Fillet knives

Precision Edge Sharpening

Precision Edge Sharpening

Mail in sharpening service
Joined
Jul 8, 2023
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How do y’all sharpen fillet knives, I’m talking the real long and flexible ones, guided systems and stones are about off the books, I can somewhat get them on a wicked edge but not as good as I like.
 
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The home made small knife rest works very well on long & flexible fillet knives
Also on even longer salmon knives, quite a few restaurants in my area use these.
The section of the edge that is being sharpened is always supported & straight.

K

Photos Thread 'Home made small knife rest for Tormek'

Several years ago i made this small knife rest, a variant based on the original design by Tormek forum member Herman Trivillino.
Mine is being used for reprofiling/sharpening various blade shapes & sizes (flat ground is ideal, but saber ground is also possible), from the small blades in Victorinox knives up to expensive professional gyuto's with 210 mm blades.

A possible problem is that you would have to make such a knife rest yourself, as Tormek still doesn't offer something comparable.
I used a piece of Torlock cut from a Tormek SVD-110 tool rest (which remains functional afterwards...
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These vintage Artus Flex knives were also resharpened on the Tormek using the home made small knife rest.
Blade thickness in each is ~1.0 mm:

K

Photos Post in thread 'Vintage Artus Flex knife'

Article about the Artus Flex knife in American Tactical Knives magazine.
The picture can be clicked 2 x then enlarged further to read the text.

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Freehand is my preference for any kind of long, flexible blade. Like Uncleboots said, you kind of slide your thumb (and/or index finger, depending on the direction) along the spine of the blade to maintain contact and *feel* the edge on the stone. I would leave the edge fairly coarse as well.

Trying to do these kind of knives on any kind of guided system is pretty tough, unless you have something with multiple clamps that can hit the back, middle and point part of the blade. Even then they typically don't allow you to get to a low enough angle since there is not enough blade exposed. That's why I just grab a diamond plate or two and call it good!
 
I like a coarse stone for fillet knives. I'm finishing them on a well broke in diamond plate at 325 or something like that. I do nothing fancy, it's an approximation of a convex edge by raising the angle as I go. Set it a little lower than I want until I get a bur or nearly so, raise it up a bit and finish.
 
I sharpen fillet knives or flexible boning knives one of two ways. First is a crock stick with the blue medium grit ceramic rods or I use a very course sic carbide bench stone with very light pressure. There isn’t really an equivalent replacement for learning how to hand sharpen with stones imo.
 
I use a 1x30 Rikon variable speed bench sander. I grind as close to 15degrees. I finish on a 600 grit belt with belt grease. I strop with Tormek paste to finish around 90 on the BESS. They end up with a slightly convexed edge.
I am a avid fisherman and have been cleaning fish my entire adult life. Now days it's most often Walleye or Saugeye but the result is the same. With knives that sharp and a refined edge you can push cut right through them. I have tried flat, concave and convex, the convex or flat seem to work a tad better than hollow ground, for me.
 
I have always used bench stones, I'll use a round steel in the field in between fish. But really some fillet knives are not suitable for all fish. I just finished a very flexible fillet knife great for trout, but you might hurt yourself trying to clean a red drum with it cause the scales and bones are too tough on the red fish. You could always scale the fish first, which I do when I have to But they are easier to skin with scales on.
 
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