If that isn’t a hardened steel (and if it’s galvanized, I’d guess it isn’t), you will be wasting your time. However, the simplest place to start would be with a motorized grinder. If you can borrow an angle grinder, use that. Be sure to clamp your work,don’t use a lot of pressure, and most importantly keep it COOLED with lots of water or you will destroy any hardening that has been done to it. If you can’t get to a grinder, you will have to improvise. I did the first rough grinding on my antique 16" cleaver, 1/4" thick, standing outside the meat market back door using the concrete floor as a gigantic stone. When I finished the final polish on the edge, I could chop whole beef hip joints, one chop no problemo…
This will leave you VERY tired, and will take a LONG time, but it will work. Try to find a surface about 30" above your feet.
By the way, I do NOT reccomend that you carry a large, sharp piece of metal anywhere that is not your property… you may run into legal problems…
[hijack]I’m just responding because I figured this was a dead art. My father is quite the whittler with a jack knife. I can still cut a chain but that’s about the limit of my ability. You’re right though, you need to resharpen the blade about every 5 minutes with a final stropping across the palm or sole fo the foot. BTW, I need a new one, any recomendations for a 3 bladed jack knife suitable for whittling? [/hijack]
So, would this be a good time to pitch Cutco and it’s double-durability recessed straight-edge design?
:D&R:
-Ooner, Cutco Sales Rep
Thanks for the suggestions.
When I worked in a kitchen we’d send our knives out to be “professionally” sharpened. They’d always come back about 1/3 as wide… The company seemed not to care about buying new knives every 6 months.
My mum uses Cutco knives-- They’re okay if you like slicing, but I don’t like 'em that much…
oh yeah… I’m using these knives in my kitchen, even if I don’t know the official terms for getting the skin off a fish 
Actually those henkle sharpeners witht he steel and ceramic wheels DO work. Work really well actually. It took a (very cheap) steel knife that had a hard time cutting soft butter (hadnt been sharpened in a VERY long time), and gave it a very very nice edge to it. Dunno how good it is over long term use though.
I prefer the Scary Sharp system:
http://www.shavings.net/SCARY.HTM
basically, you sharpen a blade with increasingly fine grades of sandpaper. I work from 60 to 600 grit.
Note: is a lot easier to do with straight blades (shop tools like chisels and hand planes) than curved ones (most kitchen knives). But, in general, sooooo cheap and easy.
Rick has it right on the money. Although I use one made by Lansky, it is the same design and can put a great edge on any knife without worrying about keeping the correct angle.
If I hadn’t been raised on stones and plate glass w/ fine grit, I’d probably use something like that, too. Looks like a good design.
No one mentioned Tormek… I never have used one, but a lot of woodworkers swear by the thing. It’s expensive, though.
I have a Tormek and love it. Not too portable though. I also use the Lansky system mentioned by mr.greg
I really like the Tormeck for my woodturning gouges and skews, but use a grinder for scrapers as you want the wire edge on a scraper.
Anybody got an answer to this question? I’d be interested to know too
For the fish knife part - a fillet knife is the thin flexible smooth (sorta wimpy-looking) knife used to cut the meat from the bones, available as usual from the $10 - $100+ range with corresponding qualities. A skinning knife isn’t really a “knife” at all, it’s a tool shaped like a dull hockey stick with serrations on both edges. You rake this under the skin of the fish to separate it from the meat, although if you’re not careful you’ll carve a big slice into the meat or turn it to hamburger (since fish meat is very delicate compared to others). I haven’t had much experience with these, just used a couple mostly for taxidermy. AFAIK, you don’t need a high-quality skinning knife… I’m not even sure if different qualities exist; they’re pretty basic tools.
There are doubtlessly other kinds of fish knives and tools for different kinds of fish, but these are the simple ones you’re likely to run into.
My fave is my schrade Uncle Henry… comes in many styles, I think my model no is 834UN (letters too small to read). It’s a good knife for the money I paid for it. I get it VERY sharp, and it stays that way reasonably well. The Old Timer models are pretty good too… But they are more likely to rust in your pocket.
cool. thanks. I’ve used both knives years ago and they do work well. I’ll find a hardware store when I visit the US and see if they carry one of these.