Sharpening a fillet knife??

[mobenzowner]

What are some "best practice" methods you guys use to sharpen a fillet knife. I currently use a worksharp to sharpen mine. The long thin blade is pretty hard for me to sharpen. What approximate angle do you put on the blade??

Also, for those of you who fish and use electric knives, what is a good one for fish cleaning??

Any tips you can give are appreciated.

Kevin

 

[Komitadjie]

I use the Kalamazoo, the only real trick I've found is regulating the pressure as the blade flexes. I typically put a fairly fine convex on them, finishing with a 220 grit belt and deburring with green compound on leather. They seem to perform a bit better with more tooth in the edge, so I generally don't take them up to the high polish level I tend to use on other knives.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The flex of a fillet knife's blade has been known to drive me nuts at times. Makes it more challenging to apply appropriate pressure, without radically altering the edge angle. Interestingly enough, one of the more effective methods I've used for fillet blades is the simple, reliable Sharpmaker (or other V-crock ceramic sharpeners). I suspect it has to do with the smaller contact area used on the corners of the rods or the radius of other round rods. That small contact area focuses more pressure on an edge. On many blades, that can often be a bad thing. But, on a very flexible (almost flimsy) blade, the blade itself helps regulate pressure against that small contact point. Edges come off the rods with consistently more 'bite' than I can usually produce by other means.