Try consulting the folks at www.bladeforums.com , or www.jerzeedevil.com/forums . I think butter knife blades are too thin, though.

there is no such thing as a too-thin blade.  thin blades cut more efficiently becuase there is less drag.

buttt

most butter knives are made from cheap stainless steal that alot of higher end knife makers and knife companies would not even condisder suitable for handle material.  it is very soft and will not hold an edge even if you can put one on there in the first place.

i suggest you find an old grey blade paring knife at a fleamarket or pawn shop or the basement, attic or cutlery drawer.  the old gray, dirty looking blade is carbon steel and will likely be fairly hard as knife blades go.  carbon steel, when heat treated properly, will hold an edge for a long time and sharpen up well.

get a paring knife, even a stainless one.  they cost about a dollar and come close to sharp usually.

i like to convex cheap knife blades sometimes using the sandpaper on a peice of wood for support, and then sharpening with mousepad/sandpaper method.  google search and you will come up with lots of results.  read a few of the sites to get a good idea of what is happening.  some sites will have better written instructions and some sites will have better pictures.

What do you plan on doing with the surgical blade? It is much easier to use the handle that is specially made for the blade to mount onto. They hold a good edge, but they are so thin that they do not handle lateral forces very well (bend very easily, and snap at the mounting pointing), they are for small precise incisions. I would not suggest it for an everyday use knife.

Those blades are designed to be extremely sharp for cutting soft things. It is certainly an excellent blade, but will not suit your needs. Even working on soft material, they are meant to be used indefinitely or resharpened. Surgeons are known to change blades such as this mid-insicion because they can go dull so quickly. If you like this style though, (because in and of itself, it is great for some carving if you have enough of them) go to a hardware or hobby store and buy an "X-acto knife" set. They're very similar, will have a nice handle, and plenty of extra blades.

Why not get an inexpensive exacto blade kit. Most hobby and arts and crafts stores sell them. When the blade gets dull, snap in a repalcement.

CanDo wrote on Jun 11^th, 2007 at 9:50pm:

hmmm, for some reason in the dissection they had me scraping a fish's skull apart  So I guess that the people with the dissection didn't know what they were for, or didn't expect me to use the blade again; but they only gave me two! (something's fishy there  [sorry]).
Thanks to everyone else who contributed, I'm learning a lot here 

yes look around at rummage sales, resale shops and antique furniture resale stores (sometimes nice old knives get left in drawers etc).

look for smooth gray blades, or good names like Case, Queen, Fighting Rooster, Buck, etc.

or you could get a solid carbon steel Opinel off of ebay or at ragweed forge (just past middle of page) for about $10 US.  i don't actually have one yet...but i have read nothing but good about them.  or for a fixed blade look around for a mora.