O/T Slightly- Knives
Submitted: Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 03:36
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Kroozer
Howdy all, am after a few opinions on a few different knife brands. I wanna replace the old filleting knives and bait knives i have, and would just like some feedback on what others use. I am a Dexter Russell man myself(skinning and boning), but would like to know what Tramontina and Swibo filleting knives were like. A mate uses Swibo and they have held a decent edge after alot of filleting barra and salmon but the pro barra fisherman i know uses Dexter Russell. I have heard alot about Tramontina also, good knives at good prices apparently.Will mainly be filleting barra, threadfin salmon, Fingermark, Mangrove Jack so i want a fairly long blade but stiff also. Also would like to know what people use to sharpen there knives, steel, stone or both, or electric sharpener?
Existing filleting knives are crappy Jarvis Walker, though my bait knife is a Frost which aint too bad. Any advice or thoughts out there? Thanks
Reply By: Best Off Road - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 06:46
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 06:46
K,
After years of fishing and running restaurants and even doing a bit of cheffing, I've come to this conclusion.
Any knife can be sharpened, but the better quality ones hold an edge longer. Sharpening is the true skill and I have never mastered it perfectly. I do pretty
well with an Ezy Lap diamond stone and a ceramic "steel".
But for the last 4 years I've had a Shinkhansen
Water Sharpener. It is a unit that has two ceramic
wheels submersed in
water. You give the knife 8 stokes back and
forth in the first (coarse) wheel and then 8 in the finishing wheel. Foolproof and very kind to the knives.You can get them from Kitchen Ware stores.
They are designed for the blade angle of a "Global" brand knife, but I have found that most good knives have a similar angle, and they quickly assume the angle of the sharpener.
Avoid electric sharpeners like the plague. They are a crude, fast spinning grinding wheel that will "butcher" haha, a good knife.
Cheers,
Jim.
AnswerID:
330979
Follow Up By: oz doc - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 09:04
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 09:04
Hi Jim - are you classing all electric sharpeners as damaging to knives? doc.
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Follow Up By: Best Off Road - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 09:24
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 09:24
Of those that I have seen, yes.
That is not to say that there isn't a good one out there, but I've yet to see one.
Professional knife sharpeners use a very slow moving belt/wheel that has a supply of running
water to keep things cool.
My problem with electric sharpeners is that they spin too fast with an abrasive wheel, and generate too much heat which buggers the steel.
Cheers,
Jim.
FollowupID:
598688
Reply By: handy - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 06:58
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 06:58
Swibo are a good cheapish knife that keep an edge once you get one. Used them in the roo game for a few years and no complaints. cheers
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Hairy (NT) - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 10:34
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 10:34
Gday Handy,
I thought you would have used a chainsaw?
Cheers
LOL
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598710
Follow Up By: handy - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 10:45
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 10:45
no chainsaw , your not allowed to use them in a national
park. lol
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598712
Reply By: Member - Phil B (WA) - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 06:58
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 06:58
Hi Kroozer,
I use Swibos (one large and one medium sized) for filleting mackerel and similar sized large fish - because they hold there edge for a long time.
A chef mate keeps
mine sharp, he always says that the Swibo steel although it does hold its edge takes a lot longer to sharpen.
Phil
AnswerID:
330982
Reply By: Member - DAZA (QLD) - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 06:59
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 06:59
Hi Kroozer
We are mad Fishermen as
well, we use the Jarvis Walker Brand, I
have a couple of sets of these, also use have a couple of Long Blade
Filleting Knives I got from a Butcher mate of
mine some time back,
they are a Wiltsheer Brand, they have a Diamond Insignia on them,
also use the Steel more often than the Stone, and allways use the
Chainmail Glove, like to keep my fingers.
Cheers
Daza
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Member - Mfewster(SA) - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 07:34
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 07:34
I don't think you can have it both ways. According to a chef friend, cooks use carbon steel blades. It gets better edges and is fast to sharpen, but softer. They constantly retouch the edge while working. Harder steel edges hold longer, but don't get as sharp. The Chef's prefer the sharpest possible edge and are happy to retouch regularly to have that edge.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Russnic [NZ] - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 09:54
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 09:54
I would agree, the best way is to use a knife suitable for the purpose, butchers at the freezing works use knives with no shoulder and every few blows will steel it, also with a knife ground fine the last rub on the steel will turn the edge slightly, ie away from the skin. use a knife like that open up a muddy stag in the bush and the edge would be gone in a flash.
I like Gerber knives my self. very hard, take a lot of work to get a good edge but it lasts. The old Gerber steels worked great with Gerber knives but you can't seem to get them now. My old one is somewhere up the Hollyford valley,(On the way to Milford Sound ,for U OZs) . If any one has seen it I would love to have it back.
I also have a couple of Gerber pocket knives , different sizes, keep the edge with a shoulder, so it lasts.
Use a stone to set the edge and the steel to finish, the diamond steel seem good, not sure how long the last though especially in muddy conditions.
Have a Gerber filleting knife too don't use it much, usually hot smoke fish anyway
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Follow Up By: Best Off Road - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 10:05
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 10:05
Speaking of Gerber, you have reminded me of a Gerber filleting knife I have. It has a ceramic sharpener in the bottom of the sheath that works very
well.
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Reply By: Mike GU - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 16:29
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 16:29
Hi Kroozer,
Having been a Chef for 8years now my choice is F-Dick (no not an insult) these have a great edge and so long as you steel it before and after each use it will keep it, i use a diamond steel and a wet stone,
mine get 'stoned' every month or so.
The Boning is great and the Skinning knife is also excellent.
Hope this helps!!
Mike
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331056
Reply By: Flywest - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 18:43
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 18:43
I'm a Gerber & F Dick knife fan.
I used a gerber with 72 oickwell hardness blade on our
deer farm for 10 maybe 15 years for skinning out fallow bucks, & Red Stags for the table, and they do hold a good edge for skinning, albeit at 72 rockwell - putting a good edge on them takes some doing and get anwhere near bone and you'll chip the edge.
As a Charter Fishing OperatorI use F Dick for our fish filleting and skinning. Usually buy em cheap thru the Fishermans co op.
Cheers
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331077
Reply By: Member - Norm C (QLD) - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 19:35
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 19:35
I have a few knives. My best are Gerber and Buck - both very good knives. I also use a cheapy (Shimano I think) for when I want to cut through bones when filleting.
As said before, sharpening is the key. And when sharpening, the most important (and difficult) thing is the angle. 40 degrees is the 'right' angle or 30 degrees for a knife with a back bevel.
About 12 months ago I bought one of these.
Spyderco knife sharpener
Foolproof way to get the right angle, and a razor sharp knife, particularly if you are not a highly experienced knife sharpener.
One of the best purchases I have made. The link is to a US site, but they can be bought off E Bay in Australia and a few retailers. I got
mine off E Bay from a knife retailer in Tasmania. About $80 delivered from memory.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Member - Davoe (Yalgoo) - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 19:53
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 19:53
always used victorinox
they always seemed a good balance between keeping an edge but being soft enough to sharpen along wih a decent price
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Reply By: Goona - Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 20:22
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 at 20:22
Hi Kroozer,
I use Buck and Victornox and both these I have found to be great. I use and ordinary stone but it is very fine and finish this off with the F-Dick steel which has a very fine 2 sides and 2 side that are polishing. The steel is square. After doing this all knives I can shave with and they all seem to hold their edge although whilst filleting I do touch up on the steel after every second fish.
Goona
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