Filleting Fish

[Mr. X]

BTW I see Rapala (I think) offer a knife, board & spike tool set. You drive the spike through the fish's tail into the board while filleting. If the fish is difficult to hold, I often improvise something similar from whatever spike I can find in the kitchen. I guess a nail into a chunk of wood is what was originally used.

I'm real careful when I fillet but those chain-mail filleting gloves look like an awfully good idea too:martial.

 

[agbiv]

I've used the mesh gloves and they are okay if doing lots of fish & going fast. For my catches of under a dozen--just stay careful & pay attention. Beer FOLLOWS filleting! I've used the drag on several knives from filleting fish to cleaning and skinning large game (whitetail, javalina, feral hog, Axis & such). The drag works very well, even for skinning and flensing. They edge holds quite well and is plenty sharp. Maybe I just don't want to spend the time with stones anymore for miniscule results. Also I'm a cheap skate on some things and won't spend $ on any new sharpening system.

 

[monchan]

Well I got my two knife set from The filleting fish webshop lastnight. And although I havn't had a chance to put them to work I'll give you my first impression of them now, then again after I've tried them.

First I will just say that there was no problems with the ordering process. They arrived in 7days, and the company sent me emails detailing the status of my order.

Out of the box:

They came in a thin plastic sheath that wont get any use once I start using them, but thats ok I knew that. They dont look anything like Mr. X's pictured knife, they are not eye candy in any way. Once again you can see that from the webshop pics.

I was worried about the size of the handles as I have big hands, but great no worries at all handles fit my large hands very well.
The handles are a soft plastic, well not really soft but they dont have that brittle plastic feeling, they are really comfortable.

The edge out of the box is the factory edge so I was wondering how sharp it would and if I would have to put it across a stone first. Seems very sharp even with the factory edge. I have hairy arms, with a bit of spit it shaved 2cm of hair clean to the skin with no effort. It also sliced through a tomato like a hot knife through warm butter They are the only sharpness tests I have done till I get some fish. So I'm guessing it's fish ready. Although I would say that with a lick of a steel or stone it would be quite a lot sharper like in the vids. on the website. They dont feel light or overly heavybut a well ballanced medium wieght. The spine of the blade has some meat to it, I guess making the weight help slice throught he fish, and the edge side is thin. The set had one hard, one flex. The hard one is hard no flex. The flex blade not real flexible but it flexes enough for flat fish or where you might need flex.
They are now clearly the best two knifes in my kitchen and they are clearly purpose built tools for a trade and will be treated with the respect any good tool deserves. They remind of my english woodworking chisels, made for a reason and excell at it. Although I havn't used them, it's easy to say they will do the job they were bought for.

I'll get my gear ready tonight, and try and sneak off for a couple of hours in the morning and get some fish.

One funny thing, in the box I get something extra, a present from the company in a small case about seven cm long. I really had no idea what it was, thought it might be one of those small stones I keep in my fishing box. It had the company logo on one side and on the other it said the first cut cuts the deepest. After opening I had to laugh, it was a small case of bandaids.

 

[monchan]

Been looking at ways to sharpen them, not that they need it and I found this vid. using Japanese water stones. I already have two of them, so just need one more, well I dont really need it. But will get one.

Knife Sharpening | Benjamin Christie Australian Celebrity Chef

I didn't know about soaking the stones in water, or that the paste was important. I used to wash it off and add more water.
They are quite cheap here.

 

[Oldsarge]

They're outrageous here!

 

[seawork]

[FONT=&quot]Filleting of fish is a very method but one needs to know how to follow the steps for fish filleting. There are several steps that are needed to be followed in order to fillet the fish but spending a little effort at the cleaning process is worth because it contains no bones at the eating stage. [/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]First you need to have a good knife with a thin and flexible blade for filleting.[/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Cut the head of the fish behind the gills. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]Cut it in a way that the knife touches only the backbone of the fish.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot] Hold the fish by its tail and pass the knife deep along the backbone and dorsal fin. The fish needs to be cut deep enough so that the knife passes through the rib cage. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]When the knife is no longer in contact with the rib cage, push the knife through the width until the fish fillet is cut off at the tail. [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]The skin of the fish can be removed by inserting the knife near the tail and remove the flesh from the skin.[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot] Repeat the same process at the other side.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Now you can use your fish fillet in your meals.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]http://www.seawork.com.na/main-products.html
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