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Best fishing hook/knife hone ever?

2K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
I've spent a lot of $ on a lot of devices to sharpen hooks and knives, and for the last season I've wished I never had. Absolutely the best hook and fillet knife touch-up stone I've ever used is the DMT angler's -or- diafold pocket stone. I highly recommend picking one up. After a season of use ZERO rust and it was still putting a sticky point on even the hardest S/S hooks.



http://www.dmtsharp.com/products/detail.php3?use=6
 
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#3 ·
I've got both. The coarse gets right down to business with stainless SW hooks. The fine leaves a better all-around point with a little more patience and is ideal for finishing up fillet knives to a factory edge.

To sharpen hooks on a flat surface, here's the method I've settled on after trial and error:

a) hold the hook at by the shaft at the bend with the point exposed and pointing back toward your chest
b) hold the hone in the other hand and scribe half of an "X" with the point laying at a slight angle stroking away from you
c) No, this is not out of fear of stabbing yourself, but to pull the material toward the point as you remove it and avoid snubbing the point on a forward stroke
d) then flip the hook over and complete the "X" on the other side

It should be a shallow angle but sufficiently angled so that the material is removed at a slight angle from each side of the outward face of the point to form a vee at the very tip.

A good method is to buy a pack of cheap mustads and sharpen them. High quality hooks are chemically sharpened and do not require an initial sharpening, this is a field repair tool for good hooks in other words.

*** THEY DON'T RUST ***

Be careful not to use too sharp of an angle, a diamond hone really rips the metal off fast and you may end up with a little stubby point with a sharp inward angle. Might work but it's easily avoided.

Finish with a light touch to get that dangerously sharp condition back to the fly.
 
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