How do you sharpen knives used to process fish and game?

On those jigs, the further the stone is from the jaws of the jig, the smaller the angle of the edge. 

This is a big problem when sharpening a long kitchen knife, where the hone will be at a severe angle to the tip of the knife when the jig is clamped in the middle of the blade.

That's why you move the jaws along the knife as you are sharpening different sections.  Yes, it is a bit of a pain, and I do like your design.  But then again, if I'm only sharpening once a year, it isn't that much of a pain.

The one issue I have with Lansky is the jaws don't always grip well.  I've taken to putting down a piece of masking tape on both sides of the knife to help with this.

-Allen

BTW, your "straight" jig will run into similar issues as you come to the curve in the knife ...

-Allen

BTW, your "straight" jig will run into similar issues as you come to the curve in the knife ...

With my jig, you can minimize the problems created by curved knives by (a) putting the knife in the jig so the base and the tip of the edge of the knife are about the same distance from the rail, so the tip isn't a lot closer to the rail than the base of the blade, and (b) you can swing your stone so it continues to cross the edge of the knife at a right angle as you sharpen towards the tip of the knife.

A member of the forum requested some details about how I constructed my knife sharpening jig.  Constructing the jig is pretty easy, but figuring out the dimensions of the jig is the hard part.  So I’ll provide information about the dimensions I chose for my jig.

Thank you!  I like your DIY jig better than most of the commercial jigs, but I surely did hate the idea of (a) doing the math, and (b) having to scrap my (very) expensive Japanese stones.

I have been using a Wicked Edge Precision Knife Sharpeners for over a year, and the rest of my sharpeners sit in a shoe box collecting dust.  The key to the Wicked Edge is consistent repeatable angles.  Yes, it is an expensive system, but well worth the money for me.  It sharpens my kitchen, field, and EDC knives to a razors edge (yes…sharp enough to shave with).  Some of my field knives have butchered 3 deer before needing a touch up.  My kitchen butcher knife I use 90% of the time gets a touch up once a month.  I no longer use a kitchen steel on any of my kitchen knives.

Fillet knives are a different story.  I can sharpen fillet knives on the system, but I find it a waste of time.  Most fillet knives are made from soft cheap steel.  Most are designed to be sharpened on a cheap sharpener that strips metal from the blade giving it a jagged edge that stays sharp temporarily.

I am a little bias as you will see in my signature block below, but I will not endorse a product that I do not believe in. 

Here is a link to Clay's Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/clayallison1969

And once they are sharp, keep them on a magnet or in a sheath and not banging around in the dish strainer. I finally wised up and learned that.

Also keep them out of the dishwasher.  Dishwasher detergent is very abrasive, and along with the banging around that happens during a wash cycle, will take a sharp edge right off your knife.

Here is a link to Clay's Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/clayallison1969

Check out the YouTube video which shows the Wicked Edge sharpening system in action.  It's quite impressive.  The reason the Wicked Edge sharpening system and my sharpening jig do a good job of sharpening knives is because they create bevels on the edge of the knife which are accurate, flat, and reproducable. I have three comments on the Wicked Edge system:

1. You can sharpen longer knives with the Wicked Edge System than you can with the Lansky or DMT systems, because the guide rods on which the stones slide on the Wicked Edge System are somewhat longer than the guide rods on the Lansky or DMT systems.

2. If you always clamp the jaws of the Wicked Edge system on the same spot on the back of the blade of a particular knife, and you always insert the back of the blade the same distance into the jaws of the system, the Wicked Edge system will very accurately reproduce the same bevel each time you use the system.  However, because the stones swivel from a fixed point at the center of the blade of the knife, the stones will be farther from the swivel point at the tip and the base of the blade than they are at the center of the blade.  Consequently, the angle of the bevel will be lower at the tip and base of the blade than it is at the center of the blade.  The difference in angle will be less with the Wicked Edge system than it is with the Lansky and DMT sharpening jigs, because the guide rods on which the stones slide are somewhat longer than the guide rods of the Lansky and DMT systems, but there will still be a difference in angle from one part of the blade to another, particularly on a long kitchen knife. 

3. With the Wicked Edge system, I like the way that you can quickly adjust the angle at which the stones contact the blade.  However, the numbers on the adjustment arms will only be accurate if the edge of the blade is the correct distance above the end of the jaws.  The system has a stop or jig which allows the user to always insert the back of a knife blade the same distance into the jaws.  But if you use the same stop with a narrow blade and a wide blade, the wide blade will stick further out of the jaws, which will produce a smaller edge angle.

4. The Wicked Edge system appears to be very nicely constructed, but it's also pretty expensive.  You could buy a set of Lansky or DMT stones and make one of my jigs for a lot less that the cost of any of the Wicked Edge systems.

I've been meaning for some time to make some improvements to the jaws on my sharpening jig.  The discussion in this thread may finally prod me to make those improvements.  I'll probably mount the jaws in the middle of a somewhat longer pair of angle stock bars, rather than at the end of the bars, so I can clamp the jaws in the center of a knife blade rather than always at the base of a knife blade, so the point of a long blade won't extend so far beyond the jaws.  And I'll probably make the jig so I can adjust the distance between the two jaws, to make it easier to sharpen knives of different lengths. Another possibility is to make a single wider jaw.  However, the advantage of having two jaws is that it allows for better support of flexible knives like fillet knives.