Sharpening a Rapala fillet knife

[does it ALL outdoors]

What's the best way?

Mine needs a fresh edge, I have a little hand held Wenger sharpener but it dosent really do all that great of job. As everyone knows the sharper the better.

How do you keep your fillet knife sharp?

[FCLightning]

Ceramic crock sticks - the fine ones at a 25 degree angle. When they shave the hair off the forearm they are sharp enough.

[Coiloil37]

I sharpen all of my knives on an 8” DMT course/fine stone. I then run it on a leather strop loaded with a diamond cutting paste. I prefer a toothy edge on almost all steels and don’t spend to much time on the strop, a few passes are all it needs. Like mentioned it needs to pop the hair off your arm with minimal to no pressure, there’s a sound and feel when it’s shaving hair that’s associated with what I consider a “sharp knife”.

[OL_JR]

I find when the blade is newer those cheaper ceramic sharpeners you pull the blade through to a good enough job but I've been getting more into ceramic whetstones and I never really new what a sharp knife was before using them. Not a pro at it by any means and it takes a bit to get the blade where I want it sometimes but worth it.

For an easier but effective option there are the work sharp belt sharpeners. They do work really good and they are fast. Only thing is they change the profile of the blade of any knife to more of a convex edge but not necessarily a bad thing. Lots of higher end knives use the convex grind instead of the standard v grind that is common in mass produced blades.

[aulrich]

The lanskey (sp) kits work well to rebuild an edge, then a pull through to keep it. Very easy to learn how to use

I use abrasive paper on glass for woodworking tools, it works just as well on knives.

[calgarychef]

Pull through get a wicked edge but it’s flimsy and really not a good way to go.

Get a water stone, 750/1000 grit (2 sides) and you’ll be able to sharpen all of your knives. Don’t listen to the folks who use the fine grits (6000 or higher) that’s for the guys who are obsessive, I used to be by the way but now I just want to get the job done. For filleting you might actually prefer just the 750 stone, you’ll find out after a fish or two. A good steel wouldn’t go amiss either but you gotta be super picky in choosing one.

[honker_clonker]

It would be a good idea to get a honing steel and to use it often once you get your knife sharpened. It will help keep the edge and it will last much longer. Kinda used one for years incorrectly but really noticed it cutting meat last year that it can make an amazing difference. A couple light touches on the steel and its like the edge was brand new again. You can use it for all your knifes too so not a bad investment.

[Brbpuppy]

I'm not bad with a stone, but when it comes to filet knives...I have trouble getting a fine edge, I find it hard because of the length of the blade, and how easily it bends... Gotta practice.

[Fishwhere]

Get a good whetstone and start practicing. 50-100 bucks

[Red Bullets]

This master knife sharpener explains and shows how to sharpen using wet stones.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=16...leting%20knife

[does it ALL outdoors]

Yea, I was thinking a stone of some sort was the way to go.

The pull through used to do a half arsed job but it's beyond maintenance now and time for a rebuild. Stone it is.

Thanks for all the replies fellas, much appreciated.

[Coiloil37]

If your buying a stone I can’t think of any reason not to go diamond. The steel on your rapala knife isn’t that good and could easily be sharpened with almost any stone. However, if you ever buy anything with a steel that has carbides and specifically vanadium carbides your water and oil stones can’t cut those carbides. Diamond or CBN will cut them and it’ll also sharpen your basic carbon steels faster then any other stone. When your not good freehand sharpening a blade the faster the stone cuts the easier it is to produce a sharp edge.

An 8” dmt double sided stone with a base runs about $100 and will last you a very long time and easily sharpen any steel. If that’s to steep a single sided 6” DMT is under $50. I prefer a toothy edge and use a coarse/fine stone on all of my knives. As calgarychef pointed out the highly polished edges look cool and are good for parlour tricks like push cutting single ply toilet paper but are far less useful in the real world. Been there and done that all the way up past 8k on waterstones but now I’ll take a toothy edge every day of the week.

[liar]

watch the sales and buy a new knife .

[Penner]

Second vote for Lanskey kits. Just about idiot proof, allows one to maintain an edge to all types of common knives.

[ghostguy6]

Originally Posted by does it ALL outdoors

Yea, I was thinking a stone of some sort was the way to go.

The pull through used to do a half arsed job but it's beyond maintenance now and time for a rebuild. Stone it is.

Thanks for all the replies fellas, much appreciated.

If you have a hard time sharpening fillet knives try to find one with a "scandi" grind, they are very easy to sharpen, just remember not to press too hard or the blade will flex and change the angle.

[Coiloil37]

If you need a guide system the knock off edgepro on eBay is $29 and outclasses a lansky like a Ferrari to a minivan.

[trigger7mm]

I’ve had good luck with my Work Sharp sharpener. I do all my knives with it.

[OL_JR]

I have the lansky as well and find it does a decent job on shorter blades but I don't like it on long blade fillet knives. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

As far as stones go not going to debate which are better. I've never used diamond stones like Coiloil37 suggested and they may as well be better than ceramic but I've been happy, and would probably be happy with diamond but it's more about the process of hand grinding your own blade and the result you can get.

[Marty S]

Get a Canadian tire or Princess auto electric wetstone wheel, surely watch some YouTube videos and learn how to grind til knife feathers, take feather off nd razor blade every time til knife is depleted, then throw away and start with a new knife.

I’ll skin up to 1000 coyotes a winter with a couple knives, grind to sharpen occasionally then maintain edge with a “sharpening steel”.

The steel is used simple to straighten up edge, maybe touch it up slightly, and remove the feather. Some guys take feather off with a wet stone or water stone . When dead, then re grind.

Easy to keep a fillet knife razor sharp, til it’s wore down a bunch, then buy a new 15$ knife