what steel for a fillet knife

AJH_Knives

Well-Known Member
I have been asked to make a fillet knife. I use O1 and 1084. will any of those work for a fillet knife? Any suggestions is appreciated.

Aaron
 
Aaron, you've asked a dangerous question as just about everyone has their own favorite steel. You could use a simple(r) steel, such as the one's you mentioned or the of the new "wonder" stainless steels, if you don't mind having a hard time sharpening them in the field. Of course if you do choose a "carbon" steel you will have a problem with rust prevention unless this is going to be a kitchen knife. In a marine environment I would go with a stainless steel but I would stick with something like 440C or 154CM. These are time tested steels with no problem being sharpened on an oil or water stone. For fresh water use you will still have to put some effort into rust prevention but it shouldn't be that hard. It was done for ages before stainless steels came along.

Doug
 
I would have thought definitely stainless because fish tend to be wet. You will want something with high wear resistance I reckon. Anything to make it stay sharp at a lower hardness. You want it around 55-56Rc I think so it is springy. I thing CPM S-30V fits that pretty well but I wouldn't know really.
 
Aaron,
You could Heat treat 440C or CPM-154 yourself with your oven.. You would just have to pass on the Cryogenic liquid nitrogen.

If you do decide to do these knives in stainless?
I will have a batch of CPM-154, S30VN & S35VN blades going to Paul Bos heat treating at Buck knives in the next month, You are welcome to send them to me and I will just charge you actual costs to have any stainless Professionally HTed. You can get them at any RC you wish.

Just let me know if I can help?

Laurence

www.rhinoknives.com
 
I have been asked to make a fillet knife. I use O1 and 1084. will any of those work for a fillet knife? Any suggestions is appreciated.

Aaron

Yes,both of those steels will work for a fillet knife. They are not stainless but they will work and work very well if you get the bevel and edge geometry right. Think thin!
 
thanks guys, Not sure if i am doing the fillet knife or a skinning knife... depends of what my friend wants... right now they don't know what they want
 
154 cm is an easy to work common steel but you could look into something like s35v, N690, or the timeless simple 440c.
 
of the two steels mentioned, I would use O1 because you can easily find it thin. I would try 1/16 or 3/32 thickness. at this link, http://www.victornet.com/alphabetic/Flat-Ground-Stock-up-to-1-8-quot-thick-/91.html, you can find 1.25"x18" precision ground flat stock, in these thicknesses for less than $7 a piece. The steel is old stock made in Sheffield, England. might be a good place to try a single bevel(chisel) profile, maybe a 10 to 15 degree bevel. harden and temper for Rc60-62. use the thinness of the steel for your flex.
option 2 would be 440C and send it out for heat treat.
scott
 
I would have thought definitely stainless because fish tend to be wet. You will want something with high wear resistance I reckon. Anything to make it stay sharp at a lower hardness. You want it around 55-56Rc I think so it is springy. I thing CPM S-30V fits that pretty well but I wouldn't know really.

This is wrong, geometry will make it flex and return, think thin.I do my filet knives at Rc 60 with CPM 154. Hardness has nothing to do with flex.

Stan
 
I think I would use AEBL which is pretty close to 440C, S90V maybe even 52100??? Most fillet and boning knives traditionally are made with some type of Scandinavian stainless
 
I have made fillet knives in ats34 and cpms30v.
The s30v outperformed the ats34 by quite a margin. The s30v made the best fillet blade (hrc 58) I have ever used. That was before s35vn came out which is what I would use now. I also would not hesitate to use Elmax at 60 or 61 HRC
 
I have made fillet knives in ats34 and cpms30v.
The s30v outperformed the ats34 by quite a margin. The s30v made the best fillet blade (hrc 58) I have ever used. That was before s35vn came out which is what I would use now. I also would not hesitate to use Elmax at 60 or 61 HRC

Just out of curiousity, did you cryo your s30v?
 
Not to resurrect old threads, but I have been asked more than once recently about making filet knife. I would have fallen into the trap of thinking lower Rc to get the spring. Thanks for the heads up on it being more a geometry thing than low Rc. I think I will be getting some stainless steel next from Tracy.
 
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