A method is provided for repairing a single crystal turbine blade, which includes an airfoil with a tip having a tip cover plate, tip cooling air holes and a tip crown. The method includes removing the tip crown by manual grinding, thereby preserving the underlying tip cover plate; preparing the tip cooling air holes by manual grinding; closing said prepared tip cooling air holes by manual welding; and building-up a new tip crown by a LMF (Laser Metal Forming) process.