New Fillet Knife

[slackline]

As I get older I seem to have less patients for poorly made or designed tools. Also my arthritis can cause issues at times. I have never owned a fillet knife that felt right and held an edge to my satisfaction, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I started with an idea and tried to sketch what I felt would be the best tool for my needs.


Now happy with my design I chose 15N20 steel for its properties. This steel is used for the huge bandsaw blades at saw mills. Thin, flexible, and tough. I used new steel rather than salvaged steel because salvage steel can suffer from fatigue from use. Now I grind out the profile.

Next I perform the steps of heat treating this steel. Thermocycle, quench in heat treat oil and temper for a target Rockwell hardness of 61. Then grind primary bevels and distal taper. It time to test to see if I am getting the desired results.

Holding an edge pretty good.

No damage from old pine knot.

I am liking this so far

Still holding an edge
Time to work on the finish.

For the handle I chose old linen micarta


Hope y'all don't mind me sharing.

Slackline

[DockShootinJack]

Awesome looking knife. Great build. You did some good work on it.

[IL_Goosehunter4]

That is a beautiful knife.

[scrat]

That is a really good looking fillet knife. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[pescador]

Great Job! My best " Bud" was tool & die maker, made a beauty from a file.

[okhawg]

I'm thinking this isn't your first knife. Very nice job.

[LowePro]

Great Job!!!!

[bee]

Very very nice. Thanks for the post

[wilbur]

I like it. Good job

[slackline]

Thanks for the comments.
okhawg, your correct that it's not my first. It's the thirteenth. It is the first fillet knife, first knife that is this thin, first knife by the stock removal method. All the other knives I have made have been ones I have hand forged.

I look forward to testing it on fish, If I can just catch some.

Slackline