Does Anyone Prefer Combo Edge?

I prefer plain blade over serrated but it won't be a deal-breaker on a knife I like. There is an inherent sharpness advantage to most serrated blade sections though, as they are chisel ground.

I agree that the shorter the blade the less there should be serrations which would only split the edge into two less useable portions.

Where I do have a serrated blade I tend to do all my crap cutting on the serrations, sparing the clean edge to remain sharp longer.

Some serration patterns cut better than others. The best serrations I own are those in my Tekna dive knife which I EDC a lot. The worst are on the knife blade of my Schrade multi tool....it may just be the softer steel though. I have to sharpen it a lot.

Overall I'll take a plain blade. Some day I'll probably own an all-serration blade like a Spydie Civilian though.
 
in agreement with the other posts...

A combo edge is like a meatball smoothie. A real decent way to fairly ruin some meatballs and a smoothie.
 
My first good knife & EDC for the past two years (Benchmade 943) has the combo edge. I don't really find it to be particularly advantageous to have during my typical use. While it can come in handy for certain tasks, I pretty much always have some sort of Victorinox on me (Classic, SwissCard, or Huntsman) where using the scissors or even the saw would do the job more efficiently than a 1" serrated portion of the Benchmade's blade.

I guess I'll just chalk it up to inexperience at the time and take it as a case of "Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." Who knows, maybe I'll find myself in some emergency where a zip tie needs to be cut instantly and my 943 will be the only option. Until then I'm sticking with plain edge blades.
 
Probably no surprise to most of you, but no, I don't prefer them. At all. I avoid combo edges like the plague. I always say go full or none at all.

Combo edges defeat the purpose of both types of edge. Not enough of either one to be useful. Too few serrations to rip through stuff, too short of a plain edge to slice things cleanly.
 
AntDog said:
Probably no surprise to most of you, but no, I don't prefer them. At all. I avoid combo edges like the plague. I always say go full or none at all.

Combo edges defeat the purpose of both types of edge. Not enough of either one to be useful. Too few serrations to rip through stuff, too short of a plain edge to slice things cleanly.
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Agreed, and they're ugly too.
 
2 of my 4 edc's in current rotation are CE. Microtech Mini UDT and Benchmade 707. Like others have said, the serrated part comes in super useful when cutting through pallet straps, zip ties, and cardboard, all of which I deal with almost daily.
 
Does Anyone Prefer Combo Edge?

I do.

I work in public works. I find them useful. Even as small as the blade is on a full size Griptilian. I prefer to carry a cutting tool that cuts most anything. I'm not carrying a saw in my pocket. And I don't carry a knife because of the way it looks or the "clean lines" the blade has. That seems odd to me.
 
I'm proud of my ability to turn people on to combo edges. I find that most of the plain edge hold outs are scared of combos because they "can't sharpen them" after I show them how to sharpen them and explain that serrations increase cutting edge and don't need to be sharpened as often, it's a done deal.

The remaining tough customers always fall back on the "it doesn't look good" argument and shut their ears off. Some people can't be convinced.

As a Marine (a proud tribe of blade wielders) I've had all kinds of knives in all kinds of styles and remain faithful to what's served me best, the combo.

LONG LIVE THE COMBO!
 
I have several plain-edge knives in my collection and most often carry plain edges outside of work, but I carry a SOG Trident with a combo edge at work daily. I regularly cut 3/4" rope, but also slice fruit for lunch, occasionally slice open the shrink wrap or plastic strapping on a skid of parts, etc.

While it's true that a full serrated blade might be more effective for cutting the rope, the combo edge still works great - the point that having half the length of the blade with each edge is not enough of either doesn't hold up because even though it's only part serrated I can carry the sawing motion though the full length of the blade and cut through 3/4" rope pretty quickly, much easier than I could with a 2" long full serrated blade. It's not enough of a drawback for me to carry two knives.
 
When fishing or on the boat, yes. I find the serrations are very useful, and I like having some plain edge capability as well. Some would also say that if they had no ability to sharpen their knife they would like serrations. I ONLY use them by the waters edge though.
 
I liked them when l was younger. Then I got older and wiser. I do not care for them any longer.
 
I really dislike combo edges. I was given a BM 810 Contego a while back in combo edge and have rediscovered why I dislike them. And to make it worse most combo edges have the serrations right at the base of the blade where you use when you need to do detailed work.

The only time I can see a combo edge being ok is for a knife carried for defensive purposes where it's nots going to be used for much everyday cutting. Even in that case it's not adding anything as far as I am concerned.
 
Combo edge for work, plain edge for chillin'. I cut a bunch of plastic and nylon and rope in the course of a workday and had a few creepy instances of a PE slipping/sliding over wet net; CE grabs it every time and the cut is done.

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Although I have a min-grip with a combo edge I do agree with LeathermanGX that it destroys the flowing lines of the blade. This was one of my first knife purchase before I really started thinking about what attributes of a knife that I like.
 
jazub said:
Combo edge for work, plain edge for chillin'. I cut a bunch of plastic and nylon and rope in the course of a workday and had a few creepy instances of a PE slipping/sliding over wet net; CE grabs it every time and the cut is done.
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Ya but this is a prime example of two knife carry. I would carry a Spyderco H1 serrated hawkbill in one pocket and my EDC in the other. No need for combo
 
It's kind of a jack of all trades thing. I have a benchmade griptillian that is 50/50 and it does everything but nothing particularly well.
 
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