Fully Serrated?

I do just about everything with a fully serrated edge that I do with a plain edge.

I really like fully serrated blades and have quite a few of them.

And, there are some things that I find easier to do with a serrated edge than with a plain edge.
(Cutting through a thick piece of rope, for example.)
 
pros: cutting rope and thick materials
cons: harder to sharpen, scary appearance to most people.

the only fully serrated knife i carry is a spyderco harpy for self defense just in case. ive never found much use for them but that is only in my life. im sure others swear by it.
 
I have a Spydero Tenacious fully serrated, its excellent for cutting carpeting. Would do well with any fiberous, such as cloth, rope, or even cardboard. A serrated blade can be a nice one to have. I dont really like the partially serrated blade, there doesnt seem to be enough of either the SE or PE to be fully useful.
 
I prefer the Spyderco Police, Endura, and Delica in fully serrated, even though I mostly favor plain-edged knives for most tasks. For myself, I prefer a good plain edge for many jobs, including cutting most cardboard. The serrated blades work esp. well for rope, plastic bands, netting, and certain thick fabrics. It's also easy to push-cut paper with a serrated edge, without the sawing motion.
Jim
 
I would like partially serrated blades a lot more if makers would put the serrations in their proper place at the belly of the blade and the plain edge near the grip. In other words, more like a steak knife.

Serrated blades have a number of substantial advantages over plain edges, but that and convenience mostly lead me to not bother with them. A plain edge sharpened with a coarse stone will cut rope better than serrations, although serrated edges perform much better when dull than plain edges.
 
I have a cheap fully-serrated Gerber. Back when I was working night shifts at a restaurant and we'd get early morning deliveries, it was great for breaking down tons of boxes at a time.
 
I forgot to mention, although you might have gathered from the other posts, that Spyderco has pretty much written the book on serrated blades. Most models are available in fully serrated, and their serrations are excellent.
 
Khalnath said:
I would like partially serrated blades a lot more if makers would put the serrations in their proper place at the belly of the blade and the plain edge near the grip. In other words, more like a steak knife.

Serrated blades have a number of substantial advantages over plain edges, but that and convenience mostly lead me to not bother with them. A plain edge sharpened with a coarse stone will cut rope better than serrations, although serrated edges perform much better when dull than plain edges.
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i have a SAK with a blade exactly like that. It does an amazing job.
 
To me the fully serrated blade is most useful in a defensive knife. Serrations can appreciably improve slashing performance against both heavy clothing and bare flesh. There's a reason steak knives are serrated, and it's not just to prevent dulling against the plate.
 
some knives look right to me serrated, like the spyderoc police and civilian, just dont look right to me plain edge.

as far as self defense goes i dont know that either one is any better than the other, i do know that lotsa folks make custom self defense knives, pat crawford, ernie emerson, bud nealy, and many others. a custom with full/partial serrations is a very rare knife, in all my yrs i have seen exactly one, a mel pardue FWIW, i imagine there is a reason for that too lol, probably its that they feel a PE is as good or better.

but i do like some SE knives.
 
I didn't like serrated blades for a long time. Then I was given a SE Tasman. Boy did this change my opinion of serrated blades. This thing is a work horse. I cut up a lot of cardboard boxes. It rips right though them. It stays sharp for a good long time. Easily sharpened on the corner of brown Sharpmaker stone.
I can see where serrations make sense in a self defense situation.
 
coop1957 said:
I didn't like serrated blades for a long time. Then I was given a SE Tasman. Boy did this change my opinion of serrated blades. This thing is a work horse. I cut up a lot of cardboard boxes. It rips right though them. It stays sharp for a good long time. Easily sharpened on the corner of brown Sharpmaker stone.
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I felt the same way; never touched a serrated blade for years because I heard they were hard to sharpen. Then I bought a harpy on a whim, and it's been in my pocket almost exclusively for the last six months. I find it cuts amazingly well on just about all materials, and really, it's probably easier to sharpen than a plain edge, as it's chisel ground, so you don't need to worry about aligning bevels. Unless you're skinning an animal, I've found that a fully serrated edge will work just as good if not better than a plain edge for more general cutting chores.
 
Quoted from above...

"There's a reason steak knives are serrated, and it's not just to prevent dulling against the plate."

Yeah, steak knives are serrated because serrated knives cut (well rip would be more appropriate) better than plain edged knives when extremely dull. Very few people (board members excluded as we are an extremem minority) sharpen their steak knives, and NO RESTAURANT sharpens their customer-use steak knives.

Serrated edges have their place, but I don't work with rope, don't break down boxes, and rarely have a need to push cut sheets of paper.

There is a reason that scalpels are plain edged, and it is not because serrated edges are better cutters. Each has its use, but serrated edges are not for me.
 
I have always carried PE knives which have worked well as long as you keep them sharp. I just got a Spyderco Tenacious with full SE... this thing is a beast when it comes to cutting. The only real differences I can find is that the serrated edge HOLDS ON to what ever your cutting, and it STAYS sharp! Just don't try to shave with it!
 
I think they are ideal in a rescue knife or a self defense knife and in the kitchen, as a bread knife or steak knife. Also, someone like a sailor who may need to work with rope a lot. They are also better at cutting fibrous plant material like clumps of grass or weeds, etc. The plain edge is more of a precision cutter and is what I prefer for an EDC.

But there are a few good 2-bladed knives that have one of each and these make a lot of sense if you want the best of both worlds. The Byrd Wings comes to mind.
 
hlee said:
There is a reason that scalpels are plain edged
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For now, yes, but recent research on extremely sharp cutting edges - based on cutting edges found in nature -
indicate that serrated edges can be made sharper and cut better than plain edges.

For example, the Japanese are testing serrated edge hypodermic needles which are "painless" because
they pierce the skin more easily than currently used plain edge hypodermics.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2121-painless-needle-copies-mosquitos-stinger.html
 
Personally, I'm not too fond of serrated knives since I rarely need to cut through mountains of rope or cardboard, and I find a sharp plain edge does a better job on most everything else.

However, I couldn't agree more with Kalnath - If a blade has partial serration, the plain edge part needs to go near the grip. I have two knives with partial and I don't carry either of them anymore because it drove me nuts having the serrations down by the grip.
 
Kazeryu said:
Personally, I'm not too fond of serrated knives since I rarely need to cut through mountains of rope or cardboard, and I find a sharp plain edge does a better job on most everything else.
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I find that a serrated edge cuts through just about everything as well as a plain edge does - provided that it's a good serrated edge.
Like a Spyderco or a Cold Steel.

Of course, chopping food and some other tasks are best done with a plain edge.
 
One other (small) advantage of the fully serrated edge is that you get what is effectively a longer cutting surface per unit of blade length than with a plain edged blade. If you could 'straighten out' the serrated surface of a 4 inch blade you would find that it is actually longer than 4 inches.
 
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