Does sharpness of agressive serrations matter much?

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Pristerognathus

Joined
Sep 1, 2010
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132
Before I discovered the deep world of knives I had never heard of the idea of sharpening the teeth of a serrated/toothed tool. Now when I hear people talk about it serrations sounds even less attractive. I thought serrations where something that would stay useful until they break, like the teeth of a saw (I think at least).

When it comes to round serrations like in the pic below I can understand the need for it since they don't really get stuck in the material much and then pull it away like a saw.
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Pointy serrations like this on the other hand I suspect are much less dependent on the sharpens of the edge.
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I like the the look of fully serrated knives and at rare times they might come handy. :rolleyes: I have been thinking of buying a fully serrated knife sometime in the future but sharpening them doesn't sound like it's worth the trouble. :disturbed: Do you think a blade of aggressive serrations (made in s30v or such) like the one above would do fine in life without caring about sharpening them? I red at some forum that H1 steel is perfect for serrations, not likely to get dull enough to notice, I can't find the link to the thread though.
 
The sharpness of serrations makes a HUGE difference. I think the main reason why people hate on serrations is that they don't really understand the purpose. Most people assume that the point of serrated blades is to saw through material. While the saw like qualities of serrations cannot be denied, it is not the main purpose. One purpose of serrated blades is to provide more actual cutting edge per inch of blade length, therefore making them more efficient cutters than a plain edge. Secondly, the points of the serrations provide protection of the sharp scalloped portions from hard surfaces. This keeps the scalloped portions sharper longer than is usually achieved by a plain edge. Additionally, the teeth of a serrated edge do aid in gripping the material to be cut. They are not however, sawing through it. A properly sharpened serrated blade will slice paper just as cleanly as a properly sharpened plain edge. Serrated edges can be difficult to sharpen without some practice and the proper tools however. This in and of itself is the reason for the general public's misunderstanding of serrations. Most people have far more experience with a dull serrated edge than a sharp one..with the dull serrated edge they cut more efficiently by sawing, so that's what they assume the serrations are for.
 
Pristerognathus said:
Well it seems like everything I knew about serrations was completely wrong. ;)
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Lol. We're all here to learn and share knowledge. You obviously had an interest in how serrations work, that's why you asked the question. With that said, if you are considering purchasing a fully serrated blade I would very highly recommend you go with spyderco as they are really the pioneers of the serrated edge as we know it. Their serrations are wicked and come screamin sharp. You have heard right about serrated edges in h1 steel. Because h1 is work hardened, the act of grinding the serrations makes a blade in h1 much harder at the edge than most other steels. Sal from spyderco has been quoted saying that serrated h1 has been tested at a Rockwell rating of 68 at the edge. That is pretty ridiculous...

In terms of sharpening serrations, just get a sharpmaker and be done with it. With a little practice sharpening serrated edges on a sharpmaker is just as easy as plain edges.

So in summary, get a fully serrated spyderco (the full spyderedge endura is a pocket chainsaw...), keep it sharp with the sharpmaker (sharpening serrated edges is much easier if you do it before they get really dull...), profit.
 
mkjellgren said:
The sharpness of serrations makes a HUGE difference. I think the main reason why people hate on serrations is that they don't really understand the purpose. Most people assume that the point of serrated blades is to saw through material. While the saw like qualities of serrations cannot be denied, it is not the main purpose. One purpose of serrated blades is to provide more actual cutting edge per inch of blade length, therefore making them more efficient cutters than a plain edge. Secondly, the points of the serrations provide protection of the sharp scalloped portions from hard surfaces. This keeps the scalloped portions sharper longer than is usually achieved by a plain edge. Additionally, the teeth of a serrated edge do aid in gripping the material to be cut. They are not however, sawing through it. A properly sharpened serrated blade will slice paper just as cleanly as a properly sharpened plain edge. Serrated edges can be difficult to sharpen without some practice and the proper tools however. This in and of itself is the reason for the general public's misunderstanding of serrations. Most people have far more experience with a dull serrated edge than a sharp one..with the dull serrated edge they cut more efficiently by sawing, so that's what they assume the serrations are for.
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You make some good points (hey, that's sort of punny)....I dont think one should profess to know what most peoples actual experience are though without data....Most people this or most people that....
 
they are more difficult to maintain, but i like serrations over plain edge bc i find that the teeth pierce whatever is to be cut then cuts it on the scallops. its like stabbing a knife through a piece of paper then slicing outwards. only tenfold.
 
I have a Caly3 SE in VG-10, which did serve as my EDC for 3-4 yrs before it needed to be sharpened. I just got it back, sharpened, from Spyderco. It costs five bucks, and it takes two weeks.
Perfect!
Sonny
 
mkjellgren said:
The sharpness of serrations makes a HUGE difference. I think the main reason why people hate on serrations is that they don't really understand the purpose. Most people assume that the point of serrated blades is to saw through material. While the saw like qualities of serrations cannot be denied, it is not the main purpose. One purpose of serrated blades is to provide more actual cutting edge per inch of blade length, therefore making them more efficient cutters than a plain edge. Secondly, the points of the serrations provide protection of the sharp scalloped portions from hard surfaces. This keeps the scalloped portions sharper longer than is usually achieved by a plain edge. Additionally, the teeth of a serrated edge do aid in gripping the material to be cut. They are not however, sawing through it. A properly sharpened serrated blade will slice paper just as cleanly as a properly sharpened plain edge. Serrated edges can be difficult to sharpen without some practice and the proper tools however. This in and of itself is the reason for the general public's misunderstanding of serrations. Most people have far more experience with a dull serrated edge than a sharp one..with the dull serrated edge they cut more efficiently by sawing, so that's what they assume the serrations are for.
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The best description of the purpose of serrations I've ever heard. I wish I could hand it out to everybody that calls it a saw edge- most non-knife people I've ever met that know serrations think that they are saw blades on knives.
 
Superdave1 said:
You make some good points (hey, that's sort of punny)....I dont think one should profess to know what most peoples actual experience are though without data....Most people this or most people that....
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Considering the fact that the "knife knut" population, which includes this site make up an impossibly small portion of the world's population, yes, I would say that most people (in the world) do not know the ins and outs of the concept of serrations. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say "most people" just don't really care. That's what makes us knife knuts, we are not "most people"
 
I just got a fully serrated Spyderco Atlantic Salt. It certainly looks wicked. I was thinking of sharpening it (when it needs it) by laying the long side (or non-serrated side) flat on the stone. Is that feasible? It looks like Spyderco ran a buffing wheel on that side to take off the burr from cutting the serrations. You can see the slight polish from the wheel.
 
Pinesoldiers said:
I just got a fully serrated Spyderco Atlantic Salt. It certainly looks wicked. I was thinking of sharpening it (when it needs it) by laying the long side (or non-serrated side) flat on the stone. Is that feasible? It looks like Spyderco ran a buffing wheel on that side to take off the burr from cutting the serrations. You can see the slight polish from the wheel.
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That is actually kind of opposite of how you sharpen serrations. To sharpen serrations you simply use the corner of a ceramic stone (again,the sharpmaker stones work excellently) and make your strokes as you would with a plain edge but much more slowly and deliberately and only on the side that the serrations are ground, making sure that the corner of the stone gets into each and every serration. Make 5 or 6 passes on the ground side then cut off the burr by makingba single pass on the opposite (non ground) side. Repeat as necessary. It really just takes practice. The sharpmaker makes it much simpler but any ceramic stone with a nice clean corner will work.
 
mkjellgren said:
before they get really dull
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Do you have any personal rule of when it's time to sharpen? When do you consider them dull enough? Btw you make it sound like full serrations is superior as long as you're willing to sharpen them. ;) I'm thinking of getting a spyderco pacific salt fully serrated in H1 in the future.
 
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_8hcCnzaOk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAs8umcDJOU

Ever since I saw these videos I've sharpened my serrations using benchstones and a Sharpmaker rod (grinding close to flat with the blade on one side and just knocking the burr off with the rod), before that I was pretty much hopeless, now my Endura is always shaving sharp.
Note that there's a lot of ways to get the job done, if I had a sharpmaker I would be tempted to just run the knife on the rods the same as a PE blade (I don't really like pointy serrations anyway).
 
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