Fishermen or Chefs or Fishmongers: Sharpening MagnaCut fillet knives for field work

[1315]

I am looking forward to using 9" MagnaCut Fillet from North Arm Knives in a saltwater environment. As fishing seasons rolls out here in Washington, I'll be gifting blades to some friends to enlighten them! I just got a JKI Diamond 6000 from Blokey that I hope will work well on MagnaCut, and on my 440 and R2 at home as well.

Fish range from salmon, to ling cod and halibut (10-100 lbs). My thought is to use a Bubba Blade (or comparable) to remove fillet sides from the spine and remove heads on the heavier boned fish to preserve the MagnaCut edge. MagnaCut should go start to finish on most salmon with their lighter bones.

A 1K diamond stone might have been better for this field/onboard fillet table environment, but I'll use the 6K stone at home too. Also, If I go fewer strokes and slightly higher pressure for the fillet knife, I'm hoping the 6K will provide a more durable edge (hoping the Diamond magic will leave a 2-4K edge?).

I may gift stones with the blades too, as my fisher friends will take to it once enlightened! Have any suggestions? Your comments and suggestions will be fun to read.

1315


North Arm 6" MagnaCut; 9" due out soon:

 

[Bensbites]

I use shapton and king stoned on my magnacut. The grind is very thin behind the edge, I don't need to remove much material. The stones work fine.

 

[daveb]

Shapton G works well w Zwear. I would prob peak at 4K for your application.

 

[blokey]

Something like the DMT pocket or Venev pocket for the field, a Venev 400/800 or 200/400 for home. (Venev use different griting system so their 400/800 is more like 800/2000)

BTW I'm interested in their knife too, let us know how you like them after they arrived.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Does the blade flex?

This might be an application where I'd look to a diamond rod.

 

[1315]

Yep, it flexes on the 6". The 9" will be slightly thicker stock, but still flexible. Diamond rod... sounds like that might even work onboard!
Would that double as a hone as well?

 

[blokey]

Just checked their website, seems their 9" is still S35VN, only the 6" is MagnaCut

 

[1315]

Correct. 9' stock arrives this spring.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

I'm typically not a rod guy, but this is what I'd ponder.

Friedrich Dick 10 in Diamond Steel | knifemerchant.com

600 grit oval and solid, excellent quality. The diamond is well adhered to the steel. Oval shape provides maximum contact with the knife edge, and very few manufacturers use solid steel construction.

www.knifemerchant.com

 

[Mr Kooby Shemayrew]

So….. are you still taking applications for “friends”?
I couldn’t find the link in your post.

I had a custom kitchen knife made late last year in magnacut. This steel is bonkers. One big thing I noticed is that (also BIG “YMMV” here) it tends to have smoother, more refined edges than other steels. I have to use something really coarse to give it some bite.

I have some thick bars of it that hopefully this year will get turned into a few straight razors. Hoping to capitalize on this unusual smoothness.

I’m trying to recall what I used to get it to take a toothy edge….. I think it was a DMT X-Coarse stone, or maybe a Dan’s washita. It is a very cool steel.