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If there is an inherent weakness in the steel there, I don't think shortening the blade will help. As long as it is round, then it's doubtful that the crack will radiate. I would guess that it will...

Hah! OK, ignore what I wrote before. Apparently I can't tell the difference between the spine and the edge, and I failed to notice you wrote "a quarter inch from the blade."

That is possibly of...

It's already a square point (as opposed to a 90 degree spike point) so you can just round out the tip a little more and eliminate the chip. You can do this on the side of your coarsest hone and will...