Wounded Beauty: DIY Dent Rehab

Cake Artist "TT" needed big help with a knife.  I answered the call.

Bad juju emanated from the dented blade.  "Ex-roommate," she explained.  "Can it be fixed without grinding off half the blade?"

"I'll try," I said.



Said roommate had dropped or banged the knife HARD on something solid, denting the edge of the blade SIDEWAYS from its axis.  There had never been an explanation or an apology.  I neglected to take a pre-operation picture for some reason, but the dent was 2-3 mm long and had rendered the knife unusable due to its location smack in the middle of the edge.  It bowed out so far to one side that it couldn't cut or rock straight at all.

I wrapped the blade in blue masking tape and took it to the workshop, where it took a hammer, a penny (the curve matched the curve of the dent) and a slab of cement (anvil) to get the metal back into line.

The steel kept springing back into the dented shape at first, but blow by blow it began to re-align.  The soft copper of the penny damped the strike of the steel hammer-head, and provided precision force on the curved area.  After the dent was about 75% trued-in, I took the blade to the stone to grind off the jagged spot.  You can still see the slight curvature that remained in the blade about halfway down its length.

I prevailed.  The stone took off very little metal, preserving the shape and curve of the blade, and the resulting edge was sharp and straight.  Only a dimple remained of the dent.

Now, "TT" just needs to find a better knife holder, and she'll get many more years out of her old friend.