Razor Edge Fish Hook Sharpener (Guest Review)
by Brad Quillen

My brother has recently become interested in getting things sharp and did a lot of research into sharpening. He is, of course, aware of my interest in capturing fish and on Christmas presented yours truly with an unusual hook-sharpening implement... the Razor Edge Hook Sharpener.

Although I honestly do not know a great deal about Razor Edge, they are apparently a company that concerns itself with (duh!) attaining the sharpest edges possible. They claim to hold at least one world record for the sharpest edge on an axehead or something.

To me, the company and any records they hold are irrelevant. What is important is that the sharpener works, and believe me, it works well. The only word I can use to describe a hook properly treated with this device is "dangerous."

The hook is placed in a vice that is attached to the frame by a hinge. The vice rotates on its long axis and locks into three notches. A sharpening stone is placed into two slots in the frame of the device and the hook end is lowered onto the stone, which one moves back and forth manually. The notches that the vice locks into sharpens the hook at three different angles. On the inside of the point, it creates what they call a "shovel edge." On the outside of the point, it sharpens the hook at two angles which are approximately ninety degrees apart.

To be honest, I didn't start using this sharpener until early July because I felt like Gamakatsu hooks are sharp enough out of the package. I still feel this way. Using my knuckles and the pads of my fingers as gauges of sharpness (yeah, yeah, I know), I can detect only slight improvements in the point. The real difference comes from the shovel edge at the point. When I rake the point down my fingernail, it digs much more aggressively than a factory hook. It is this nasty, hungry, digging property that makes this hook sharpener worthwhile. Since I have begun using this sharpener, I KNOW that my hookup ratio has increased while using Texas-rigged tubes with EWG hooks. I suppose that when the edge of the hook is flush with the side of the plastic, I really benefit from that points that grabs and digs. I also feel that I've hooked more fish on Texas-rigged senkos (1/0 Gamakatsu) with these sharper hooks, though I'd have to do some more research to be sure (oh, the tedium).

Razor Edge Systems Web Site