Blade on Fillet Knife Breaking...Pic

[metrojoe]

I was cleaning some panfish my 2 boys and I had caught today and as I was touching up the knife, like I usually do every 3-4 fish, I noticed it felt a bit rough as it passed through the stones. Upon closer inspection I noticed the egde of the blade was broken in a number of places. I've never seen this happen before. I'm going to contact Rapala, but anyone have a guess as to why this happened? I know it's not the greatest pic, but have a look.

This is a brand new knife by the way. It's only filleted about 4 or 5 dozen panfish.

[irvingdog]

***This comes with no actual proof***

I've always found the steel in my Rapala Fillet knifes to be butter soft. If I spend 2 minutes, I can shave the fuzz off of a peach, but it gets dull in just a few cuts. I never cut with this thing without the sharpener near me.

creepy photo, by the way........

[slick814]

I had the same problem with mine (a wood handled, 6" Rapala Knife) a couple of years ago. I'd suggest that you bring it in somewhere for a professional sharpening. It only cost about 5 bucks or so, and was well worth it!

What was explained to me was that somehow I had gotten one side sharper than the other... a ceramic sharpening stone using the wrong angle will do it rather quickly is what I was told. What happens in that case is that you can get it sharp, but the edge will actually fold over, and sometimes chip or break in places.

I took mine to a cutlery place, they sent it out. Took about a week, but I haven't had to do much more than minor touch ups on a steel rod since. Keeps it's edge for most of the year, in fact. TO be honest, I've only had to touch it up 3 times since, and that's with cleaning somewhere around 60 fish this past year...

Unfortunately, the store I took it to is now closed, but I'm sure if you check out your yellow pages or on the web, there's probably someplace close to you that can fix the problem for you.

[metrojoe]

Thanks for the info guys. Unfortunatly I had already worked through about half of the fish we caught.

Sounds like I should chuck the sharpener that came with the knife. I’ve got a sharpening service near by that I’ve taken fillet knives to before. I think I’m going to contact Rapala before I do anything.

BTW can you guys see the photo? I use photobucket at home and found out it was added to the list of banned sites at work here so I can’t see the picture. Just want to make sure it’s working.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I can see the photo just fine.

[nolte]

Had the same thing happen with a folding fillet knife from Rapala. Looked more like a saw blade than a knife. Mine was fairly old so I just pitched it and got another 15 knife.

[lawdog]

The REAL scary part is where are those little hunks of knife steel, in your fillets???

I think that knife has horrible steal, that just can't be right even with a slightly "off" sharpening can it??? Let us know what Rapala says or does for you. I'd try to get a new knife out of them.

[efgh]

In my opinion, a fillet knife should not have a 3o degree bevel like regular knives, using too course a stone and the wrong bevel will give you a blade that looks like yours, increase the bevel to 50 degrees, use a finer stone after the bevel is increased and finish sharping with a steel, you can resharpen a fillet using another fillet knife, use the other knife like you would use the steel sharpener. I have seen guides do this in canada.

[Gissert]

I have a drawer full of those wood handle Rapala knives, and have just never cared for the steel in them.

I have one of the more expensive Rapala knives with the black plastic handle, and those seem to have much better steel. That one holds an edge very well, and I like that knife a lot.

My favorite low end knife is a Schrade with the green handle. Excellent steel, and it takes and holds an edge very well. Too bad Schrade went out of business.

[upnorth]

Too shallow of angle on the very edge. I usually use a coarse stone to create a rough shallow angle and then use a fine stone with a steeper angle to finish it. Your edge will also last longer that way.

[metrojoe]

I bought this knife in December and had only run it through the sharpener that came with it.

[BarryG]

It is too bad Schrade went out of business! Those green handle fillet knives were the top of the line as far as I'm concerned, that's the only knife I have ever seen that would shave you right out of the package!

[Powerstroke]

ALl of my Rapala fillet knives look like that. Frankly I blame it on the quality of the sharpener. I've had them touched up by a pro and they turn out great, but once I use the cheapo sharpener that came with it, they turn out like your photo.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I always use a stone... I have quite a few rapala knives and none look like that.

[upnorth]

I don't really like some of the sharpeners that are out there something like a lansky works great. I only use the ceramics stuff to touch up. Better yet get a steel or the ceramic equivalent.

[metrojoe]

Well I haven't heard anything yet, but I have to agree I've owned a handfull of Rapala knives and none of them have done this. My problem is I keep misplacing them. I've left a number of them at resorts during family vacations.

After filleting a few fish I run the knife across the sharpener a few times to touch up the blade. I've got a Lansky style sharpener but I only find it necessary to use that maybe once or twice a year.

[metrojoe]

Still no word from Rapala. I gathered up all my fillet knives and took them in to be sharpened. The guy at the shop was convinced it was just the plating on the blade. Now all my knives are scary sharp. A buck each , that was well worth the trip.

[TimR]

Where did you take your knives to be sharpened, if you don't mind me asking?

Tim

[metrojoe]

I's called Howard and Son. It's on Johnson Pky near E 7th St in St Paul. He runs the business out of his garage. He's got a pretty nice set up.