03-05-2006, 01:25 AM
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Hi Ol Coot,[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I hear you with the knife question. I went to an electric fillet knife about 10 years ago and never looked back. HOWEVER, I still keep two regular fillet knives handy for doing the finesse work on my fillets after the doing the main part with the electric. [/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I don't care what any says, but good 'ol Maartini knives cannot be beat for the money. What is a Maartini knife? It is the ones sold as "Rapala" knives at Walmart, K-mart, etc. I had the pleasure of visiting the actual Maartini company in Roveniemi, Finland where it all started. The factory was incredible. I've had a Rapala knife for over 30 years! I'm still using it. The blade is about 1/3 the width of a new blade simply because it has been sharpened so many times. That knife has character and has filleted thousands of fish. The steel used in the Rapala knives is high quality and holds an edge well. I've literally tried dozens of other knives by a lot of good companies (Buck, Chicago cutlery, Schrade, etc.) and I have not found a better knife for the money. Also, while in Finland I had the opportunity to visit several commerical fish processing plants. In every one I asked what brand of knife they used and all used Martini. It was biased sampling since of course it was Finland and the knives were made there, but I was impressed. [/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]As for the majic solution for quick edges, I like to use a diamond hone. It is a whole lot faster than whet stones, but it is still not is quick or easy as you'd like (3 minutes). I grew up old-school with my dad teaching me on Arkansas whet stones and those take a lot longer to obtain a good edge but the edge lasts. With the diamond stones (again at Walmart for about $25 each, they're not cheap) I can get the same quality edge is about 1/2 the time. Maybe 10 minutes. And...there you go![/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I hear you with the knife question. I went to an electric fillet knife about 10 years ago and never looked back. HOWEVER, I still keep two regular fillet knives handy for doing the finesse work on my fillets after the doing the main part with the electric. [/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3] [/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I don't care what any says, but good 'ol Maartini knives cannot be beat for the money. What is a Maartini knife? It is the ones sold as "Rapala" knives at Walmart, K-mart, etc. I had the pleasure of visiting the actual Maartini company in Roveniemi, Finland where it all started. The factory was incredible. I've had a Rapala knife for over 30 years! I'm still using it. The blade is about 1/3 the width of a new blade simply because it has been sharpened so many times. That knife has character and has filleted thousands of fish. The steel used in the Rapala knives is high quality and holds an edge well. I've literally tried dozens of other knives by a lot of good companies (Buck, Chicago cutlery, Schrade, etc.) and I have not found a better knife for the money. Also, while in Finland I had the opportunity to visit several commerical fish processing plants. In every one I asked what brand of knife they used and all used Martini. It was biased sampling since of course it was Finland and the knives were made there, but I was impressed. [/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3] [/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]As for the majic solution for quick edges, I like to use a diamond hone. It is a whole lot faster than whet stones, but it is still not is quick or easy as you'd like (3 minutes). I grew up old-school with my dad teaching me on Arkansas whet stones and those take a lot longer to obtain a good edge but the edge lasts. With the diamond stones (again at Walmart for about $25 each, they're not cheap) I can get the same quality edge is about 1/2 the time. Maybe 10 minutes. And...there you go![/size][/black][/font]
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