Chipped knife - how far can it be ground down?

[lambretta76]

So, somehow my Global 11" chef's knife got chipped on a chunk of chocolate in a cookie. Seriously. I didn't drop the knife on the sink or anything, my wife was chopping a log of cookie dough into rounds and it got stuck on a small chunk of chocolate.

Anyways, the chip is about 1/8" deep into the blade and measures about 1/4" long. My question is how far can you grind down a knife (is that the correct word) before the knife is no longer useful. Is it possible to have such a deep chip ground down and sharpened, or is this knife destined for the recycling bin?

[Soop]

chipped by a chip.

[szaydel]

Globals do carry a lifetime warranty. Seems to me like this is a legitimate warranty claim.

[Caralien]

My paternal grandfather had a sharpening wheel (metal foot pedals included) and my mother still uses a sharpening block for older knives (and cleavers). Some of the old knives now look like carving knives due to their sharpening over the decades. A good blade can be sharpened down until it looks like an ice pick. If these are not to your liking, try a hardware store or notions shop when they do sharpening (call ahead), as that's a fairly large nick.

The prettiest and most useful magnetic knife racks we found were at Ikea:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/pro...

[Robin Joy]

If Global or your retailer have any self respect then they should replace it, regardless of any guarantee which may be in place.

[karmalaw]

do you, by chance, store it on a magnetic knife bar or in a block that has magnets? There have been reports here on the boards of chipping on japanese knives stored with magnets (affects the multi-layers of the knives).

see:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/474252

[lambretta76]

Whoa - I do - I have the Global magnet holder for it. (I never would have bought it at full price, but it was on sale for $15 and I snatched it up.) I will look into that.

[Soop]

That was a very very interesting topic, thankyou. I'm glad I read it, as I've been dreaming of a magnetic knife rack when I move! I think I'll definitely commision my friend to build a leather sheath.

[HaagenDazs]

I agree with the others. You're in good shape. You knife sharpener should be able to help you out too and answer any questions you have.

[Soop]

No way! What knife was it? A G2 or something?

Man, my GF-33 gets taken care of so well, it lives in its original box in my room, and gets put back there as soon as I'm done with it. I would cry if I chipped it.

But man, I LOVE using it.

[ScubaSteve]

i'd say you can go pretty far. i have a (what started as) an 8" chef's knife that is now a filet/boning knife.

[scubadoo97]

lucky you have a long way to go to wear down the knife to the point of it being unusable. Sounds like a nasty chip though.

If you are not proficient at hand sharpening send it to a professional like Dave Martell at Japanese Knife Sharpening

http://www.japaneseknifesharpening.co...

Dave will have the knife back to you looking like new and sharper too.