Fillet knife

[Hempish]

I am looking to make a fillet knife for a co worker/friend of mine. I am going to make it full tang 3/32 440 c with coco bolo scales and hopefully if it works a much lighter stabilized wood for the bolster. My questions are 1) should I use 1/8 instead and grind it thin. 2) should I scrap using wood all together in favor of a synthetic? I will be sending it out for heat treat just so it's done right. Any other info advice would be greatly appreciated as this will be the longest knife to date for me and first fillet knife as well. Looking forward to hearing from you guys.

[Ray Rogers]

I've always made mine from 3/32" even up to an 11" blade. Stainless isn't very flexible so if you want any flex at all you need to stay with the thinner stock AND grind it thin with a distal taper.

As for the handle, a naturally stable wood like Cocobolo is OK but a commercially stabilized wood is better and a synthetic could arguably be considered even better but that's just a choice. However, no matter what you use for the handle material I would suggest you make the handle one piece with no bolster, especially if you want a flexible blade. The reason for that is that the handle (assuming full tang) will also have some flex to it and that would stress any joint you have in the scales ....

[PoolQs]

I just finished my first one also. Here is the thread describing mine ...
http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=63860

Troy