New member saying hello. Looking for trout knife.

[Horsewright]

Thanks for posting that link! I remember when reading it that it brought back a TON of memories of me being out in the woods. I had a Western brand bird and trout, which couldn't be told from the CASE back in the mid 60s, and it went with me every time I hit the woods as a kiddo. No so many trout down here in S. Texas, but plenty of crappie and catfish in the creeks and rivers at that time. Plenty for youngster with a Zebco set up and a metal lunch box with astronauts on it as a tackle box to have a blast.

No telling how many fish and how much small game that thing cleaned, and when I got older I carried it out when hunting bigger game, too. I kept it as my scalpel to clean up quail and for the finer aspects of cleaning up bigger game.

Soooooo much utility is a well made B&T knife. Looking at that post makes me think I need another one of those!

Robert

Ya bet! Good times, my latest a California Golden trout hybrid:

 

[midnight flyer]

Ya bet! Good times, my latest a California Golden trout hybrid:

Whoa! Gorgeous fish! Never seen anything like that.

 

[afishhunter]

3 1\2 inch Rapalla fillet knife is what I've always used.
They ain't expensive and they ain't got a fancy steel or grip, but they hold a decent edge and are easy to resharpen when needed.
The sheaths that came with the ones I had lasted a long time, too.

 

[22-rimfire]

Ya bet! Good times, my latest a California Golden trout hybrid:

Those little natives are a lot of fun. In my area, we have native browns, rainbows; and a few brookies in the mountains. This is the first place I have ever seen native stream bred rainbow trout. Most of the waters are warm water fisheries here, so you have to do some searching for trout streams. The biggest trout tend to be in the tail water fisheries below hydro dams. Typically the trout fishery extends downstream about 5 to 10 miles below the water release point.

M midnight flyer I believe you have some trout (stocked) in the Guadalupe River.

 

[crumpet8]

How does the import tax work? If a knife is shipped from the US, does it go to customs or something and you get a bill or does the shipper have to pay the tax up front to allow the knife to pass through customs and whatever taxing agency is involved?

I understand leaning toward Fallkniven. There is a limit for me as to just how much effort I am willing to make to buy a knife when I can get something locally or in-country without all the hassle and be just about as good from a practical perspective.

Items that have a value of about 300 kroner/35 USD get taxed 25% on this end. They’ll even take the total cost (including shipping) and put the 25% on top of that! For some things you’ll get away with the price or value the sender puts on the import form, but it’s often a hard ask to get a store to “falsify” such details... I saw a video on the youtubes from the guy that designed the Waterway model and especially liked that’s the spine is curved for cutting edge out. Seems like it’s more suited or especially designed for cleaning fish than the F2 so I appreciate that. I have a few knives, but the best for cleaning trout right now is the larger filleting knife or that little gerber shark belly.

 

[crumpet8]

There's a site that sells Knives And Tools that doesn't add shipping, so you'd only have to deal with whatever percentage the import tax is.

What site?

 

[crumpet8]

I get some things shipped from Australia and Germany off and on. They often list the value somewhat below what I paid and my thinking is that it reflects their cost. Would the same apply to knives?

Some things aren’t taxed - art and photo prints for example. Not sure you’d get away with a knife coming under a category like that though. Even if it was a Horsewright a private sale and shipping would probably pass most times though

 

[crumpet8]

Thanks for posting that link! I remember when reading it that it brought back a TON of memories of me being out in the woods. I had a Western brand bird and trout, which couldn't be told from the CASE back in the mid 60s, and it went with me every time I hit the woods as a kiddo. No so many trout down here in S. Texas, but plenty of crappie and catfish in the creeks and rivers at that time. Plenty for youngster with a Zebco set up and a metal lunch box with astronauts on it as a tackle box to have a blast.

No telling how many fish and how much small game that thing cleaned, and when I got older I carried it out when hunting bigger game, too. I kept it as my scalpel to clean up quail and for the finer aspects of cleaning up bigger game.

Soooooo much utility is a well made B&T knife. Looking at that post makes me think I need another one of those!

Robert

Oh man, I love stuff like that! I’ve been all over that thread as well and obviously when searching online came across a lot of those old western b and t’s if it came with an old metal lunchbox I’d be twice as chuffed! I read somewhere the steel is good on those old westerns too? I always have a stone or sharpener on fishing trips anyway so even softer steel like my Marttiini works. Just a hassle to have to sharpen it so often, but I catch little fish and go through bone a lot.

 

[crumpet8]

3 1\2 inch Rapalla fillet knife is what I've always used.
They ain't expensive and they ain't got a fancy steel or grip, but they hold a decent edge and are easy to resharpen when needed.
The sheaths that came with the ones I had lasted a long time, too.

I bet those are nice! I could easily carry a smaller version of my Marttiini (or however you spell it). As it stands now, my filleting knife is too large and single minded to make it good value carrying in THe field,

 

[Mikael W]

Dedicated Bird & Trout's are fun to have and to use, but more expensive than a Martiini or Mora.
What to choose is up to personal taste, but as You think of the F2z, I'll mention my experiences with the F2k.
The F2k is the older now discontinued version with 4,5mm thickness instead of the F2z at 2,5mm.
It was on sale at a 50% discount when I got it.

I couldn't warm up to the otherwise excellent rubberhandle and kydexsheath, as I'm more of a traditionalist.
So the knife saw little use until I made a rehandling project out of it.





A leathersheath was made for it and since then it has a permanent place in my fishing bag.
The slim blade makes it a good boningknife and it can do filleting when camping.
As I was inspired by Scagel knives, I gave the blade a somewhat Scagellike profile and this lenghtened the cutting edge to 120mm.
I find this bladelenght around 5" very comfortable in fielduse, compared with shorter or longer blades.
It makes the hand stay out of fishslime and yet it is easy to clean and pack in the bag.

I think You have got a lot of good advice in this thread and if You decide to order a custombuilt knife, I'm sure Horsewright can fullfill Your wishes for the perfect B & T!

Regards
Mikael

 

[crumpet8]

Thanks Mikael! I didn’t know anything about the older one until now how do you like the blade geometry for cleaning fish? I guess if it’s got a permanent spot in your fishing bag it probably slices well?

Glad they took the thickness down to 2.5mm, I’d probably get away with filleting with my f1 which is a similiar thickness, but it’s far from ideal.

 

[Horsewright]

Some things aren’t taxed - art and photo prints for example. Not sure you’d get away with a knife coming under a category like that though. Even if it was a Horsewright a private sale and shipping would probably pass most times though

Made a pair of shotgun chaps for a guy from England. He was gonna pick them up when over here on holiday. We were very similar in size and he asked if I'd ride in them a few times to break them in. So I did. He stopped by and while he was here asked if we could go for a ride. So we saddled up a couple of horses and gave him a tour of the ranch. He was super pleased and I asked him about it. I just thought it was cool a guy from Europe was picking up his order. He'd worn his chaps on the ride of course and said now I don't have to pay VAT on them when we go back they are "used". Creative. I've found that many of my customers will order a big batch of stuff not just knives. Guess it makes the ding easier. This set of kitchen knives went there a few years ago before CITES treaty regs kicked in:

Young lady with a Gordo:

Opening another box of Horsewright stuff at Christmas time in Sonja's kitchen. Thats one of the kitchen knives on the cutting board three years later:

This damascus bowie was in the box, BIG bird and trout:

Sonja loves the sandwashed silk wildrags (a cowboy would never wear a scarf, its a wildrag) we make too, this sage green one was in the box:

 

[arty]

I have used the newer F2 and it works well for cleaning fish. The 2.5 mm thickness is as thick as I would want to go in a fishing knife.
Some smaller options include the North Arms bird and trout in S35V and the Moki Banff in VG10. The North Arms bird and trout knives are a good deal, and have a thin 1.5 mm thick 3.6” blade with G10 handles.
The North Arms knife is similar to the Bark River, but at much lower cost. It comes sharpened at too acute an angle of 25 degrees inclusive, so you really need to put on a microbevel before taking it out for fishing. It is an excellent knife.

 

[crumpet8]

Made a pair of shotgu cutting board three years later:


This damascus bowie was in the box, BIG bird and trout:
Sonja loves the sandwashed silk wildrags (a cowboy would

Yep, anything you buy on holiday is ok to bring back without issues. I’ve got a buddy who travels to Texas a lot for work, sometimes he’s go at enough time to pick up some things for me

That’s one good looking set of kitchen knives! My favourite knives are those that look and work as good at home as they do out in the bush

 

[crumpet8]

I have used the newer F2 and it works well for cleaning fish. The 2.5 mm thickness is as thick as I would want to go in a fishing knife.
Some smaller options include the North Arms bird and trout in S35V and the Moki Banff in VG10. The North Arms bird and trout knives are a good deal, and have a thin 1.5 mm thick 3.6” blade with G10 handles.
The North Arms knife is similar to the Bark River, but at much lower cost. It comes sharpened at too acute an angle of 25 degrees inclusive, so you really need to put on a microbevel before taking it out for fishing. It is an excellent knife.

That North Arms is now on my list of options! Good price too apparently the Waterway is 3mm thick. Do you think the 1.5mm North Arms is too thin to use it for light camping duties as well? ALso, do you have that knife. How’s the sheath?

 

[Mikael W]

Thanks Mikael! I didn’t know anything about the older one until now how do you like the blade geometry for cleaning fish? I guess if it’s got a permanent spot in your fishing bag it probably slices well?

Glad they took the thickness down to 2.5mm, I’d probably get away with filleting with my f1 which is a similiar thickness, but it’s far from ideal.

I'm not particularily skilled in cleaning & filleting, but the F2k does it for me and I think it's a good slicer.
The spine has a full distal taper from the guard to the tip, meaning it tapers in bladethickness all the way to the tip.
This means I can also use the blade close to the guard for rougher work, while the tip is slim for fish.
A good allrounder so to speak.

About the F1, yes like so many knives the F1 certainly do the job and I have used one of mine on Trout.
However, the F2 is better on fish and can do light camp duty's too, so I mostly use the F2 when "Gone Fishing".

 

[crumpet8]

I'm not particularily skilled in cleaning & filleting, but the F2k does it for me and I think it's a good slicer.
The spine has a full distal taper from the guard to the tip, meaning it tapers in bladethickness all the way to the tip.
This means I can also use the blade close to the guard for rougher work, while the tip is slim for fish.
A good allrounder so to speak.

About the F1, yes like so many knives the F1 certainly do the job and I have used one of mine on Trout.
However, the F2 is better on fish and can do light camp duty's too, so I mostly use the F2 when "Gone Fishing".

Yep, it seems if I end up with an f2 the f1 may be relegated to my pack when fishing/camping.

 

[22-rimfire]

I think knife choice really depends on just how much trout fishing you do. My younger brother literally fishes for trout two or three times a week (at least), but especially in the fall of the year when they are spanning. He is a trout fishing machine!! He catches in the neighborhood of 5,000 trout a year (catch & release). I think he averages over 100 trout per day each time he fishes year in and year out.

So if fishing is something you occasionally do and camp or woods type use (or just general use) more dominant, I would lean toward the thicker blade and vice versa. I always have a folder on me in the woods or along the stream, so I pretty much always have a thin blade with me if I need it. The LionSteel small Opera folder (in stag) was one that tickled my impulse buying a couple years back. But the blade is just too thick for me and could be much thinner and have the same utility. I think the F2 borders on too thick but a great all around use blade.

The little fixed blade I pictured earlier in the thread would be a great fishing knife but not a good general use woods knife. The Bark River Mini Kephart might be a good small general use blade if it is pointy enough for poking fish when cleaning them. You can see a picture of one (with a blue handle) on a recent post over in the ongoing Kephart thread here in general.

 

[crumpet8]

Actually most of the time I’m camping, surfing or similiar I’m trying to fish mostly trout, mackerel, pollock, cod etc.

sometimes these trips are combined with regular woods/beach camping where the f1 excels. I catch such small fish though I’d like to leave my Marttiini filleting knife at home. That Spyderco waterway is on top of my list now, I just wonder when or if it will hit the Norwegian market... im a little picky about quality control so usually like to handle tight tolerance items rather than buying online.