best steel to use for a fillet knife?

J.McDonald Knives

J.McDonald Knives

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im planning on making a fillet knife in a few months that will work for freshwater and saltwater fishing. im looking for a good steel to use that is durable and flexable enough for such a task and how to go about HTing and tempering it to get the flexability and still have the edge holding ability. also what thickness should i get the steel? thanks for the help.
 
My first guess is to go with 1/16" or so 440C or higher-grade stainless, grind it thin, and have a reputable HT'er take care of the rest.

My landlord wants me to make him a filet knife that's very flexible yet holds a razor edge all day; I do not know how to do this! I think I know how to do one or the other but not both at once. Is it even possible/practical to edge-quench a carbon steel blade that small and thin, for a hard edge/tough spine? Maybe clay-coat the spine (a nice hamon would look pretty cool on a fishing knife!)? I'm looking forward to the responses.

It's a dang good question, PS; you don't see too much about filet knives around here, but I bet they out-sell* hunting knives in the general public, and the guys who need them actually use them a lot more often. (it's common to clean a dozen fish in a day, how many guys gut/skin more than one or two big game animals a year?) Hence my landlord's desire for excellent edge-holding; he just doesn't want to stop and touch up his knife in the middle of a big pile of wallies or trout. "Just strop it" is not to going to cut it for him. (ho ho)

On the other hand, it might be hard to sell a $100+ hand-made filet knife to a guy who knows he can pick up a pretty decent Rapala for $15, maybe that's why we don't hear much about them here? It's one of those weird things where some guys think nothing of dropping $100 on a "miracle" rod but refuse to pony up for a better knife... *shrug*

*OK maybe not "out-sell"... but there's a lot more guys on the water than in the woods at any given time except deer season... I'm not making this very clear but I think you get my point...
 
How would you Heat treat it?
How would you grind it later without over heating the blade?

I would love to make a bunch of filet knives, but I dont see many being made on this forum, I have no idea how to do it?

But I would love to see a step-by-step link posted on this topic.
 
CPM154 would be a great choice .Like all stainless it has to be very carefully heat treated !!! Flexibility depends on thickness not HT !!!
 
mete, what would you recommend the final thickness to be? what range?

Allan, i would have it sent off for HT and if need-be have them temper it too. it would still look great and be meaningful not to mention it would be the best fillet knife i have ever owned. i do give credit to Rapala on their fillet knives but they still cant beat a handmade knife. im also wondering how a stag handle would look on a fillet knife. :D
 
Thanks mete, your point makes sense. The blade has to be quite thin anyway, of course. I was wondering about diff-tempering carbon steel mainly because I know PS likes to forge.

So, going with a high-grade stainless, you may as well go for the higher hardness/edge retention, yes? 60c or even higher?

PS, I think stag would look great on a fishing knife, but then I think it looks great on almost anything :)
 
i used cpm154 on the 2 i have made as a set
shoot for 1/16 thick at the spine and work slow and steady on the grind after the heat treat
and once you get close hand sanding the last bit to a "0 edge bevel" works great the 2 ive made were 61 ish on the hardness and they were cryoed rightt after quench
 
oo and for the most part you can go thin and hard on the edge cause even the bones on most fish are not all that hard
 
thanks Butch. think i could buy a foot of your CPM154 after i get my tax return? i want to get it then cause i will have the money. not to mention i see tax returns as splurge money. :D HEHEHE!!!!
 
With fillet knives I profile, then HT then grind the bevels slow to not ruin the HT. Helps cut down on HT warpage on the super thin blades.
 
BigJimSlade said:
With fillet knives I profile, then HT then grind the bevels slow to not ruin the HT. Helps cut down on HT warpage on the super thin blades.
Click to expand...

i like to grind about half way and since i plate quench things for the most part stay put

also you can put a 2nd bar or board behind the blade so it will not flex as much while grinding
 
I'm not doing salt water, but I'm in the process of grinding a couple filet knives out - this is where my old crosscut saw scrap is handy. L6. We'll see how they turn out.

The two I'm making are a backpacking one with a 3.5 inch blade and a 'regular northern cali" one with a 7 inch blade.

I know nada bout stainless in this case.
 
I use CPM154 for all my fillet knives now. I do about 30-40 a year. I am going to experiment with CPM-M4 for the ultimate edge holding fillet knife.

As to the thickness, There are two types of fillet knives:
Large fish (tuna, drum, rockfish, etc.) and those knives I make from .120 thick stock. I flat grind to the spine, and give it a distal taper. They look good with file work down the spine. Blades from 8-12". These have a guard.

Small fish - (flounder, bluefish, sea trout) These are very thin and flexible. I taper from .100 to about .060 with a flat grind about 3/4 the way up. Blades from 6-10". No guards usually.

I grind to about 90%, finishing with a 400 belt, and do HT. A little cleanup and grind the final edge after HT is all it takes. Since these are all working knives, the get a medium Scotch Belt finish.

There have been several threads discussing fillet knives.
Stacy
 
thanks Stacy. that was exactly what i was looking for. could you send me a few pics of your fillet knives so i can see how the master does it? thanks again for sharing your knowledge. thanks everyone for all your replies and help and advice.
 
I asked a guy, Tim, not too long ago "Dang Tim, anything you don't know about?"

"There was, but I read up on it."
 
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