How to fix an exposed tip on a slip joint knife

This is an incredibly annoying problem which I encountered first on my MKM Malga. The tip of the blade is partially exposed which means you can get your finger cut while handling the closed blade.

A close up of the gap.

I posted about this on instagram and a knife maker who goes by the name @deepcutscutlery suggested I file down the kick so that the blade can close deeper into the frame.

Obviously if I file down the kick too far then the apex will close into the frame and dull it, but I didn't really want to go through the effort of taking the knife apart to check for tolerances. In the end I just opened the other tools out of the way and it looked like there was a good amount of available room to let the knife close deeper.

I got a worn DMT Coarse out and very slowly abraded the kick, checking the fitment very frequently. Don't overdo this stage, you can't put metal back on!

Modified kick

I only spent a few minutes on this stage, I probably spent more time checking the fitment than I did on the stone. It worked very well, the blade is sitting much deeper in the frame and it's much harder to cut accidentally cut yourself on.

New fitment

You can still cut yourself if you purposely try and stick the fat of your finger in there. There is still room to file the kick even further but I think the blade length is the key issue here. Also the nail nick is already getting very low, to the point where it's hard to access behind the can opener.

New blade fitment 

Victorinox have done a much better job with this, especially as the problem will only get worse with more sharpening sessions as the blade gets smaller and smaller. 

Victorinox Pioneer fitment example

I made a video which demonstrates the the issues here.