fillet knife

[Wile E]

Does anyone know any web sites where I might find out the proper way to put a good edge on my knife. I know yuou guys will help. thanks,

[REW]

I have tried nearly every method advertised for sharpening over the years. At a sports show, I saw the maker of the Leech Lake fillet knives - using a belt sander to sharpen his knives.

Basically, he uses very find sand paper - typically 320 girt that is heavily worn. As the paper moves downward, at a high rate, always keep the sharp edge of the blade pointed downward as well. You don't want the sharp edge of the knive catch the paper and cause a serious accident and or put a huge divit in your knife.

At any rate, all is required with this method, simply hold the blade and make 2-4 passes across the spinning sand paper on both sides.

If you would like, a final 1 or two strokes with a ceramic stick, will let you shave with the knife.

In the case of a very heavily abused or extremely dull blade, you might have to go to a slightly more aggressive paper, for a couple of prep strokes, but in any event - generally no more than 5 or 10 passes (very light passes) should be required to sharpen even a very dull knife.

The total time is generally never more than 10-20 seconds per knife.

After seeing the presentation, and because I had some other uses for it as well; I purchased a 1 inch wide table top belt sander.
This particular unit is made by Delta and sells at most Home Depots etc. for about $70-$80.

Depending on the grit paper being used, you can use the sander for sharpening fillet knives, to sharpening lawn mower blades and every thing else in between.

As a bonus, if you do any woodworking, plastic, or metal work, you will find lots of uses for the sander in these fields as well.

Save your money on stones, sticks, steels, and other power grinders and vibrating stones - get the sander and solve your sharpening problems for ever.

I always take the sander with me when I go out on my weekly fishing trips and always sharpen lots of dull knives around the resort. Every time that I am in the cleaning shack and see someone struggling with a dull knife - I offer to sharpen it at no charge - and generally in less than 2 minutes, I have it sharpened and have it back to them cleaning fish.

Great time saver.

Take care
REW

[Boatnut]

REW,
I know a fella that I take circular saw blades to to be sharpened and I asked him what he did knives on and that's what he says he uses. i bought some various grit belts for mine and it does a good job but still trying to perfect the technique. Like anything...takes a bit of practice.
I'd like to get a buffing wheel for my grinder and some different kinds of jeweler's rouge so I can "polish" the edges after doing them on the belt grinder.
Mike(boatnut)

[REW]

For my belt sander, I also picked up a felt belt.
I use jewlers rouge on that for polish work and it works great as well.

I also have a cloth wheel for my grinder, to which I use various grades of polish. I have used this for polishing stainless steel props and it really makes them shine.

Great idea and it works great.

Take care

REW

[sharpee]

this comes from a former full time butcher / meat cutter

first of all......
there are many different types of steel used to construct blades.
therefore some knifes dull more quickly than others. this also means that the same blades which dull quicker are usually easier to sharpen. (softer material)

the best trick to keep a knife from becoming dull is to keep the blade sharpened. by this, i mean sharpen after every use. just a few swipes on either a stone or a steel will do the trick. by doing this, i personally have used knifes which were 7" blades and wore them down to 4" blades and are still as sharp as the day i have bought them.

but, it sounds as if you blade has already become dull. once they have gotten this far you need a multi-grade stone. i have seen some stone packages available at local Walmarts. inside these packages are the instruction which will show you the proper way to sharpen. (illustrated with pictures) this is much easier to explain with the pictures.
if you feel your knife is in dire shape, try contacting a local meat market. they are always sending knives out for sharpening. i'm sure a small local market would send your knife in with theirs and just toss them a few bucks.

NOTE:

be very carefull if you try to attempt the other posts about using sand papers. a person can do a lot of damage in a hurry with this type of technique. if your angle is not correct, you can kiss a lot of that blade goodbye! also, the length of time that the knife stays sharp is also shortened with this technique (even if sharpened properly).

[Wall-nut]

Howto.com will offer valuable tips on sharpening knives with a steel or diamond sharpener. I agree that a sanding belt could do some permanent damage to a quality knife. The act of sharpening good steel blades has as much to do with straightening the blade and removing nicks as it does with "grinding" an edge. Personally, I have begun using the Lansky Sharpening system. It has rejuvenated a couple of old knives I'd thought were beyond help and it keeps my newer knives razor sharp

[Phil T.]

If it is an expensive knife, send it to the manufacturer for regrinding. Buck and Gerber do this for a very reasonable fee. I use a Lansky sharpening tool, which holds a set angle to the stones. They are available at most sporting goods stores, probably in the hunting section.
Once the proper angle is on the edge, use a steel or ceramic stick to polish the edge. Most people's sharpening problems are the result of varying the stone/blade angle.
If the blade is of hard steel (Gerber, Browning) the whole proceedure can take some time. It's a good passtime on a stormy day.

[Suzuki]

All of the above posts sound very good but also very expensive. I have had good luck the last 15 years using a regular Repala filet knife (7")and the cheap plastic ceramic sharpener that Rapala makes. You just drag the knife through. I sharpen it after each use and it always works good. I clean quite a few fish every year. Mostly panfish and walleye. The blade is quite soft but sharpens easily. I suppose if you cleaned "LOTS" of fish every year it would be better to have a quality blade. But for the average guy I would recommend this setup. This is what has worked for me.

[Boatnut]

REW,
where'd ya find a cloth belt for your belt sander??? mine takes a 30" belt. would like to know a source.
thanks
mike

Mike(boatnut)