About serrations

I took my freshly sharpened to push cut paper Salt 1 to work today. I don't know how I ever used to use it. I find serrations very annoyingly useless. Yes I do. I cut everything, and it got hung up on things (causing me a small cut once) all day. On cardboard it's useless. I switched to my Delica wharnie Plain Edge and it flew through the box. Maybe someone can help enlighten me before I grind it down into pendants.
 
jazzz said:
On cardboard it's useless. I switched to my Delica wharnie Plain Edge and it flew through the box. Maybe someone can help enlighten me before I grind it down into pendants.
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I'm more of a plain edge guy and usually only use serrated edge knives when I'm working in the yard. I read your comment about your Salt 1 being useless on cardboard. Never having tried my Salt 1 on cardboard I thought I'd give it a try on a shipping box I had in the garage. The Salt 1 easily broke it down into little pieces. I won't say it worked better than a PE knife but it wasn't any more difficult either.
 
Do you engage more of the blade all at the same time, or just a small portion of cutting edge? As in, do you lay the knife flatter whilst cutting?
 
jazzz said:
Do you engage more of the blade all at the same time, or just a small portion of cutting edge? As in, do you lay the knife flatter whilst cutting?
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I did a little of both like I do when using a PE. When I break down a box I tend to use a small portion of the cutting edge to cut the flap seams and corners. Then I use the blade on an angle (more edge) when I'm breaking down the panels into smaller pieces.
 
I recently installed a 75 gl water heater and had to cut up the HUGE cardboard box it came in.
Had my Pac Salt on me and had no problem with it.
I don't use a sawing motion, mostly push cuts. No problem at all.
Also, I am no sharpening guru, but have no problem keeping them sharp on the Sharpmaker.
Joe
 
Grateful said:
Anybody want to try and talk me into buying a serrated Spyderco? ...
So anybody got any good things to pass on to me about edcing a serrated Spyderco?

Jim
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Try one!! Spyderco has been making excellent serrated knives for decades. There was a time, I believe as I remember, that it was easier to find/buy a serrated model vs. plain-edge. Learn to sharpen the serrations to factory sharp levels and you will be kindly rewarded with a performance cutter.
 
Grateful said:
Anybody want to try and talk me into buying a serrated Spyderco? I have always avoided serrations like the plauge but lately have wondered if a fully serated knfe might not be a good edc. I normally edc a ffg Delica through the week and switch to something larger, Millie, Para, or Endura on the weekends. I always carry a sak that i use for most tasks saving my folder for bigger rougher jobs.
So anybody got any good things to pass on to me about edcing a serrated Spyderco?

Jim
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I have a Spyderco rescue that I don't use. Let me know if you want it and I'll send it to you.
 
jazzz said:
I took my freshly sharpened to push cut paper Salt 1 to work today. I don't know how I ever used to use it. I find serrations very annoyingly useless. Yes I do. I cut everything, and it got hung up on things (causing me a small cut once) all day. On cardboard it's useless. I switched to my Delica wharnie Plain Edge and it flew through the box. Maybe someone can help enlighten me before I grind it down into pendants.
Click to expand...
My thoughts exactly. I never REAKLY understood the logic that serrations cut better. I'm always getting them hung up on stuff too.

And combo edges have always been "wrong" to me. It would look weird, but the better place for serrations would be on the tip half of the blade, leaving the flat near the handle plain edged for whittling and stuff. That way, when the serrated performance is needed, the plain edge could start and index the cut, and the serrations would finish it with the naturally trailing slicing action of simply finishing a cut. Starting a cut with serrations in fibrous material is like trying to start a cut in hardwood with a coarse tooth saw. Just kinda binds.

Last, a properly sharpened TOOTHY (coarse) plain edge has never failed to provide me with all the slicing aggression and I need. I've never gotten as good of performance with my serrated edges. They just annoy me.
 
Jamesh Bond said:
My thoughts exactly. I never REAKLY understood the logic that serrations cut better. I'm always getting them hung up on stuff too.

And combo edges have always been "wrong" to me. It would look weird, but the better place for serrations would be on the tip half of the blade, leaving the flat near the handle plain edged for whittling and stuff. That way, when the serrated performance is needed, the plain edge could start and index the cut, and the serrations would finish it with the naturally trailing slicing action of simply finishing a cut. Starting a cut with serrations in fibrous material is like trying to start a cut in hardwood with a coarse tooth saw. Just kinda binds.

Last, a properly sharpened TOOTHY (coarse) plain edge has never failed to provide me with all the slicing aggression and I need. I've never gotten as good of performance with my serrated edges. They just annoy me.
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Whenever I hear this, I often get the impression that what the guy really means is: "All right, all right, if you necessarily have to put serrations on my knife, put them somewhere where they're not in the way, so I can use my plain edge in peace."

I personally don't feel any problems starting a cut with a SE. If I'm cutting cardboard, I just stick the point in and tear down like a claw. If I'm cutting a rope, the teeth WILL bind (unless the knife is really, really sharp), but the blade will still cut through, if I put pressure on the edge with small rocking, shaking motions. It's about technique to a big extent I think.
 
When using a serrated blade, I find that binding to the material being cut usually has to do with the sharpness of the individual serrations. In my experience the minute one of my serrated blades gets even slightly dull, it will start to bind pretty heavily depending on the material. I use a sharpmaker to resharpen 90% of the time, and feel that my technique may be off which compounds the issue. I think a lot of it has to do with how sharp the individual serrations actually are.
 
Cinnamon Toph Crunch said:
When using a serrated blade, I find that binding to the material being cut usually has to do with the sharpness of the individual serrations. In my experience the minute one of my serrated blades gets even slightly dull, it will start to bind pretty heavily depending on the material. I use a sharpmaker to resharpen 90% of the time, and feel that my technique may be off which compounds the issue. I think a lot of it has to do with how sharp the individual serrations actually are.
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Like I said, it will often bind (unless the knife is very sharp or you're cutting bread) especially on fibrous material. What you have to do then is kind of shake the teeth back and forth as you put pressure on the edge. I think the mistake a lot of people make is that they try to cut like they would cut with a plain edge, when the serrations are holding the blade in place.

That works about as well as felling a tree with a chainsaw without starting the engine first.
 
Cinnamon Toph Crunch said:
Could not agree more! How do you get each individual serration to the same sharpness? I have luck with the majority but I struggle to do so. I do use a Sharpmaker however.
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I like using the Sharpmaker also. The best way is probably to have rods which have exactly the same size and shape as the serrations, but that would be hard to come by. Sharpening them takes a while and you have to be precise, but since the factual edge length on a serrated edge is much longer than on a plain edge blade of the same size, you don't have to sharpen as often from my experience.
 
Dr Heelhook said:
I like using the Sharpmaker also. The best way is probably to have rods which have exactly the same size and shape as the serrations, but that would be hard to come by. Sharpening them takes a while and you have to be precise, but since the factual edge length on a serrated edge is much longer than on a plain edge blade of the same size, you don't have to sharpen as often from my experience.
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Dr. Heelhook I do agree with you that the Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker is a great sharpening tool for Spyderedges and plain edges too. Now I do some of my Spyderco kitchen knives with my 204 Sharpmaker because they have a more rounded/wavy type of serration than do most of the high end Spyderco folders. Especially the ones from Japan >> those tend to have a more spikey type of serration>> and with those I pretty much exclusively just use my Spyderco 701 Profile kit.

The Spyderco 701 Profile kit when used properly will leave the serrations looking pretty much the same as when they came out of the factory. I find that the 204 Sharpmaker tends to round off and to some degree deform the original serration pattern that they came with new. Now I won't argue for one second that the 204 unit will get them sharp irrespective of their appearance after using the 204 unit but I feel that there was a valid reason that a particular serrated edge pattern came from the factory looking the way it did for a reason.

This has been a very interesting thread and I always love hearing everyone's input on their opinion of Spyderco's serrations. Because personally I still believe they could even improve upon something that is already good to begin with.
 
The Spyderedge is a thing of beauty. I generally EDC a plain edge knife of another brand but have a SE Salt Ladybug on my keyring. I also carry a SE Salt I around the house/gym/water. Maintenance free and cuts like a devil.
 
I did not like serrations at first. Until i tried a pacific salt serrated. My god, this thing is a monster!! The only thing i dont like now is the idea of the damage it wil cause if you accidently cut yourself.

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A gift from my wife. I love the Spyderedge.

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I have accepted Armadews very generous offer. Great people on Bladeforms. 👍🏻
 
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