O-1 fillet knife?

the jerm

the jerm

Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
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Would it be a bad ideah to make a fillet knife out of O-1 tool steel? Most fillet knives are stainless just wondering if rusting would be an issue.
 
Rusting would be an issue cause O-1 does rust fairly easy. It can be done, it just needs to be maintained on a regular basis.
 
Sure not worth the effort in my opinion. Get a piece of 440-C or 154-CM and use that. Sure you will maybe have to send it out for heat treating but it will last a lifetime, well unless you drop it in the water. Frank
 
My fillet knives of choice when I worked in a fisheries plant in the arctic were carbon V Cold steel and when filleting 2000#+ per hour I had no problem with corrosion.
 
Have at it! I have made quite a few from different HC steels and they are machines, I just did a forced patina finish on em... My father in-law loves his and all his stainless knives stay at the house when we head to the coast. :D
 
thanks for the input guys I think I am going to try it. I guess I will make one for myself and try it out this summer.
 
Ask over in the hunting & fishing subforum if anyone there would use a non-stainless fillet knife. I would hazard to guess that there is a reason 99% of fishing equipment is stainless, aluminum, Ti, or otherwise non-rusting. Yes, you could probably keep the blade from rusting with enough oil, but do you want that oil in your fish? Also, expect water to get in the handle and begin to rust from the inside.
 
Oddly enough, I didnt think anything of it when I was asked to make a filet knife for someone. I only use O1 (right now) and the "rust" component never entered my mind. Nor will i stop making the knife, if it is taken care of, it will be just fine and I plan on telling him that. Kitchen knives have been made out of plain carbon for a lot longer than they have been made from stainless and I don't see many problems there... Just my thought.
 
I'm in the middle of a fillet knife, and I plan to change to one of the "super steels" as soon as I can find some for the blade. The 15n20 that I have been using is rusting daily just from the humidity. I just pulled of the scales and it's covered with rust underneath. I'm looking for maximum edge retention as cutting through bones is rather hard on a knife. Probably looking for s90v or similar(CPM 9v if I could find some).
 
zaph1 said:
Ask over in the hunting & fishing subforum if anyone there would use a non-stainless fillet knife. I would hazard to guess that there is a reason 99% of fishing equipment is stainless, aluminum, Ti, or otherwise non-rusting. Yes, you could probably keep the blade from rusting with enough oil, but do you want that oil in your fish? Also, expect water to get in the handle and begin to rust from the inside.
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I respectfully disagree with you on this. Her on the east coast. The majority of fillet knives I see being used are Dexter Russell Carbon steel fillet knives. when I owned a fish market and filleted 1000,s of lbs. of fish a week I used a Carbon steel blade. The reason was that they were easy to keep honed with a steel for a days cutting.

I would say that it all depends if you are going to use this knife daily or if it is going to sit in a tackle box for weeks. If it is for occasional use then I would agree that a Stainless steel might be the better choice. If it is going to be used daily, I would suggest a carbon steel that takes a keen edge and is easy to maintain. Dexter Russell carbon steel knives are 1095 I believe. It just about rusts when it sees water, but there has to be a reason that they are still poduced.

Keep in mind, this is just one mans opinion based on real world experience.
 
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