# How to fix holes in a blade.



## greasedbullet (Nov 15, 2014)

How do you fix a blade with holes in it. You know parts where there is no blade contact with the board? I've tried sharpening the higher areas more so there is a more uniform profile, but they come back very quickly. Does it involve thinning behind the edge, or just really go at it and take a full millimeter off of the blade?

I'm kind of at a loss here so any help would be great. Thanks.


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## Dave Martell (Nov 15, 2014)

greasedbullet said:


> How do you fix a blade with holes in it. You know parts where there is no blade contact with the board? I've tried sharpening the higher areas more so there is a more uniform profile, but they come back very quickly. Does it involve thinning behind the edge, or just really go at it and take a full millimeter off of the blade?
> 
> I'm kind of at a loss here so any help would be great. Thanks.




Most people will tell you it's just a temporary thing that's easily fixed by grinding the edge up into the thicker parts of the blade. That can be but isn't always true. The worst case is what you're describing, no matter what you do at the edge the hole always comes back. The reason for the never ending hole is that too much metal has been removed above the edge and is at the very least enough of a problem to make you have to either abandon the knife as screwed or make the knife into something it wasn't meant to be in profile and/or geometry.


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## greasedbullet (Nov 15, 2014)

Ah. This may have been my doing. This is a knive I have had for a while and learned to thin on. Ill thin some more at the areas that dont wear as fast and see if that helps. Its a yoshikane kasumi I'd hate to just give up on it.

Thanks for the help.


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## JBroida (Nov 15, 2014)

reshape edge on stones at 90-ish degree angle, thin behind the edge, sharpen. If the under/overgrinds are too severe, you may really need to move up the blade a lot, making such a venture worthless. Also, make sure you arent thinning more in certain areas than others, which would cause this problem occur yet again.


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## psfred (Nov 16, 2014)

If the overgrind is severe, you may not be able to fix it. I doubt you could over-thin that much unless you were using a 1" belt sander carelessly. The usual issue is a factory over-grind where too much material was removed above the edge. Shows up as a "divot" in the side of the blade when held against a straightedge. 

Also, check to make sure the knife is not bent, and if it is find a way to straighten it. A kink in the blade will give you fits -- the first yanagiba I got was a very inexpensive stainless one, and I didn't check for bends before attempting to sharpen it. Made a mess, probably cannot fix it without a huge amount of effort to re-establish the hollow grind on the back. The bend will result in seriously over-grinding the edge on the outward bend side, and under-grinding on the opposite. You will get a hole every time. On soft stainless, a pull-through sharpener will mask the bend since it acts at only a tiny portion of the edge.

Peter


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## greasedbullet (Nov 23, 2014)

Thanks everyone. This will be my white whale. I will fix this knife. After the move of course.


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## krx927 (Nov 24, 2014)

Thanks for all the answers. I have exactly the same issue! I will try to fix it in next days.


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