Microtech Fillet knife - initial impressions

[Geode]

I received my Microtech fillet knife via brown truck today from Roger at Bayou Lafourche and wanted to share some initial impressions with those of you who have been interested in this knife.

Overall: Fit and finish are excellent. Feel in the hand is also excellent, in most any grip.

Specs:
Steel: S30V, I do not know the RC

Weight – don’t know exactly, but the knife is light (maybe 5oz or so)

Handle: Aluminum with Kraton inserts, about 5” long. The handle is held together with three stainless steel torx screws. There are grooves milled into the handle for the thumb, forefinger, and pinky. There is a slight birds beak at the butt of the handle. The handle is flared where it meets the blade to form a natural guard.

Blade: 7” from the handle to the tip and about 2mm thick. Stonewashed. The blade has a little flex towards the last inch or two from the tip, but it is not flexible in the way that the traditional fillet knives such as Gerber, Rapala, and Cold Steel are.
The spine of the blade is nicely rounded and reminds me much of the spine of my Sebenza. The rounded spine makes it pretty easy to choke up on the knife with your thumb. There is a slight upsweep to the blade with a nice belly and a very sharp tip – I like the tip. The grind lines are excellent and the tip is ground about perfectly.
Edge angles appear to be less than 20degrees per side, but I cannot say exactly what they are. The edge is very sharp. The best way I can describe the factor edge is that it is a little toothy, like the edge of a Dozier. This may be due to the nature of the S30V steel, the grinding technique, or both. Anyway, it is a great working edge.

Sheath: nicely finished kydex sheath with slots and rivet holes for multiple lashing options. The sheath also has a Tek lock system that appears to allow for horizontal carry. The handle is secured partially by the kydex which fits around the handle, but also by a rubber ring that slips over the butt of the knife. It will take some getting used to, but I anticipate the rubber will loosen up a little. Time will tell how durable this closure is. There is a drainage hole at the very tip of where the blade rests in the sheath.

Balance point about ¾” behind where the handle meets the blade and feels excellent in the hand. Although I consider this to be a kitchen/utility knife, it is very agile in the hand for those of you folks who like that thing.

I soaped up and washed the knife first and noticed that the handle was still grippy even when held with soapy water. My suspicion is that it would do well when covered with fish slime too.

Some simple cutting tests:

Foam packing peanuts – went through with very little effort and cut cleanly.
Raw Broccoli – excellent cutting with very little force.
Whittling seasoned pine – nice shavings were produced with a very clean cut.
Whittling seasoned oak and hickory – pretty good at whittling hardwood too

This knife is a SLICER, and it appears that it will meet my primary need as a kitchen/camp/light utility knife. The fit and finish are excellent. Period. Though it is thin and semi-flexible, this knife does what I want a knife to do and that is cut. I have been moving towards thinner knives, and will carry a good hatchet or axe when outdoors.

The feel in the hand and quality of the materials inspires confidence in me. The wife tried it and really liked the way the knife felt, cut and looked. It passed the sheeple-friendly test.

So much for my first impression, I will try to use the knife extensively to post some on the edge durability, ease of touching up/sharpening, etc. I believe this knife to be a very good value and look forward to getting to know it better.

I would have liked to post pictures, if anyone would be willing to do this for the group, please email me and I will send you some pics.

 

[Danbo]

I also picked up one of these little jewels a couple of weeks ago, and I really like the knife. Typical Microtech precision, meaning perfect grinds. Blade steel is S30V, which also means that it is very wear resistant(a little harder to sharpen too). This knife is a super slicer/dicer, and due to it not being super flexible, makes for a great camp knife. And, for the price, it is a bargain.

 

[Geode]

Well,

I compared the MT Fillet to two other fine cutting knives (Dozier Yukon Skinner, BM710HS) on many different types of cardboard.

All three knives started with approximately the same degree of sharpness, though each has a different edge bevel and blade thickness. All three sailed through the different density and thickness cardboards.

At this point I would liken the cutting ability of the MT Fillet knife to that of the Dozier, with respect to cardboard. It is less likely to bind in dense substrates (potatoes, etc.) because of the blade is about half as thick as the Dozier. The S30V edge has a toothy feel like the D2. The flat grind of the MT makes it an excellent slicer, but the handle is not as ergonomic as a Dozier Yukon Skinner. However, I think the handle of the MT would give you a much more positive grip under wet or slimy conditions.

Maybe it is my sharpening, but, the Dozier outcuts the MT fillet on single sheets of paper that are held loosely by hand. If I come up with any more insights on this knife, I will post them in the future. IMO, this still remains a knife in the high value category.

 

[Geode]

Well five years has come and gone since I first handled the Microtech fillet knife. During that time, countless knives have passed through my hands, including the original MT fillet knife that I posted about.

I recently re-purchased the MT Fillet knife and believe that I will be hanging on to it. The balance, weight, and cutting power make this knife a champ in the kitchen. The thin blade which is not all that flexible makes short work of meats, veggies, just about anything that needs cutting. The sheath really is a nice piece of work and makes for great outdoor carry.

The MT fillet joins a Dozier fillet knife (5.8" blade) and damascus santoku as the most used and valued knives in the kitchen. If you have been thinking about getting the MT Fillet, they are still around at reasonable prices at a few places. Don't know what the future plans of MT are with respect to this knife, but I do not see it on their website. They must have made a batch of these recently because mine is dated 2/2007.

The knife made in 2002 seems to have been made with better workmanship, but not by a whole lot.