Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Good Knife sharpner for putting an edge on Fillet knives?

huntersdog;
Good morning to you sir, I hope that other than dull fillet knives the week treated you acceptably and you're well.

On the Rapala filet knife question, I've got a fair bit of first hand experience as I appear to have become addicted to ice fishing for Yellow Perch on a couple local lakes which have a 20 fish limit.

For knives I've got an ancient birch handled 4" that I picked up at a flea market, then another that's about 15 years old and liked them so much I bought my fishing buddy one last year. We can swap them back and forth and can't tell any difference in the steel between them.

They are a bit fun initially to sharpen because they're so flexible the angles change if you're not quite gentle putting them on.

As mentioned too, once they're sharp, trying to not let them get really dull again if possible is a good plan.

While I've got nearly every sharpening device known to man other than a Lansky type setup, they might actually be okay here as it'd support the blade and keep the angles true.

On mine and buddy's however, I start with a diamond, then go to a white Hard Arkansas and finish with an 8" MDF wheel doped with polishing compound.

I prefer the MDF wheel to a leather strop wheel of the same size on fillet and paring knives as it's easier to see what's going on with the harder surface.

For perch, the edge I'm looking for is one that cuts paper easily, so I'll test on that rather than shaving sharp. If it cleanly slices paper, it will slide through perch hide slick and easy too.

Hopefully that made sense and was useful to you or someone out there.

Good luck with sharpening and with fishing as well!

Dwayne

these cheap stainless steel knives have such soft steel, that they dull quickly. They also sharpen back fairly quick. I prefer to use better steel to start with, so that the edge retention is better.

Been doing it for a very very long time

I fillet a lot of ocean fish... bought a Bubba, but don’t really like it. What I do like is this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001448V2U/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_9?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

That’s the exact knife the woman at Newport who fillets fish for $$ uses. It’s a pro-grade knife.

I agree that you can over-polish a fillet knife blade. I like it a tiny bit rough; cuts through the bones better. I use one of the simple Lansky-style kits for sharpening my knives and prefer it to the electric sharpener I also have.

This was a good day. Look how calm the ocean is! We caught three of these big boys.

The best sharpness can vary. If you also want to flip the filet and lift the meat off the skin, a less sharp but smooth edge may skid along the skin better.

Wow

Yehai- the most consistent for sure.....read the instructions so you don't slice through the belts.