Fillet knife- Mora or Rapala

[TargaMonteSS]

Looking for a <25 dollar fillet knife. Usually use Amazon prime. Between either the Mora or Rapala fish n fillet with the wood handle. Does anyone have first hand experience with either. I am looking for a thin flexible blade. The ability to get sharp on cheap sharpeners(all I have). I feel like I can't go wrong with Mora but rapalas has finn steel too i think.

I don't really understand the catcherman I woudnt want to clean a folder and as much as I love a spyderedge i can't see that working for skinning. Also hard to get my hands on one

[bearfacedkiller]

It really depends on if you prefer stainless or carbon steel.

Have a look at Dexter Russell filet knives. They are quality, affordable and American made.

I have used the Rapala more than any other fillet knife. It was what I grew up using. It’s a good fillet knife. Sorry, no experience with the Mora fillet knife.

I have thought about getting a Victorinox fillet knife too. I have never used one but assume they are decent quality for the price.

[Doc Dan]

I tend to favor the Rapala and have used their knives many times over. I do have a Carbon V Cold Steel (no longer made) that is quite good if you can find one. Otherwise, the Rapala is decent.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Rapala is good if you get one made in Finland. Beware. Rapala has begun to have lower quality knives made in China.

Mora is guaranteed great quality. You cannot go wrong with a Mora Fillet or fishing knife.

100 percent Swedish Sandvik Stainless steel and quality polymers. Cannot beat that.

[500Nitro]

Have a look at Dexter Russell filet knives. They are quality, affordable and American made.

I've used DR / Green River a fair bit for many years here in Australia.
Both High Carbon steels in Wooden Handle and plastic handle.

As the above poster said, "quality, affordable and American made."

Very easy to touch up on cheap steels.

The high carbon needs to be looked after in terms of wipe clean, dried and goes rusty
if kept wet (or in my case high humidity) but easy to clean again if it does.

[JD Spydo]

It really depends on if you prefer stainless or carbon steel.

Have a look at Dexter Russell filet knives. They are quality, affordable and American made.

Well first off I have to say that I tend to agree with BFK about the Dexter Russell blades for their price range in respect to overall quality. I have a few of Dexter Russells sharpening steels as well as a couple of the culinary blades and they are not bad quality tools. I find it quite interesting that many of the distributors here in the USA that sell Victorinox also sell Dexter Russell as well>> and I find their overall quality comparable.

Now if you ask me to decide between Mora or Rapala I would go for the "Mora" in a heartbeat>> but I would take a "Knives Of Alaska" fillet knife over any of the ones mentioned on this thread as of now>> with the exception of my dearly beloved Spyderco Catcherman models >> I have 6 of them in my user arsenal and I wouldn't part with any of them.

I have one more fillet knife that I would like to throw into the mix for consideration >> about 10 years ago at a local garage sale I snagged a really nice quality fillet knife made by "United Cutlery" ( the same company that makes knives for the COLT gun Company) and I've had some really good results using it in the field. I discovered that the United Cutlery fillet knife is made with 440C steel>> but it does hold an edge really nicely and sharpens really well.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Oh yes I want to add that too: Darby that is a great point, and others, who mentioned the Dexter-Russell knives. Those are very good quality for fishing and hunting and other tasks.

I have a friend who spent decades working commercial fishing boats, and his sole brand of knives was Dexter-Russell. He told me stories about pulling nets onboard and they'd get a shark or two and they had to throw em back. He said one time a stray shark like that took a big bloody chunk out of a man's leg or thigh before they got it back in the sea.

He said from his experience the three main benefits of the Dexter-Russell knives was:

1 Reliability in sharpness/edge holding and durability.
2 A comfortable and reasonably lightweight knife.
3 The personal solace that he was doing his part to help provide jobs to American workers.

Now you can also get fillet and other fishing knives from Dexter that have both hard and soft polymer handles.

Check out their "tiger edge" serrations. Man those are some aggressive serrated edges. I have one of their "canning/bait knives" with the serrated edge, it has a white plastic handle, and I think you can get it with one of their black plastic sheaths, and the blade is under 4 inches. It is an excellent home-cooking knife and also a good knife for fishing and outdoor activities.

They can be had in both plain and serrated edges, and actually since the blade is under 4 inches and it is a fixed blade, it would most likely be acceptable to carry in a wide-range of areas even with strict knife laws.

[Bloke]

I’ve not used a Rapala but I’ve used Dexter Russel Sani Safe, Victorinox Swibo and Frosts Mora.

I cut through bones when I fillet so none do overly well but I think the Frosts Mora holds up a little better than the others. :)

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Bloke, have you ever seen or used the other older Mora fishing knives? Ragweed Forge still sells them:

https://www.ragweedforge.com/SwedishKnifeCatalog.html

Scroll down and look at the Mora Scaler and others.

The Fishing Comfort is a monster Swedish knife with a blade over FIVE INCHES! Big for a Mora.

[Water Bug]

The only fish fillet knife I've ever used is the Rapala Fish 'N Fillet Knife that I bought YEARS ago, like back in the late 70's or early 80's. It has served me quite well in terms of cutting quality and comfort of use... the blade has very nice flexibility and the wooden handle is quite nice to grasp. For me, this particular knife is of very good quality and works very nicely... can't say; however, how Rapala Fish 'N Fillet knives are today, but the ones they made way back when were, at least for me, very nice.

[Tdog]

I'm a nut for fillet and B&T knives. I have numerous including both the Frost/Mora's and Rapala's. Both are good, relatively inexpensive knives but I prefer the blades on the Frost PG series https://www.bladehq.com/?search=frost+fillet Blade HQ has good prices on these. The handles have some "grip" to them and the blades are less prone to rust than the Rapala. They sharpen very easily and hold their edge ok...not great but they are quick to re-sharpen and get razor sharp easily. There is a drawback to the Frosts...they don't come with a sheath. The Rapala's do have a little more flex but I prefer a medium-low flex for filleting. I use a longer 9" blade for skinning and prefer a little more flex for this. The Rapala's will rust quicker around saltwater and they don't have a finger guard like the Frost/Mora's. Either would serve you well, just depends upon what you like in a knife. As Bloke says, the Dexter's, Swibo's, and Victorinox are also good inexpensive fillet knives. Another to consider is Forschner, that's what we used for years commercial fishing. Catch'em up

[TargaMonteSS]

Thanks for all the posts and info, I read them all. I ended up getting the mora.