Method to sharpen fish filet knife .

K

Kevin the grey

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Aug 26, 2005
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I have a couple of filet knives that I can get a half decent edge on . I feel they could be sharper . Is there a particular method or angle to sharpen such springy knives ? Hand sharpening only please . One is a Falcon and the other is a Normark .
 
Kevin the grey said:
I have a couple of filet knives that I can get a half decent edge on . I feel they could be sharper . Is there a particular method or angle to sharpen such springy knives ? Hand sharpening only please . One is a Falcon and the other is a Normark .
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I use 6" DMT diamond hones (fine & medium) to get the profile I want and then maintain the edge with a fine diamond sharpening steel.
 
bwray said:
I use 6" DMT diamond hones (fine & medium) to get the profile I want and then maintain the edge with a fine diamond sharpening steel.
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So far I am just sharpening like a regular knife . Is there something different about the edge you want on a filet knife ?
 
The crock sticks have always worked well for me. I think I must have got mine about 30 years ago, and still use them all the time.
 
For a filleting knife knife you need a very shallow, somewhat fragile edge. The reason is a fillet knife needs to be sharp and fish is soft. My filleting knife is Global and is by far the sharpest of all the 60 or so chefs knives I have. I also have a carbon steel Sabatier that I got in my set at catering college and that has a very thin flexible blade. Also supremely sharp. Use diamond stone and then a fine ceramic hone.
 
Thanks everyone . I think Andrew has the approach I want to take . I guess I was asking the knife to do too much . I,ll put a thin edge on it and keep it just for fish or other softer materials . They are handy around the kitchen though . Maybe I,ll give one a more durable edge .
 
Kevin the grey said:
So far I am just sharpening like a regular knife . Is there something different about the edge you want on a filet knife ?
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I like a very fine edge with just a hint of convexity to it so it slides easily between skin and flesh.
 
bwray said:
I like a very fine edge with just a hint of convexity to it so it slides easily between skin and flesh.
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Ah, now that is 'skinning' fish and that is where there is a problem. After I have filleted a fish and want to skin it, my razor sharp knife will just go straight through the skin. I pick up a second blunter knife with a broad blade, nick into the tail of the fillet, angle the knife at 30' to the board, keep the knife still and shake and pull the skin I am holding in my left hand. The skin comes away, the fish stays on the cutting board. I once saw a commercial skinning machine which was a rotating square-ribbed roller fed from a flat sheet of stainless steel. About 1mm above the roller was a 2 foot long razor blade. Gave me shivers thinking about what would happen if your fingers or palm got involved!

Kevin. My filleting knife is only used for filleting fish, nothing else. Maybe it's opulent to have the choice not to use it, but if not you need to keep sharpening rather toooo often. Good call to keep one specially for filleting.
 
Yvsa most of my filet knives are dooe prizes from archery tournaments . I would have to agree with you as to their overall quality . Even though they are proabably stamped out mass produced items the metal seems good enough for the limitred task I demand of them . Honestly if I go fishing twice a year its a lot for me . I do it mostly to keep my hand in the game and to not let a barely used skill completely atrophy . What I like about even my middle quality fish knives is how flexible a knife can be and still retain what should be as keen an edge as possible . It is something for me to work on . Thanks .
 
I got a little diamond nail file I have been experimenting with . It was recommended to me on another forum . I find it a little rough which might be due to the fact I couldn,t find the Revlon brand I was advised to buy . The good thing about it is it is as flat a sharpener as you are going to get short of a piece of sandpaper .
I have had good luck with ceramic stones . I might go that route for a portable .
 
Kevin,

It makes sense now Kevin- with the shallow angle for your edge, and the knives being low cost SS, the edge goes fast.

I watched a Butcher once preparing meat in a 'meat factory'. He didn't use hardly any angle at all. I don't think he knew knives. I asked him about it and he just shrugged his shoulders, said it was how he always did it. Every few moments he'd swipe the blade with a stone and keep cutting.



munk
 
The "Filet Knife" best known to rural Southerners "back in the day" started out life looking like this;
OH726.jpg


That's an Old Hickory, carbon steel, boning knife, that even nowadays can be had for around five bucks. Over years of constant sharpening from boning out hogs, chickens, and routine kitchen use, the blades would get worn skinny and thin, but the knives would by no means be discarded. Just about everybody kept two or three in the kitchen knife drawer, and when it came time to clean a mess of fish, them knives were the cat's pajamas.

I'm thinking it would be a fun nostalgia project for me to take a new Old Hickory to the grinder/belt sander, to reproduce the effects of years of sharpening on a whetstone. Then I'll "age" the handle with sandpaper, bacon grease and a torch. The five dollar, reproduction old timey fish cleaning knife will then go into the kitchen knife drawer, and cheerfully wait for next time I come back from the river with a stringer full of fish. Them fancy filet knives from foreign countries just don't conjure the same images of a cane pole, a rusty old coffee can full of fresh dug worms, bare feet on a dusty red clay dirt road, or the smell of honeysuckle vines on a lazy summer day. :)

Sarge
 
Sarge I guess I,m too sqeamish to think of taking down a useable knife that far . I don,t have the experience you have with stock removal or forging so it gives you an edge . (bad pun) My buddy uses a butter knife literally ground down to a two inch nub . He says he doesn,t like those fancy scandinavian knives either . I like your idea better .
 
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