My Life with Knives

I think I have an incurable knife fetish. I’m not happy unless I have a knife in my pocket. I feel incomplete unless I have a sharp fillet knife in my tackle box when fishing. I always carry a folding knife on my belt and a fixed blade knife in my pack if I’m hunting. Keeping my knives sharp is a year-round job.

Hunting Knives

There is, however, an important point of separation. When it comes to fillet knives for fishing, I’m happy with fillet knives that cost about $20. I’ll even settle for stainless steel. Carbon steel blades may be easier to sharpen, but they will rust and require more care than stainless steel. There are also a few features to look for when buying a fillet knife. If you’re a freshwater fisherman and catch more crappies than 10-pound bass, you don’t need a fillet knife with a blade longer than 6 inches. My old L.L. Bean trout knife has a 4-inch blade. For fluke and bigger saltwater fishing, but with a blade that measures 7 or 9 inches.

The handles are sometimes just as important as the blades with fillet knives. Avoid those slippery smooth handles. Pick one with non-slip rubber or plastic handles. When filleting any fish, take the fillets off with long sweeping slices. Short cuts will only show ugly hack marks on the fillets. More about that later when I get to Japanese knives.

I can get serious when I get to my hunting knives, and I’m not alone. You only have to thumb through the pages of Sporting Classics magazine to see there’s a bunch of custom knife makers ready to build a knife that will become a family heirloom. But you don’t need to go the custom route to get a good-grade hunting knife. To name a few, Buck, LL Bean, and Benchmark range from $100 to $150 and will last a lifetime. There is no need for a hunting knife with a blade longer than 5 inches. There are also many blade designs. My choice is a blade with a drop point design. My hunting knives are custom Morseth designs. None of them have blades longer than 5 inches. I dressed out dozens of deer with 4 or 5-inch blades. Show up at deer camp with a big 8 or 10-inch blade knife on your belt, and the old hunters in camp will know you’re still learning.

Cooking Knives

My 10.5 inch High Carbon Japanese Steel Yanagiba knife I use to slice sushi and sashimi.

Of late, my knife fetish has progressed to the kitchen. I like sushi and sashimi, which I assume most of my readers know is raw fish. The best fish for sushi and sashimi are tuna and salmon, though I’ve had fluke, mackerel, octopus, and a few others -- dipped in a mixture of soy sauce and wasabi, sushi is a culinary delight. You can also try Crudo, an Italian version of sushi; substitute the soy sauce and wasabi with a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, and seasonings. What does all of this have to do with knives? A lot!

Preparing fish for sushi requires that the fish be sliced wafer-thin, which requires a very sharp knife with a long blade. Remember what I said about filleting fish with long sweeping slices and that short cuts will only show ugly hack marks on the fillet. This is doubly important when slicing fish for sushi. For years, I used my fillet knives for preparing sushi until I discovered the unique world of Japanese knives. And the various designs.

I picked the Yanagiba knife -- a 10.5 inch High Carbon Japanese Steel blade. Kyoku makes it, and I paid $48 for the knife. It arrived razor-sharp, and I use it for nothing else except slicing raw fish for sushi and sashimi. I’m convinced that the easiest way to dull a sharp knife is to use it to chop food on a glass cutting board. My advice is don’t chop when you can slice and only use a wood cutting board. Yes, I know wood holds bacteria. So take the time to wash the wood board thoroughly.

Even the best knives will eventually get dull. It’s easy to put a razor edge on carbon steel with a whetstone. A good whetstone will last a lifetime with some care. Never use it dry. After you sharpen your knife, apply more oil and wipe it clean. Oil floats steel particles about the surface, so they will not clog the stone. Use a Washita stone. It is essential that you maintain the same-degree angle between the back of the blade as you draw the blade across the stone as if you were taking a slice off the top. If you find this difficult, buy one of the knife sharpening devices available today. They will do the job for you.

Check Out Vin T. Sparano’s Books