Are partially serrated blades really all that bad?

S

Seanski

Joined
Nov 20, 2007
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I hear and read quite a bit about guys who dislike partially serrated blades? What are your thoughts gentlemen? I only have one partial unit and that's my Delica.
You buy or don't but them because?? Thanks.
 
i Hate them, simply becaus i use all my knives as backup woodcarving blades, and i i cant sharpen serations.. so i dont want them on an EDC knife, however if it were a rescure/emergency self defence knife serrations might be ok.
 
Personally, I rather like partially serrated blades. True, they are a bit harder to keep up than plain blades, but I find the serrations handy at times for cutting particularly tough or fiberous materials. Not that I couldn't do the same thing with a nice, sharp plain edged blade, but the serrations do seem to make it easier sometimes. Serrations are not really the best for every task, though, which I why I don't care for fully serrated blades.

Plain blades or combo blades; I can be happy with either one for EDC.:thumbup:
 
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Serrations have their place for rough work, but I like a good sharp conventional edge on my knives. To me, serrations are kinda "cheating".
 
Either give me full serrations, or none at all. A paltry inch or so of serrations isn't worth bothering with and it leaves too little of the plain edge left. I always have a plain edge main blade and either a fully serrated (Spyderco Atlantic Salt or Rescue 93mm) or hawkbill (PE Tasman Salt) secondary knife.

All or none.

The only combo edge knife I have is a knife that seems to have all the things I dislike, a Microtech Mini-SOCOM: Tip-down only, tanto tip, combo edge, and beadblasted finish. The only reason I have it and haven't sold it was that I won it in a raffle to benefit the family of a good man who passed away, and thus has sentimental value to me.
 
Seanski said:
I hear and read quite a bit about guys who dislike partially serrated blades? What are your thoughts gentlemen? I only have one partial unit and that's my Delica.
You buy or don't but them because?? Thanks.
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I have little use for a serrated blade so I avoid them on pocket, outdoor, and or survival type knives.

A serrated blade seems to work well on a bread knife. I can imagine a use for a serrated blade on a rescue type knife also.
 
They are about as useful as a picture of Carl Edwards on the handle. Most serrations are too short, and they're on the wrong end of the blade. They allow some makers to grind chisel edges - which aren't always the best utility cutter. And they are hard to sharpen on their own. Spyderco is about the only maker to offer rods the correct shape - everyone else's serrations are too different to use them.

It's just a mall ninja decoration that actually impedes the usefulness of an otherwise decent blade. Nobody really needs to slash that much rope and webbing - and those that do, carry a fully serrated blade, or use a hot wire.
 
I've carried a partially serrated Endura for 18 years and haven't really found that the serrations have helped all that much. Most of my blades since then have been straight edged or fully serrated.
 
IMHO serration is only useful if you need to cut ropes (or other fibrous material) in a major hurry, like in emergency or certain tactical situations.

You can't use serrated edge to cleanly slice (except for bread), shave, nor chop. In contrast plain edge can cut rope, albeit slower.

I think the couple of seconds I gain in using serrated edge against ropes is not worth sacrificing all the other capabilities, and certainly not worth my extra minutes in sharpening.
 
Echo most of what has been said; interestingly enough I was out over the week-end trimming up some dogwood bushes; of course had loppers, etc.; had my djavoo in my pocket and used it a couple of times. I thought about my LM Wave which was on my belt; got it out and used the serrated(only) blade on it and it worked great; best I have ever seen serrated work; Have carried partially serrated knives for years but am not a fan. Things change, however, was a real opponent of liner locks until I started using one recently and I like it!
 
tirod3 said:
They are about as useful as a picture of Carl Edwards on the handle. Most serrations are too short, and they're on the wrong end of the blade. They allow some makers to grind chisel edges - which aren't always the best utility cutter. And they are hard to sharpen on their own. Spyderco is about the only maker to offer rods the correct shape - everyone else's serrations are too different to use them.

It's just a mall ninja decoration that actually impedes the usefulness of an otherwise decent blade. Nobody really needs to slash that much rope and webbing - and those that do, carry a fully serrated blade, or use a hot wire.
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I had to look up Carl Edwards but I think you are mostly correct.
 
I do not care for partially or full serrated blades. I personally have NO use for one.
 
Even when cutting rope I find serrations to be a downside. They tend to snag if they aren't razor sharp.

The only time I actually used my SE Para was to cut some steak because the knives they offered were dull.

CE (combo edge) blades are worthless to me because you don't have enough usable blade length for either the PE or the SE.
 
I'm another all or none guy. On combination edges, it seems the serrations just get in my way, and I really don't use serrations that much. They have their uses, such as gardening, but they only account for a small fraction of my knife use. Luckily, I've latched on to a Spyderco C44 Dyad with one plain edge blade and one serrated blade, so I can carry both without having them on the same edge. :D
 
They are not useless. They are not a "mall ninja" addition. They are easy to sharpen. I do cut enough rope, webbing, and heavy plastic to use one everyday. Partial is not as good as a full SE but will work in a pinch. The only PE steel that stays sharp for me all day is ZDP189, CPM D2 or S30V. I have to sharpen them up everyday after work. My H1 Pacific Salt SE will go for two or three days without a touch-up. The SE provides close to 3X the cutting edge surface. Like most things they have their place and work very well for those purposes. To each his own.
 
I like them, my world beater knife is a Benchmade 690 with a coated (all hamburgered up) CE and it has done more than its share of cutting. the serrated portion is nice when cutting rope, cord or course material.
 
My EDC's are plain straight edged...However, if I'm going outside of the local city limits I pop in a combo instead...
 
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