Opinions Needed

JK Knives

JK Knives

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It`s almost time to go fishing, so I decided to make a fillet knife. It has a 5 1/2" blade, of 1/16" thick O1, with an overall length of 9 3/4". It`s got nice flex to the blade. I put green micarta on this one. I would appreciate any thoughts or comments you might have.

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I like it! Looks like it would do nicely for the fish. :thumbup:

I like a little more of an upswept blade, maybe a tad shorter in heighth, but thats just my preferance. I think yours would do very very well. Nice work!!

That green micarta looks great on it. :thumbup:
 
Is this a full convex?

It looks very nice - it's the perfect size for the type of fish I usually catch. One thing I would recommend is tapering the scales a bit at the front, so as to provide a comfortable thumb grip when the knife is held sideways.

Very cool!

All the best,

- Mike
 
Mentor said:
Is this a full convex?

It looks very nice - it's the perfect size for the type of fish I usually catch. One thing I would recommend is tapering the scales a bit at the front, so as to provide a comfortable thumb grip when the knife is held sideways.

Very cool!

All the best,

- Mike
Click to expand...

Yes it is full convex. The handles are only rough shaped right now, I usually do taper them at the front. I just could not wait to show it. This one will actually be given away in a contest when I reach 3000 posts. ;)
 
I think it looks great. I like a guard on my filet knives, I get nervous about my slimy hand
sliding down onto the blade, so I like that little guard you have there. It seems to me with the narrow blade thickness and blade profile that this could also do double duty in the kitchen as a boning knife. How does the blade flex?

The only thing I would add would be a lanyard hole (of course this would be an option for anyone who buys one), as I like a lanyard on any knives I'm using around water.
 
From years of experience owning a fish market and filleting 1000's of pounds of fish I will recomend the following.

I would loose the drop point portion, and here is the logic behind it. You want the point at the leading edge. A lot of filleting fish is feel, you're trying to feel the bone structure of the fish, and slide the knife blindly along the skeletal structure.

With the knife you made you would actually be on the spine of the knife and it would be hard to guess if you are riding right along the spine. ( I hope this makes sense, it's the best explaination I can give)

Also I would get rid of the guard and incorporate it into the handle. There is really no need for that kind of protrusion on a fillet knife. The way you have that designed it is going to impede you when you go so skin your fillet. It is going to make the knife ride off the table and that is no good.

I know people will say slimy fish you need to have a gaurd. I will respecfully diagree and tell you this. From years of cutting fish I have only cut myself once where the gaurd would have stopped my hand from sliding up the blade. I was just finished realigning my edge with a steel and as I brought my knife back to the table to go to work, I stabbed into the edge of the table in my haste. End result was a large gash in my pointer finger.

Please take this as constuctive critisism only. Hope it help you out.

Paul
 
valcas1 said:
From years of experience owning a fish market and filleting 1000's of pounds of fish I will recomend the following.

I would loose the drop point portion, and here is the logic behind it. You want the point at the leading edge. A lot of filleting fish is feel, you're trying to feel the bone structure of the fish, and slide the knife blindly along the skeletal structure.

With the knife you made you would actually be on the spine of the knife and it would be hard to guess if you are riding right along the spine. ( I hope this makes sense, it's the best explaination I can give)

Also I would get rid of the guard and incorporate it into the handle. There is really no need for that kind of protrusion on a fillet knife. The way you have that designed it is going to impede you when you go so skin your fillet. It is going to make the knife ride off the table and that is no good.

I know people will say slimy fish you need to have a gaurd. I will respecfully diagree and tell you this. From years of cutting fish I have only cut myself once where the gaurd would have stopped my hand from sliding up the blade. I was just finished realigning my edge with a steel and as I brought my knife back to the table to go to work, I stabbed into the edge of the table in my haste. End result was a large gash in my pointer finger.

Please take this as constuctive critisism only. Hope it help you out.

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul, that`s the kind of opinions I am looking for. As I mentioned, this one is kind of a prototype, I expect to make some changes. That`s why I need opinions, as I am not the most experienced in filleting fish.
 
Where is the cord?:D

It looks pretty good to me, I like the 7 and nine inch blades because I fillet a lot of Northern Pike and bigger Walleye's. That knife looks like it would work well for panfish and trout. You really have to feel a fillet knife in action to really know. I like a tall blade, it seems to help me cut straighter. I guided a lot of fishermen up to Canada and have fillet on hell of a bunch of fish. Lots of Perch too,
 
Really liking the looks of your knives, John! :thumbup:

Paul is right on the money and made a real good post. Long before going to college (late 60's), I worked as an apprentice meatcutter. One of my jobs was filleting hundreds of pounds of fish each week. The fillet knives I use now haven't changed a bit since that time, and are as Paul describes.

I rarely fillet fish in the field these days (other than ocean fishing) finding it more convenient to either cook 'em up whole in the camp, or take them back to the butcher shop on the ranch. Occasionally I will fillet one out and hang it over a fire but I find that almost any thin hunting style knife will make passable cuts and preparation.

Though I don't carry a fillet knife on my person or in the kit when lake fishing, I have been carrying a couple of little knives by IKW, called "Light Field Knives" (LFK). These knives are more like boning knives (semi-flexible with stiffer spine). They work real well - even at filleting - but not quite as efficient as a dedicated quality fillet knife. The small brass guard doesn't seem to get in the way on the smaller fish. Too, the blades are just stiff enough to take care of all of the other camp chores. Anyway, this is how I see the blade you show in your post (good all-round utility).

The LFK.
mannutility4gf.jpg
 
I agree with what valcas and Williams said,particularly about the point and the height. A slight trailing point seems to give better feedback, especially if the flex is right. Your prototype looks like a dandy boning knife.
 
I agree with all the comments posted so far. Losing the guard would certainly help with skinning and I would also like to see some sort of filework ridges on the spine which could help with the scaling process. Also I love 0-1 but for a fillet knife something in stainless would probably be more appropriate and much easier to care for. Looks solid though - :thumbup:
 
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