nctry_Ben wrote on Jan 31^st, 2011 at 1:42am:


The particular stainless steel knife that I use seems to get a quick good edge with the med grit. Most fillet knives are stainless steel - a very hard material. You could use a fine grit sharpener but it would take longer to get a good edge. With med. grit it only takes a couple swipes on each side of the blade to touch it up. Don't let it get too dull before sharpening. Also I don't think you could do too much harm with a coarse grit on stainless steel either. I have all three versions of the sharpener and have settled on the med. grit as the best for the particular fillet knife that I take on canoe trips.
BTW these ultra lightweight sharpeners look very disposable and at about 10 bucks a piece I thought I would need a new one every trip. Well, one summer,  3 10-day trips plus at least a hundred fish cleaned during the fall season in Wisconsin and the first of these sharpeners is still doing well. I am impressed.

I've had this for a few years. (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
It's not perfect but it seems to do the job well enough when you're like me and don't give yourself the patience needed to do a good job with a flat stone. It's small, light, cheap and does alright with a fillet knife. Doesn't seem to work on thicker knives like what I use for butchering deer, but that's generally not an issue tripping. 

Grizz

I hope I'm not coming across as critical over fine points......my mind can be a bit to analytical at times . "Bear" with me........(I know that was a terrible pun )

The accusharp and the smiths tool operate on essentially the same basic premise. What I like about the accusharp above the Smiths are these rather slim advantages IMO.
1. The Accusharp is a bit larger and you are able to gain a solid stable foundation with it while you are dragging the blade. Your entire hand grips it instead of thumb and forefinger. Less wobble = better results
2. I believe it is likely safer. With a better purchase (grip) and a handy dandy guard I have never cut myself using it in over 10 years of use.
3. You can take the accusharp apart and rotate the carbide cutting bits thus extending the life of the sharpener three fold. (they are triangular)

Your tool is likely lighter but believe me the accusharp is plenty light. Your tool certainly occupies less space. It is superior in that respect. Use the accusharp and you will not need any "fine" tuning. 3 strokes with the thing and you are ready to rock. It does take off some material however....you can see it literally curl a shaving off your blade (you should rinse your blade BTW after sharpening as to not end up ingesting the fragments).

If you are sharpener challenged I do suggest the accusharp. An excellent choice if you are dealing with less expensive blades.

I'm not an expert by any means when it comes to knife sharpening.
I have ceramic rod sharpeners, DMT Diamond folding flat ones, in Fine/Medium/Coarse and Extra Coarse, as well as numerous oil stones and pocket sharpeners.

A couple of things I've learned is that while experts disagree about the proper angle for sharpening, they all agree keeping the angle consistent is critical.

Also, a light stroke is all you need. Depending on blade material (hardness) will determine the proper sharpener material you use. Some of the modern knife steels are so hard that while they hold an edge for a long time, they're very difficult to re-sharpen when dull if you don't have the proper tool.

Butchers like the carbon steel knifes. Easy to sharpen, but don't hold an edge as long as the more exotic steels will.

Most people have the hardest time maintaining a consistent angle using a stone/diamond sharpener. I do too. You can buy any number of sharpening systems that use mechanical means to hold a consistent angle, but most are not for pocket or field use.

I made a gadget for my diamond sharpeners. I got hold of some DELRIN stock. It's a white type plastic material they use in production molds etc.

My DMT sharpeners are approximately 1" wide. I cut the DELRIN the width of the DMT, and about 1 1/2" long, with a 45' angle on one end.
I used a small strip of Velcro to attach the DELRIN to DMT sharpener, with the flat base of DELRIN against the handle, and the angle toward the diamond surface. I made a shallow flat notch in top of DELRIN, so it won't slide under Velcro strap. The handle of folding sharpener acts as the stop.

Normally, you would lay the sharpener flat and stroke the knife at the proper angle, one side then the other.

My modification, you put the spine of the knife on a cutting board and hold the handle up toward you at a comfortable angle. The 45' angle lays on the side of knife. Starting at the the butt end, you just make a light stroke to tip, keeping the DELRIN/angle against the blade. Then switch hands and repeat on the other side. You start with a coarser stone to set the edge and then the finer ones to finish it. You could adapt this technique to any stone if you wished.

It's safe as you pushing Away from your body, but if your unsure or just a cautious person, you could wear some Kevlar filleting gloves if you wanted. A quick portable solution to keeping the proper angle using flat sharpeners. You can cut the DELRIN guide at any angle you prefer.
Edge angles are determined by what your using the tool for. Google proper edge angles and you'll find plenty of info.

For a good pocket sharpener, I recommend this one:

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For a few more bucks and suitable for kitchen/field use, I like this one:

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It will do a serviceable job on whatever knife you choose.
Again, light strokes are what you want.

Just ordered my AG Russell sharpener!

prouboy