Filet Knives, Make and Sharpening

[mykola]

Hey all.

I do my fair share of filet work these days and wonder what everyone is using to keep their blades razor sharp. After a few fish I generally touch up the blade with a basic Henkles pull through sharpener. Alternatively, I have my Lansky pull through that has two different grits, I believe one ceramic and one carbide or something like that. These don’t seem to work anymore and my knives need a proper sharpening now. I’ve had limited success achieving a proper razors edge on my knives using a stone, and wonder; what are some methods the community uses to keep/restore a razor sharp filet knife?

I currently use a rapala wooden handle and it’s done me well for over a hundred fish, but now my minor honing seems ineffective. I also have some smaller ones with some dings that will require the edge to be re beveled I would assume. Anyone have success with those adjustable angle sharpeners?

Electric blades are cool, and work great for species with tough rib bones, but I prefer the “old fashioned” way. Maybe I need spend more time with a better stone.

[eotm]

I use a pull through sharpener, sometimes an old school hockey skate stone, and I also have a white stone that I use on my grinder for woodturning. Having watched skate sharpeners and wood turners, the slower the better. The faster grinds heat up the metal and apparently the edge doesn't hold that long. That said, I am far from expert. I use a cheap rapala knife.

[ytjigger]

Put your pull sharpener in an anchored bench vise. Where gloves & very carefully pull your knife using lots of elbow grease through the steel side of the pull sharpener. After a dozen strokes or so turn the pull sharpener so you can finish the blade on the ceramic side. Just be careful. This works well on very dull knives as long as they have quality.

[Newburg007]

Assuming your knife is sharp when you start filleting fish, if you touch the blade up with a steel you'll get your edge back again without losing much blade steel. Taught to me years ago by the famous "Jimmer the Butcher" to save premature wear.

[1stdrift]

I have a custom made knife that held a really nice edge for a long time. I bought one of those pull through on sale at CT. Think it was a kitchen ad or something like that. I don’t remember, big mistake, I ended up throwing it out because first time using it, it scratched a line on one side of my blade, very unhappy about that. I ended up buying a wet stone sharpening knife set from Amazon made by kitchen planet. No idea if this is high quality or not but worked really good for me. If you have the patience to sit there and run the knives on the stones it comes out mint. Was cutting paper like nothing. Slide through fish with very little effort. I also bout a boning knife for butchering that’s a victorinox they are super sharp and affordable. My wife loved the knife so much she stole it for the kitchen. I just ordered a new one for myself. Loved the edge so much I also got there 8” fillet knife will let you know how it is. Once your blade starts to get very hard to sharpen or getting to skinny you may want to throw it out and buy a new knife. Iv heard bubba’s a real nice and benchmade but a bit more pricey. I have 2 Benchmade 1 for field dressing and 1 for boning both are awsome but found the boning was to short and stiff.

[Knuguy]

I have used a pull thru sharpener like the one in my attached pic for a few years and it works fairly well. I guess if I had very expensive knives I would be concerned about the amount of metal it removes.

Last fall I bought the 3 whetstones in the pic to go with my 120/240 oilstone. I bought these form Aliexpress. I know many people don't like to buy from China but whatever one buys, from CTC or wherever is very likely made in China.

I bought these to sharpen my auger blades and they worked quite well but I have been using them for my knives as well. I can make the knives quite sharp. The std test is to cut thru paper at a 90 deg angle. It gets harder as you decrease the angle. Mine cut at 20-30 deg and sometimes less.

[Newburg007]

mykola: I realized your question here is about sharpening. But since your photo shows you to be a "man of many knives", keeping one a little dull is useful for skinning some fish with thinner skin. Perch, walleye, etc. can take a sharper blade. Trout, salmon, etc. have much thinner skin and a sharpe blade more easily cut through or shaves the skin (not so pretty for presentation). By coincidence, the middle Rapala and even the darker sheath is the very same knife I use for separating the skin.

Just as an aside here. Take care.

[Drew]

I had this stone in my toolbox at work - brought it home and it’s now all I use for sharpening my fillet knives as well as my Buck knife for field dressing deer and moose, and any others around the house. Simple and quick. Lansky kits and other sharpening systems look like you could create an amazing, perfect edge, but unless you’re going to devote a Sunday afternoon and do up every blade in the house, they seem way too time consuming to just touch up a knife quick and fillet a couple keepers.

https://www.amazon.ca/Norton-614636855653-8...524373506&psc=1

[Nuclear]

I use one thats called speedy sharp its about 20$ but does the job and its only about 4 inches in length.

[mikdor]

I use the bottom of my coffee cup . hold the knife on the right angle and it works perfect and is cheap. Don't knock it till You try it.

[Flukes]

I use a Tru Hone knife sharpener (the light commercial version)...it's amazing and amazingly pricey too at well over $1000 for the machine. Easy to use and does most knives and can put in all kinds of angles for your knives' edges. I was lucky and got a used demo for under $400 about 15 years ago....still going strong and I sharpen my knives (including all kitchen knives and those of all family members' and GOOD friends' knives for them twice a year). For each knife, it's usually about 7-8 pulls through and you are done so limited metal is being removed. Speed (heat) of the sharpening as mentioned by someone else is important (and even slower for finishing). Even then, after I have used the machine, I finish off with a good steel and if I have one handy, I will even use a diamond steel first and then a finer steel (like a polished steel) to get the edge really nice and clean...if not, my general kitchen steel works pretty good.
Before this machine, I used a cheap Mastercraft slow speed wet grinder to sharpen knives and then used the steels to clean up the edges and straighten. The problem with the Mastercraft was it was difficult to get the right angle all the time and it tended to wear down the knife blade quickly...not too much of an issue if it's not too expensive a knife but would never want to use it for something good. It was also only about $35-50 (depending on sale or not) so.....it worked fine but...

There are two things that can make a knife feel dull even if it is sharp...the edge is not clean AND the edge is not straight. That's where the steels come in and help to "sharpen" the knives while taking negligible metal off your knife.
The final issue that you may be facing now is that IF you have already sharpened your knife alot due to lots of use (and clearly, you catch and keep enough fish) to put a dent into your knives, then you may actually be getting up higher into the backbone of the blade where the blade will be thicker and as a result you are no longer getting that very fine thin blade but instead are starting to cut the fish using a much thicker blade than when it was new....if so, some of those knives may now be better for taking apart a chicken than fish. I know some butchers who would take some of their heavily used knives for beef and grind the the blades down into fat handled chicken knives or for cutting other smaller things that do not need a thin, fine blade like a fillet knife.
For panfish, esp. perch, when I know I am going to be cleaning alot of fish, I use a smaller (4-5" blade) scientific utility knife (they are very cheap and can be bought from scientific supplies stores and very easy to sharpen quickly) to cut the fillets (rib-less) out and then make two scores along the pin bones (top and bottom of the line of pin bones)....they are then ready for the skinning with a fillet knife - then when skinned the pin bones are removed as well (I used the 4" panfish version of the wooden Rapala knives you showed and still have my original one from at least 20 years ago now I would guess (that was not made in China)...but it is getting thicker and have noticed skinning not to be as easy as before but still plenty doable).
Really good knives are nice but they are not the easiest to keep in great condition and it hurts the heart alot to grind them down or when you mess up a bit and hit bone. I haven't bought an expensive knife in a looong time. A good sharpener and a decent knife is enough in my opinion.

[centerspin]

Take a look at Worksharp , cabelas sells it. good to sharpen even lawnmower blades and its quick. I only maintain edge with 600 grit using it. One risk is to lose knife point if you are not careful. I have a couple of those rapalas and I stopped using them, they do not hold edge at all. I got a vicorinox fillet knife and it is much better.

[sabmgb]

I have at least 5 filleting knives. One I have had for over 30 years that was given to me by the sales guy for the company. that is has been my go to for all these years. I use a 3 stage pull through now to sharpen all my knives and it seems to be pretty good, better than I been doing with my wet stone lately. I use a steel on all my knives before I use them. I just bought the one 1stdrift just bought thinking I need to change it up.

[mykola]

Some great suggestions here. Thanks for the replies.

[Longshank]

lots of good info here.....also makes one get a headache


so, I have multiple knives for various purposes


electric for perch, walleye and trouble free.never had a need to sharpen blades

6 rapala knives and I used to like them but a pita to keep them sharp.....my latest method is a file and then a stone to finish...not perfect but they work... I really think it comes down to the steel for every blade

for salmon...2-30 ponds I just use a cutco knife..warranteed for life and if I need to sharpen, I send it to them for 10 bucks to sharpen once a year. that is after filleting hundreds of fish...


salmon far easier to do than big steelhead due to bone density. I used to use a 10 inch electric for this as well, but the new blades and models don not have the same power, no question about it so I switched to the cutco and it fillets them like butter

I realize there are many knives out there and multible ways to sharpen, but this is what works for me for past decade