — makes a professional regrind the smarter call. The same goes for a knife you cannot get sharp no matter what, which is more often a technique problem than damage; work through why your knife won't get sharp first. For everyday shallow chips, though, this repair is well within reach and saves a knife people often wrongly write off.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can you fix a chipped knife?
Yes — most kitchen chips are fixable at home. You grind the whole edge down on a coarse stone until it reaches the bottom of the chip, then re-sharpen and refine on finer grits. Only very deep chips or bent tips are better left to a professional.
What grit removes a chip from a knife?
A coarse 220–400 grit stone or a coarse diamond plate — coarse grits remove metal fast enough to make chip repair practical. A 1000 grit alone would take far too long. Finish on 1000 and then 6000 to rebuild and polish the edge.
Why do knives chip?
A hard, thin edge chips when it meets bone, frozen food, a glass or stone board, a drop, or a twisting motion. Harder Japanese steels chip where soft German steel would roll instead. Prevent it with a wood or plastic board and by keeping the knife off hard objects. See knife care and storage.
Keep reading
Related
Receipts
Sources
- Sharpening Supplies — Understanding Sharpening Stone Grit
- Sharpening Supplies — Knife Sharpening Angles
We do not run a test kitchen, and we do not pretend to. Specs are the manufacturer's published figures, attributed as such; where we could not verify something, we say so on the page rather than quietly leaving it out. Read our full method.