Customer Reviews

Rapala6 Fish'n Fillet / Single Stage Sharpener / Sheath

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased the knife in a package expecting a good product from Rapala. I look for good quality products, and with a wood handle/brand name I thought I would get one. The overcoated poly handle was a must to sand down when i got home. I couldn't believe this was intended for someone to hold and clean a good days catch. I need a flexible blade, but this was thin compared to b*ck knives that I have. Overall I ended up forgeting this on a friends boat that I'm not too worried about getting back.

I've owned a lot of fillet and boning knives spanning a 30 year period as a 1st mate on a fishing boat and a sometimes short-order cook responsible for cleaning fish, to modern day where I'm just a duffer, hobbiest who winds up cleaning a lot of fish and deer. For my money, this is one of the better fish cleaning, and more importantly, boning knives available. This is one heck of a knife to have in your tackle box, your SUV kit and your kitchen drawer. I own several. They're cheap, ubiquitous and indispensible.

This knife is sharp, flexible, and light, everything you want in a fillet knife. I also like the classic look of the wood handle as opposed to a plastic one. The leather sheath and sharpener are also great features.

When I got my fillet knife in the mail, the first thing I noticed was the smell. The entire handle smells and feels like glue, it's pretty bad. I feel like they got a cheap plastic handle and used glue as a finish. As for the knife itself, it is obviously very cheap, and it isn't even very sharp. I would not spend $5 on it if I were to find it in a store. But the reason I decided on this knife was because it came with a small portable sharpener, something that would be very useful while out on the boat. Well, I'm no knife sharpening expert, but my knife sharpener at home has two slots to run the blade through, which are rough: to sharpen the blade, and fine: to smooth the blade out. This "sharpener" only comes with one slot, and it appears to be the "fine" one. I ran the blade through it several times, and not only did it not feel like it was sharpening, but the knife still isn't very sharp. I will put the knife to use, just for the sake of this review, and will update after I use it tomorrow.

UPDATE: So I've taken it out and used it, and my predictions were right: this knife is a piece of junk. The blade could hardly cut the skin of some of the bait fish, and it felt like garbage in my hand. When my buddy accidentally left it on the back of the boat where it fell off as soon as we moved, we literally high fived. It was an embarrassment to my tackle box.