Got this as a gift second handed and would like to sharpen it and make it usable again. The serrated top part started to just break off, so I am cautious about potential metal parts in my food. Any tips welcome, thanks.
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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Any story on what caused the chip?
Other than that, just looking up the knife to find out the variety of steel it’s made of. If it’s cheap steel with fancy lettering, this will probably happen again and you should just display it. If it’s not cheap steel, it’s easily worth the cost to fix.
It's more often a factor of how the steel is treated and the resulting hardness of the blade.
Japanese knives are usually heat treated to a much higher hardness. That makes them more resistant to wear, but much more easy to chip if the blade isn't cut cleanly and twists on the cutting board, for example.
At the other end of the spectrum, you have German knives where they are not as hard, which makes the edge more durable to abuse but prone to losing it's sharpness faster.
In addition, eastern knives are often ground to a finer angle of like 10 to 12 degrees, while western knives are more blunt at 15 or even 20 degrees. A finer edge is by definition thinner, so combine that with higher hardness and you have a blade that can be seen as fragile to people that don't know better or are not as careful. On the other hand, it's seen by professionals as superior because they simply cut better and last longer, provided they are cared for.
In the last few years, there have been a huge number of “Japanese” knives produced in china with questionable quality, which is why I suggested checking the steel. You’re spot on with everything, just wanted to offer context.