My hatred of serrations, and yours, perhaps

redsquid2

redsquid2

Free-Range Cheese Baby
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Aug 31, 2011
Messages
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Maybe hatred is too strong of a word, but I have not bought a serrated knife in at least 15 years. It seems like it was about 15-20 years ago when serrated knives were becoming more popular. So I bought a small Spyderco serrated. But then I didn't really see any advantage of it. Supposedly it speeds up slicing.

But, unless you really strop your knives down to razor sharpness, they are going to have micro-serrations anyway.

Maybe there has been controlled testing to demonstrate the effectiveness of serrations? I don't know. To me, it just seems like a feature that adds one more complication to outdoor life. Might even make whittling more difficult. Also, to sharpen, you gotta use a rod. So I never got another serrated knife.
 
I actually prefer half serrated knives. Im not saying I don't love a plane edge but with the amount of cardboard I have to cut serrated knives help.
 
I have a set of knives I carry together (Byrd Cara Cara 2/ Navy K631s) I keep the byrd for general slicing and the usual duties, the serrated one I keep on hand for when there is a lot of course stuff that needs to be cut and I dont want to have to spend a lot of time sharpening the convexed edge again
 
i dont mind serrations for everyday things and i prefer them for work. i guess it really depends on what youre cutting and how often. i find it easier to cut through cord, zipties, straps and the like with the serrations. sure i dont deny that a properly sharpened pe will cut just as well but you from my experience that pe gets dull real fast whereas the serrated edge will keep doing its job even if its ripping/tearing. they are harder to sharpen but not that bad :)
 
I like serrations. Aside from being somewhat more difficult to sharpen than a PE - unless you have an Edge Pro - I don't see any downside. For me at least, they do everything a PE does.

But I have a sweet spirit, so maybe thats it.
 
I, too, share your hatred of serrations. For general purposes, all they do is reduce the usable cutting surface of the knife. You cannot (or at least really should not) baton serrations, so they serve literally no purpose on a mid-sized fixed blade. On a folder, the serrations are just so small that they do nothing but cause a PITA to sharpen. With a knife, you either have to go full serrated (Spyderedge), or full straight edge. The combo edge makes it do none of the tasks associated with either edge type very well at all.
 
I also hated serrations before watching these videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_8hcCnzaOk

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

I think this is the best method of sharpening serrations. I do it using stones instead of a belt sander, and I can get my full SE knives better than factory sharp. The fully serrated Endura is probably the best model to try your first serrations with, it has no PE section to get in the way and the sabre grind makes things a little easier.
 
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Hate 'em.

They are an advantage on dive knives and sailing knives, for rope and nets. There I recognize the advantage, use them, but still hate 'em, hate to sharpen them even in good conditions and hate depending on stuff that's hard to maintain in the field.

Besides, they can really make a mess out of peanut butter...
 
Cold Kill said:
I, too, share your hatred of serrations. For general purposes, all they do is reduce the usable cutting surface of the knife. You cannot (or at least really should not) baton serrations, so they serve literally no purpose on a mid-sized fixed blade. On a folder, the serrations are just so small that they do nothing but cause a PITA to sharpen. With a knife, you either have to go full serrated (Spyderedge), or full straight edge. The combo edge makes it do none of the tasks associated with either edge type very well at all.
Click to expand...

Thanks for saving my time and adding more to what I was going to post Cold Kill. :thumbup:

I only have bought two folders with partial serrations. One was a mistake and I gifted it to my son-in-law who is into partial serrations (figures). The other is from a folder that isn't made in any other configuration and is also one my most used desktop folders for - you name the task. I wore the last one out and a new one is in the mail as we post. It's a Kershaw Random Leek frame lock. SS handle and S30V blade. The blade tang finally wears down the lock bar of lesser steel after a couple of years of constantly flicking open.

On the positive side, the Kershaw serrations are wide and the S30V only takes a few swipes with a little rolled up bit of sandpaper to keep them roaring sharp.

I've never had a full Spyderedge but I'm think about a basic Military with the full Spyderedge a lot lately. Haven't checked on price or availability yet.
 
There are certain things that serrations will be better than plain edges at, like bread and zip ties, but, over all, I agree with you. besides, if makes me cry to see all that wonderful S30V or whatever the steel is ground away.
 
Fortunately, serrations are like Nutnfancy: real easy to avoid if you don't like them. I happen to like both, though.
 
I really dislike this kind of serration:

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Knives_Multi_Tools_Benchmade_Stryker_910SBT_Knife.gif


I actually really like these styles of serration:

ka5018.jpg


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I find the former style, which seems to be the most popular style of serrations, only seems to rip and tear material, gets bound up in fibrous materials like rope or fabric, and isn't very effective overall. The latter style, on the other hand, doesn't have any problem actually cutting material and the only problem I have with them is the difficulty in sharpening the things, but that's pretty par for the course when it comes to serrations.

Just my 0.02$
 
Cold Kill said:
I, too, share your hatred of serrations. For general purposes, all they do is reduce the usable cutting surface of the knife. You cannot (or at least really should not) baton serrations, so they serve literally no purpose on a mid-sized fixed blade. On a folder, the serrations are just so small that they do nothing but cause a PITA to sharpen. With a knife, you either have to go full serrated (Spyderedge), or full straight edge. The combo edge makes it do none of the tasks associated with either edge type very well at all.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by that... Serrations actually increase the cutting edge for a given length of blade, which is why they stay sharp longer (wear distributed over a larger area). Some steels like H1 are better serrated because they're work-hardened, too. Everything else you wrote I agree with 100%, though.

I have a few serrated knives. They're good for cutting cardboard, but I think the sharpening difficulties outweigh the edge retention improvement. Plus, serrations can get chipped off or ground out as you sharpen the knife. I've gone for plain edge unless I don't have a choice (model available only in serrated or a good deal on a used knife that happens to be serrated).
 
I don't like serrations much but there are things they cut a whole lot better than a plain edge. A very very sharp edge may come close, but very sharp edges don't stay that way very long when cutting nylon cables, dried up banana leaves and other really tough stuff.
Sometimes they just work better.
I have exactly two folders with serrations. :D Out of maybe 60 or so?
 
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