# Tips for fish filleting sharpener



## tyee (Oct 23, 2017)

Greetings
Great site here, lots of valuable info. I'm looking for a portable sharpener that I can use in the kitchen or take out on camping trips to fillet fish such as salmon and ling cod. Some of these pro filleters on youtube are amazingly fast to fillet but I have no clue what they use to sharpen their knives and at what grit. From what I've read on this forum and other sites, a polished edge is not recommended for this, true? If I'm out in the middle of nowhere and need a very sharp edge I'm thinking that a diamond steel is the way to go. Yes, I know it takes off too much steel but I don't use this knife a lot through the year and it's a Dexter or Victorinox so they are on the softer end I believe. I was also thinking of a fine or polish regular steel but they just re-align the edge and will not sharpen. If I'm hitting bones while filleting, which I do now and then, maybe just a regular steel is ok, but then again I'm in a salt water environment and a regular steel will rust. I don't think diamond steels rust do they? Any tips appreciated.


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

I would just gut it and leave the filleting work for when I get home. I would rather bring a backup knife than a sharpening system. I take my victorinox fillet knife to 2000-3000 grit.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

Yes, best to delay filleting till you´re ready to use or freeze actually I would have to think.


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## tyee (Oct 23, 2017)

Thanks for the tips but I forgot to mention I am out on kayaking trips for 1-2 weeks and we eat the fish the day we catch it so maybe the backup knife is the best bet. Some say you need only 400 grit for fillet knives, anyone heard of that? Maybe the mouse pad and sandpaper would work good out in the field?


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## cheflayne (Aug 21, 2004)

For a 1-2 week trip, I would pack a piece of corrugated cardboard or leather as a strop. You should be fine without a sharpener.


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## tyee (Oct 23, 2017)

ok, that sounds good. Now what is best for home sharpening the Dexter and Victorinox? Would a 400/1000 grit stone and Ceramic steel sound good or is the Ceramic steel not really needed?


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I'd take a diamond steel and course cardboard with me for a trip like that. Wine bottle separators make excellent strops. Best procedure is to bleed the fish for freshest taste.


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## Cdp (Aug 31, 2017)

maybe a carbon steel
I have fleix filleting knife and this is the bomb stay sharp
but buy 5 chinnese filleting knives from the cheap kitchen shop or known as $2 shop
if you loose not a big deal stay sharp long enough to do what you need.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

Rapala.
Sharp and cheap and easily replaced.
Someone at the cleaning tables will either be unprepared or outta luck and ask to borrow.
Hand it over and leave... unless they only have a few fish...then whip it out and make short work of the duty.
Random acts of kindness pile up in the most unexpected places.

mimi


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## Jet1wa1 (Oct 19, 2017)

Now don’t laugh but you can use the bottom of your coffee cup(as long as it’s ceramic) it is the cheapest way to sharpen a knife while camping and takes no extra room, it sharpens really well and gives the other guys something to talk about.
I saw a butcher drop a $200 ceramic steel and it shattered, he cried the boss laughed and then showed him the coffee cup trick


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

All right I can't resist, any of the smaller DMT "fine" grit diamond hones.


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## jay lancaster (Aug 26, 2016)

Leave home with a sharp knife, and just worry about honing while you're away. A steel will do...a diamond steel will work for honing, and also be available IF you happen to damage the edge. To hone on the diamond steel (or stone) just turn the blade upside down so that you're "cutting" away from the edge instead of with it. That easily rolls your edge back straight.


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

Jet1wa1 said:


> Now don't laugh but you can use the bottom of your coffee cup(as long as it's ceramic) it is the cheapest way to sharpen a knife while camping and takes no extra room, it sharpens really well and gives the other guys something to talk about.
> I saw a butcher drop a $200 ceramic steel and it shattered, he cried the boss laughed and then showed him the coffee cup trick


My Dad always told me that when he was a butcher they honed on a rubber hose... like the kind used for heaters in old cars.


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## jay lancaster (Aug 26, 2016)

You can actually hone on just about anything that is smooth. I've seen a good few professional knife makers do a final strop on a piece of cardboard box. I've done it too, and it works great. Once you're sharp and you're doing your backwards stropping you're just refining the edge. Paper works very well for the final step.


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