Sharpening Knives

[MakoMatt]

I struggle with keeping a really sharp edge on my fillet knives. I’m talking really sharp where you can with no effort just running the blade down slice a sheet of paper it slices it clean and fast. That kind of sharp.

How do you, and what do you use to sharpen your fillet knives?

 

[BoatGuy]

This was touched on in this post: Knife discussion

Leprechaun mentions the 10" Dexter diamond hone and the Messermeister ceramic hone. I purchased them at the last Ward Melville.

Not mentioned favorably be Leprechaun, were “What I NEVER use is those dopey "pull-thru" sharpeners, as they remove too much metal from the blade for my liking. I know, I know, they are VERY popular. Yeah great, I don't care. Just a gentle honing as above with those tools and my knives are razor sharp. If you have a ton of fish to clean (I should be so lucky), then a pass or two on the diamond hone during the cutting process gets it back to my standard of sharpness.”

I currently have Chef'sChoice 15XV EdgeSelect Professional Electric Knife Straight and Serrated Knives Diamond Abrasives Sharpening System, 3-Stage. I like it. One thing I do is take family knives that are as dull as butter knives and with a some work, get them to cut paper like you mention.

Of course you could get proficient with a wet stone.

I did see you post regarding the Chinese Tuna Round belly knife. I am not sure that the Chef'sChoice 15XV can handle that. But for the average fillet knives, I use the Chef'sChoice 15XV and keep them sharp with the diamond hone and ceramic hone when you feel the lip of the blade bend slightly.

 

[MakoMatt]

This was touched on in this post: Knife discussion

Leprechaun mentions the 10" Dexter diamond hone and the Messermeister ceramic hone. I purchased them at the last Ward Melville.

Not mentioned favorably be Leprechaun, were “What I NEVER use is those dopey "pull-thru" sharpeners, as they remove too much metal from the blade for my liking. I know, I know, they are VERY popular. Yeah great, I don't care. Just a gentle honing as above with those tools and my knives are razor sharp. If you have a ton of fish to clean (I should be so lucky), then a pass or two on the diamond hone during the cutting process gets it back to my standard of sharpness.”

I currently have Chef'sChoice 15XV EdgeSelect Professional Electric Knife Straight and Serrated Knives Diamond Abrasives Sharpening System, 3-Stage. I like it. One thing I do is take family knives that are as dull as butter knives and with a some work, get them to cut paper like you mention.

Of course you could get proficient with a wet stone.

I did see you post regarding the Chinese Tuna Round belly knife. I am not sure that the Chef'sChoice 15XV can handle that. But for the average fillet knives, I use the Chef'sChoice 15XV and keep them sharp with the diamond hone and ceramic hone when you feel the lip of the blade bend slightly.

Thanks you. After reading your response, and witnessing in real life how “professionals” sharpen their knives, it struck me how differently people approach this task.

Some thoughts……… Not being familiar with the Chef’sChoice 15XV I googled it. After seeing it I knew it wasn’t something I would like. Both Cuisinart, and Waring made very similar electric sharpening devices of which I had both. Although I was able to get these for free I was not happy with either.

I have several different knives, although exact model numbers unknown.

1. Two Bubba knives, different size blades, not handy at the moment.
2. Several different Dexter fillet knives
3. Two Uncle Henry fillet knives. Anyone who has one of these probably has 2 of them also.
4. Several “professionals” fillet knives, manufacturer unknown. These knives are generally used by chefs in big kitchens where there is a lot of cutting being done, and not much time to sharpen. A knife company supplies very sharp knives on an as needed basis. It this case it was weekly. Every week they would drop off a box of knives and take away the your old ones for resharpening. However they sharpened them I think they ground away a bit of the metal. I was able to get from them for free what they called “regrinds.” These were basically knives where the blades were ground down so much there was very little left. They are great boning knives.

Point being here is I have a lot of knives to keep sharp. (Additionally I probably have 30 professional kitchen knives)

I also have several honing metals, from Dexter to much more “professional” ones. I also have a two, 2-grit honing stones. These are my go to in the long winter months when I’m feeling lazy.

Now, you mention Lep does not at all like those hand held pull through devices. LOL, that’s what I use most often. I have several of them. They are quick and easy, and they work. I don’t see much metal being lost either. But I also don’t see results like the video I posted above.

 

[pequa1]

What needs to be mentioned as well is that some steels just aren't as good as others. I use the pull through from HFT to just touch up my filet knives which got little use this past season as compared to most previous years. (My filet go-to is an orange handled then relatively inexpensive Cutco.) Fisherman’s Solution® | Fishing Knives & Fillet Knives by Cutco For my hunting knife https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/outdoor-edge-swingblaze-swingblade-drop-point-skinnerbig-game-gutting-knife I finally used whet stones on it as I realized that after 8 or nine deer I hadn't sharpened it !! Obviously kept its edge but still, lol. I also finally realized that I hardly ever swiveled out the gutting blade, mostly because even after I retrieve my field dressing stuff from the truck I am still shaking so bad that I am afraid of cutting my fingers. My buddy pointed this out last November (he has the same knife) and I just looked up at him (he was holding a leg) and nodded. But back to sharpening- does anyone else try to sharpen by pushing the blade away from you on the stone ?

 

[MakoMatt]

What needs to be mentioned as well is that some steels just aren't as good as others. I use the pull through from HFT to just touch up my filet knives which got little use this past season as compared to most previous years. For my hunting knife https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/out...lade-drop-point-skinnerbig-game-gutting-knife I finally used whet stones on it as I realized that after 8 or nine deer I hadn't sharpened it !! I also finally realized that I hardly ever swiveled out the gutting blade, mostly because even after I retrieve my field dressing stuff from the truck I am still shaking so bad that I am afraid of cutting my fingers. My buddy pointed this out last November (he has the same knife) and I just looked up at him (he was holding a leg) and nodded. But back to sharpening- does anyone else try to sharpen by pushing the blade away from you on the stone ?

When working with the stone I prefer to pull toward myself. Reason being, you want to maintain the angle of the blade closest to the blade edge, and I just find it easier to accomplish that by pulling.

 

[pequa1]

I usually do the same, for the same reason. It is one of the advantages of those pull throughs. I just don't resharpen as often as I should. Once I hooked up my grandfathers ancient grinding wheel and did a bunch of really cheap kitchen knives, an axe, a machete, etc. Would never use it on anything else ! I just use a big file now on the machete and axe.

 

[MakoMatt]

Here’s my “go-to” sharpener by Chef’s Choice. This is an older model but still works very well. I would add that one of Long Island’s top offshore fisherman who shall remain nameless, had purchased one of these from me at a Freeport Tuna Club tag sale where I had a table years ago, and had a few extras I was selling. He had posted some time later that it was the best knife sharpener he had ever used and wanted some more for friends. The first photo of the sharpener is my old one, the 2nd photo is from Amazon and it appears to be just a more modern model of the same.

 

[pequa1]

The Chef's Choice Pronto® Diamond Hone Manual Knife Sharpener is one of the fastest sharpeners on the market! Durable abrasive with a 20° angle for a precise edge. Use with all types of knives!

• Rugged and easy to use
• Use on straight and serrated knives
• 100% diamond abrasives that sharpen any alloy for a lasting hold
• 2 stage sharpening and polishing for a razor-sharp cut
• Arch-shaped edge that is stronger and more durable

I definitely like the price !! Maybe a Christmas present ??!!

 

[MakoMatt]

I’m not around it right now to double check but I believe some abrasive steel. It’s a two step process, rough sharp/fine sharp

 

[MakoMatt]

I usually do the same, for the same reason. It is one of the advantages of those pull throughs. I just don't resharpen as often as I should. Once I hooked up my grandfathers ancient grinding wheel and did a bunch of really cheap kitchen knives, an axe, a machete, etc. Would never use it on anything else ! I just use a big file now on the machete and axe.

I have a grinding wheel and after trying to sharpen the same type things as you did, axes and such, I decided I would never bring any good knives anywhere near that grinding wheel.

I remember years ago there were knife sharpening old trucks (they were even old years ago) that would drive around the neighborhood real slow ringing bells like the ice cream man. They would sharpen knives, mower blades, scissors, wood chisels, just about anything. IIRC they used grinding wheels and a for lack of a better term I’d call it a “honing belt?”

 

[pequa1]

I have a grinding wheel and after trying to sharpen the same type things as you did, axes and such, I decided I would never bring any good knives anywhere near that grinding wheel.

I remember years ago there were knife sharpening old trucks (they were even old years ago) that would drive around the neighborhood real slow ringing bells like the ice cream man. They would sharpen knives, mower blades, scissors, wood chisels, just about anything. IIRC they used grinding wheels and a for lack of a better term I’d call it a “honing belt?”

Every now and then we still see a green knife sharpening truck around here.