tips mono cutter
A mate without a good set of cutters is about as useless as teats on a boar hog. You can’t rig baits, trim knots or save your buddy’s life on the wire without a properly working set of cutters. However, keeping your mono and cable-cutting tools sharp and in proper working order is no easy task when toiling in wet, salty conditions. Dull cutters add hours to rigging time when a clean, sharp cut is essential. This is especially true when rigging with braided wire cable and sleeves – the cable will unravel if cut with a dull tool, making it virtually impossible to get the tag end into a sleeve for crimping. It will also leave nasty little pieces of wire that will poke you.
And if you’re trying to cut mono with a dull tool, you end up mashing the softer material instead of leaving a clean cut. A squashed mono tag end doesn’t like to go into a crimp either. Here are a couple of tricks I’ve learned to keep my cutting tools sharp and corrosion-free.
Although a lot of guys don’t know it, most cutting tools come with a self-sharpening feature. Tightening the screw or bolt holding the cutters together allows the jaws to work against each other to remove any nicks, burrs or rust. A few well-placed drops of oil enhance the sharpening effect and also help keep the tool corrosion-free. If I notice that the cutting edges start to dull, I tighten down the center bolt until the blades rub against each other pretty tightly. I then open and close the cutters several times, in effect sharpening the blades. Once I see that I’ve got a good edge on both blades, I can back off the center screw as needed. This simple maintenance, if done every day, will preserve the life and utility of any cutting tools.
Capt. Jason “Tiny” Walcott
West Palm Beach, Florida
