My First Fillet Knife!

John Wilson

John Wilson

Well-Known Member
Some quickie pics of my first fillet knife. I just finished it today. I used .070 AEB-L for the 6-1/2 inch blade. Finished dimensions are .066 at the ricasso (not much ricasso, it's sharpened halfway around the bend) and ends at .020 at the tip. I took the edge to .005 before sharpening.

The handle is figured Asian Satinwood and East Indian Rosewood.

There was previous thread about having fillet knives sent out for heat treatment and getting them back warped. I have to say that Peters' did a great job. I sent them four blanks, all from .070 stock and they all came back straight.

I'll take better pics if I have time. The customer has been waiting on it patiently so I may have to take good pics of the next one.


fillet knife and sheath.jpgfillet knife alone.jpgfillet knife blade to bolster.jpgfillet knife in sheath.jpgfillet knife makers mark.jpgfillet knife sheath retention close up.jpg
 
That's really nice and classy John! Great material choices, great lines and a great sheath for it too. Nice work!
 
John, Nice work! Hard to see something this nice that may soon be full of fish blood & guts. Dan
 
Demo and Brandon, thank you guys. High praise- I'm a big fan of both of you guys' work.

Dan, I hope so! I get sad thinking about my knives living out a lowly existence in somebody's sock drawer. I want to see it come back someday with a request to salvage what's left of it so that it can be handed down.
 
Very nice John, I just completed a couple recently and found it a bit nerve racking. I haven't made one or did any flat grinding in over twenty years. they came out nice though. I think I know why you don't see a lot of fillet knives at shows, it seems a little more intimidating grinding such a long thin blade, then putting it thru a heat treating session and in the end having a beautiful knife that's straight as an arrow.
 
bladegrinder said:
Very nice John, I just completed a couple recently and found it a bit nerve racking. I haven't made one or did any flat grinding in over twenty years. they came out nice though. I think I know why you don't see a lot of fillet knives at shows, it seems a little more intimidating grinding such a long thin blade, then putting it thru a heat treating session and in the end having a beautiful knife that's straight as an arrow.
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I was pretty scared on this one to tell you the truth. I should have tried one before taking an order- but I've been doing some thin kitchen knives for a while and felt like the time was right. You are so right- it is nerve wracking. I had no hope of it hardening without warp if I ground it first, so I had the blank heat treated first and ground it hard. I did four blanks to hedge my bets. Even with the full blank thickness, I had to straighten them several times just from profiling and drilling the holes. I'll bet I straightened each of them four times before I sent them to heat treat. Even then I stretch wrapped them to the flattest board I had just in case something sat on top of the box in transit.

I'll tell you something that I never expected: this dude warped on me several times when I was grinding it. Even quenching it after after every pass or two, the blade would pull toward the warm side noticeably. At first I thought I was pushing too hard when I made my passes, but I was hardly using any pressure. I decided to make a few passes on the left, make a few passes on the right. Each time it pulled itself straight again. Talk about pucker factor. I've never had a blade do that before. When I was almost done grinding, I let it set overnight just to see if it was going to bow over time from me stressing it. Luckily it didn't, so I finished it up to 600 and then hand sanded it.
 
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I appreciate the kind words, Gary. I had no idea how I was going to do the sheath, but being kydex I just took a whack at it. I just kept trimming and looking, and adjusting, and it kind of developed itself. The only foresight I had was making the front of the handle wider to give the kydex something to grip. Beyond that I really had no idea where to go with it before I started.
 
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