Filet knife from 1084?

[Col Defender]

I have been asked if I could make a fish filet knife. I have never made a knife that long or that thin and the couple of store bought ones we have around here are pretty flexible at the tip. I suppose I could make the knife, but is there anything about 1084 that would make it unsuitable for a filet knife? And since all I do is convex grinds, would that work?

I have not told the potential "customer" yet whether that would be something I can do. Thanks much!

 

[samuraistuart]

1084 is a great steel for any knife. The only two issues I can foresee off the top of my fat head is that most filet knives are stainless because they're around agua quite often, and finding 1084 in thin stock. I think the thinnest out there is .125....twice as thick as a filet knife should be I think. You can always remove a lot of material from a 1/8" bar.


My recommendation for a carbon steel filet knife would be 15n20. That steel comes in thin stock, has plenty o' carbon, and has Nickel for a bit of corrosion protection (not much protection but some).

 

[S.Alexander]

1084 is a great steel for any knife. The only two issues I can foresee off the top of my fat head is that most filet knives are stainless because they're around agua quite often, and finding 1084 in thin stock. I think the thinnest out there is .125....twice as thick as a filet knife should be I think. You can always remove a lot of material from a 1/8" bar.


My recommendation for a carbon steel filet knife would be 15n20. That steel comes in thin stock, has plenty o' carbon, and has Nickel for a bit of corrosion protection (not much protection but some).

Yup 15N20 is a great steel. Its very tough and easy to find in thin stock. There's no reason that 1084 wouldn't work other than finding the right thickness. If you have the ability to forge the blade you could get it thinner that way.

 

[Daniel Fairly Knives]

1084 will be great, the only downside I see is that it will need a small amount of maintenance for rust.. something I wouldn't mind.

Check out AEBL too, it wold be perfect for a filet knife. It's stainless, gets crazy sharp, inexpensive and comes in the right sizes.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I make a hundred or so fillet/fishing knives a year. I use 1/16" (.065") for all but big tuna/rockfish size knives. For those fillet-swords, I use 1/8" (.125").

1084 would be fine, as would O-1, 1095, and W2. All will have to be cared for properly to avoid rust.

15N20 would work well, and comes in thin stock, but will still rust to some degree.

My choices would be AEB-L or CPM-S35VN. Both are stainless. I make my fillet blades mainly in S35VN. Just send it off for HT and it will be a great knife.

 

[tim37a]

I think S35VN would be a better choice that AEB-L because of the higher wear resistance. The average filet knife dulls very quickly, due to cutting scales and bone, I think. The vanadium should keep it sharper much longer.

Tim

 

[Iwannashoot]

CD,

Every time I see this discussion I am tempted to weigh in with my opinion. Please keep in mind that people's opinions on what makes a good filet knife differ with experience.

That being said, I clean alot of fish. Probably more in a year than most people clean in a lifetime, and I much prefer a filet knife that is very stiff. I can control where I cut much more accurately with a stiff knife than one that flexes all over the place. I don't know how or why flexability got to be a preferred attribute for cleaning fish, but most of the guys that cut fish in our local seafood markets use a knife on the stiffer end of the spectrum. This especially applies when cleaning larger fish or fish with large heavey scales.

The only drawback with 1084 would be as previously stated. Corrosion resistance would be an issue, especially around salt water.

Good luck

Jeff

 

[PoolQs]

I have now made 6 from 1084. None of my friends or myself have complained that it was not stainless.
Just have to take a little more care of it than SS. But I will have to say that I couldn't get my 1084 to
the same flex as the SS. We use ours mostly for Bass, catfish, crappie, and bluegill. No Problems !!

Here is the one I made for me;

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[David Stifle]

Here's a little Bird and Trout knife I finished recently. It is made of 1084. I made it for freshwater fish, ducks, rabbits, etc. I'm keeping this one and can't wait to try it out.