I have a few old fillet knives that are in need of honing. Does anyone have any advice or instructions on how to do this? It’d be so nice to have a really sharp knife every time I go to fillet a fish. I’ve heard some things about sharpening stones….
Ford,Chevy,Dodge?
Here are some opinions:
http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=185127.0
I have a chefs something or other. It is an electric appliance. It has a special groove for recovering old knives. It has 3 slots each for finer tuning than the other. Razor sharp knives in my house.
Chef’s choice hands down.
Fillet knife sharpening just doesn’t get any easier.
Added bonus, its on sale right now at Cabela’s.
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I use one of these. Best sharpener I have come across:
-J.
I’m with you on this. I got rid of my Chefs choice I had for this!! 
I buy a new one yearly.
The $15 rubber handel Rapala.
I use it for butchering my hog, deer and fish. The hog pretty much ends my use on the knife.
I use a Henkles steel before every use and after my hog i will use a diamond hone.
But I would highly recommend spending $15 a year.
I have both a Work Sharp and a Chef’s Choice. If you want sharp, its hard to beat the Work Sharp.
I’ve used my belt sander for years the same way.
X2 on the worksharp.
they sell them work sharps at northerntool also!!!! and yea i love it………..santa brought it for me. i musta been a good boy. 
Got a Work Sharp from one of my boys for Christmas and have not used it yet. Any advice for a beginner from those of you that use them to reduce learning curve ? Do you mostly use the med belt and then hone with the fine or skip the fine ? 
It comes with a video on CD. Or go to Youtube and to a search on Worksharp. There are several vids out there too.
-J.
Here is a tip from someone who has filleted salmon in the grass on the riverbank in Alaska for clients for almost 20 years. This may not for everyone because it is cheap, quick and easy. If you are that guy that we all know who has to make everything difficult then you should probably skip this.
Get yourself a Birch handled Rapala filet knife and an Edgemaker Pro (google it) this will cost about $25.00 total.
The Edgemaker has two sets of steels and you simply give the knife 3 or 4 strokes in each set and you are done.
The sharp Rapala will literally cut the tops of the vertebrae off of a 10-12 lb salmon and takes the fillet off the carcass like opening a zipper.
The knife will perform like a surgical instrument for about 3 to 5 salmon and then you simply give it 3 or 4 strokes in each set of steels on the Edgemaker and you are ready for round 2.
My skill level for sharpening knives is about a 2 or 3 on a scale of 1-10 and the Edgemaker Pro gives me a razor sharp edge whenever it is needed. My filet knife and sharpener always travel together. This sharpener removes very little material so your knife will last virtually forever.
If you get a knife that stays sharp forever it will take forever to sharpen it as well. The Rapala uses a tough, strong, steel that is really easy to bring the edge back on.
I use the ikea knife sharpener. Best $7 I ever spent.
Fiskars filet knife comes with a built in sharpener in the hard plastic case. That knife gets razor sharp with a few draws on the ceramic sharpener!
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Got a Work Sharp from one of my boys for Christmas and have not used it yet. Any advice for a beginner from those of you that use them to reduce learning curve ? Do you mostly use the med belt and then hone with the fine or skip the fine ?
It comes with some pretty good instructions.
WS
Most of the time a knife does not need sharpening, the blade just needs straighted with a steel. My Dad worked in a packing house for 35 years and they would use there knifes all day without sharpening, all they would do is run the blade across a steel to bring the blade back straight. 
I absolutely agree with edge straightening vs. actual sharpening. Granted, sharpening is necessary, but not as often as most think. I took a video of Tom at Randalls resort filleting walleye, he only sharpens a few times a year and does thousands of fish. Just uses the steel religously. I like his technique, I have tried and cannot make it look this easy.
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I’ve used my belt sander for years the same way.
I’m sure that works great…sounds dangerous though.
Paper wheels!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyoK7-8zf8I
I’m pretty sure this guy can fillet a walleye faster than anyone alive. What is “a steel”??????
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What is “a steel”??????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7HcO8Fa40U
That guy is fast. But for the average guy bad idea to pull a blade back towards your other arm and body. Accident waiting to happen there.
-J.
The butcher steel doesn’t actually sharpen a knife. It only resets the edge that already exists. If a good quality knife is taken care of, it should only need to be sharpened 1-2 times a year. A poor quality knife would require much more because the softer steel would dull much quicker. Although it is easier to sharpen a poor quality knife. I’ve also found that poor quality knives do not react well to butcher steels.
Chefs used to put a edge on with a three stone fixture, had a coarse/med/fine set of stones, then they would use a steel to keep the edge straight till sharpening was needed again.
I use a modified “Scary sharp” method at home and in the field a ceramic steel which sets the edge back and sharpens at the same time.
Takes a bit to figure the best blade angle, so it’ll cut though bones and not bend easily sometimes.
Al
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