Proper way to sharpen a Fillet knife

G

Gee Ham

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May 24, 2017
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Hey guys, so I'm embarrassed to admit I'm not a fisherman, but I recently received a request to make a buddy of mine a fillet knife for his anniversary. I purchased a stainless steel knife blank from Jantz supply because I don't yet have the technology to harden/temper SS, and put a beauty handle on it for him. The blank came pre-sharpened, but it's not up to snuff in my opinion, so I'm wondering if having a fairly rough edge, as it came, or a more polished, shaving sharp, edge is better?
 
I think a filet knife needs bite. A very thin edge (like 12 degrees per side or under) can have bite at almost any polish level. As long as you don't round the edge over with poor technique, or excessive (or improper) stropping.

The other way to get bite is to sharpen with a somewhat rough stone. Like 320 grit or perhaps lower. I've read both sets of advice here and both make their own kind of sense. The key for me is that fish skin is slippery and the blade edge needs to bite into it immediately and not slide over it.

Generally speaking, a lower angle edge is better. But start with at least making sure that the entire edge is fully apexed and has no burr. Then, if need be, you can lower the edge angle, or increase the polish with finer stones, or both.

Brian.
 
Make sure the knife blank has been heat treated. For a guy who wants to use it put a micarta handle on it. I would go with a 320 grit. DM
 
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I agree as above, with Brian and DM, that a 'bitey' edge is great on a fillet knife. Something like ~ 320-grit from an aluminum oxide stone (India 'Fine', et al), or a 600-grit diamond hone works for this as well. Stropping on plain paper laid over the stone should be all that's needed beyond the stone; you don't want to polish the teeth away on a loaded strop. And an edge at 30° inclusive or lower will go very well with that. They get scary, wicked-sharp with a toothy bite and a relatively narrow edge angle.
 
bgentry said:
I think a filet knife needs bite. A very thin edge (like 12 degrees per side or under) can have bite at almost any polish level. As long as you don't round the edge over with poor technique, or excessive (or improper) stropping.

The other way to get bite is to sharpen with a somewhat rough stone. Like 320 grit or perhaps lower. I've read both sets of advice here and both make their own kind of sense. The key for me is that fish skin is slippery and the blade edge needs to bite into it immediately and not slide over it.

Generally speaking, a lower angle edge is better. But start with at least making sure that the entire edge is fully apexed and has no burr. Then, if need be, you can lower the edge angle, or increase the polish with finer stones, or both.

Brian.
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thanks for that clear advice, the blade is heat treated, and I think I'll leave it as is, I usually sharpen to shaving sharp on everything, but I can see that a bit of tooth would help when cutting fish.
 
I don't do a ton of fillet work, but my fillet knife tends to be sharpened to about 180 grit on a SiC combo stone (Norton). I do it freehand and estimate the angle to be approximately 10-12 DPS. I've tried going to high grit/low micron finishes, but the low grit/high micron finish seems to give me the edge "bite" I'm looking for and really grabs whatever material I'm working with very effectively. I will sometimes give a few quick strops on a 4 micron CBN strop just to make sure I've effectively removed the burr, but not always. Just depends how the edge feels to my thumb pad and how things are looking when viewed under my loupe.
 
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