Really trying to talk myself into a combo edge blade…

My combo Bugout and Volli cut multilayer corrugated cardboard better than the fully serrated Spyderco Atlantic Salt, Caribbean Salt, and 79mm Rescue, and a lot better than many non-serrated blades with BESS scores under 150 grams. Even my combo Cogent with 25 degrees per side cuts multilayer corrugated cardboard better than most of my non-combo blades.
 
There was a time when all I bought was a combo edge. My BM 910 is combo edge and carried it for years when I was with my department. Cut seatbelts and the occasional battery cable like no other. Then got a Tenacious with a combo edge for the same reason. 20+ years later and I am no longer a fan. They serve there purpose for sure but my current needs a straight edge is preferred.
 
I like serrations more for plastic by a large margin, but plain edge works okay. But, most of my cutting isn't plastic, or at least not at at a thickness that makes a big differences (plastic bags and pouches).

Recently, I found out how good serrarions are for cutting green wood, like cutting back small limbs and vines around the yard.

Rope is a well know placd of advantage, but plain edge does well on most rope too.

I've come to like simpler serrations that are easier to maintain than complicated or angled serrations.

Combo edge is not my 1st choice by a long shot, but for some applications I really like them so I usually have at least one combo edge and one fully serrated edge blade around.

One of these days I'll get one of the case knives with a serrated blade and plain edge blade and have an even better "combo edge" setup.
 
I swapped the main blade on my Wave for a plain edge S30v blade that came from a Charge Ti. You could always do something similar
 
As a young cook 35 years ago, I saw a guy using a serrated knife for vegetables, because he couldn't properly sharpen his chefs knife. It always stuck with me, and now I just don't care for serrations, especially on pocket knives. They feel like a workaround for truly sharp blades.

I know it is wrong, but it forces me to maintain my knives in a super-sharp condition!

There are many scenarios where serrated is the best solution, but certainly not in my folding knife world. Do whatever "cuts yer muffin!"
 
Oh boy....
All the reasons I don't like (basically hate) partially serrated blades. Here we go....

1. Serrated edges are sharpened using a chisel grind. Meaning they're only ground on one side of the blade. Plain edges are usually equally ground on both sides of the edge. Meaning that the edges of your knife will never be in a straight line. I know it's only a few thousandths of and inch, but it bugs me that the serrations are set back to one side and not straight with the rest of my edge.

2. Well, you can sharpen serrations. Some of them. Technically... Not the multi-pointed "I wish I was a hacksaw" looking ones Cold Steel uses, but most of them. The ones you can sharpen require a special sharpener and alot of attention. You have to sharpen each and every one of them individually. Like every serration was whole different blade. It ain't worth the effort.

3. Most serrations are ground on the wrong side of the blade. They do this because the left side of the blade is usually the "Presentation" side of the blade, the pretty side that people drool on, and most buyers are too ignorant to know any better. So most serrations are ground for a left handed user. Nothing against anyone who is left handed, but I'm not!

4. Most serrations are at the base of the blade. I know the idea is that serrations are for harder cutting and you get more leverage at the base, but I don't agree with that plan. You see, on an 8" long fixed blade, yes, you do get alot more leverage at the base of the blade, but on a 3-4" folder, the potential force available is not that dramatic a difference. You do however have alot more control for fine detail cutting at the base of the blade. Hence why I would want the plain edge at the base and the serrations at the tip.

5. Serrations look mean, like a predators teeth, and are often mentioned with the subject of self defense. If you want them for that purpose, they're of little use at the base of the blade. You'd either need a fully serrated blade, or to put the serrations...wait for it... AT THE TIP! Not the base of the blade.

The only partially serrated knife I actually like and carry is the Victorinox Swiss Soldiers knife. The whole edge is chisel ground with the serrations at the tip, and they're on the right side of the blade. It's the only partially serrated knife I've ever seen to actually get it right.

Like someone else suggested, maybe you can do a blade swap with another leatherman tool? It's pretty simple, and I like getting to customize my tool list on my multis. You can usually get spare parts pretty easy on some unnamed auction site. I hope you find an answer that suits you.
 
Would I spend a lot of money on a knife that has a combo? Not if could help it. "Knife" being the keyword. On a multitool, I think it's a non-issue if you tend to carry a dedicated folder with a plain edge.

On a MT, the blade is generally going to be used to rip open packages or cut open a box or stuck on a piece of drywall to make a cut instead of going all the way back down the ladder to get a utility knife. It's just a tool, and on a P2, it's just a tool made of reasonably well done 400 series stainless and not a knife snob's steel.

I have a P4 (somewhere) that I really like (if I could find it). I do like the plain edge, but my serrated blade gets used too. I would have been fine with the P2.

Where combo edges bother me are when they are put on "premium" MT steel like the original Skeletool CX. Leatherman eventually swapped those out for plain edge 154cm. I have a Charge TTi on my Christmas wish list. I think that the S30V steel would make a decent stand alone EDC blade, but I would hate it if it were a combo.

For it's purposes, the P2 with a combo edge will probably serve your needs just fine. Remember, multi-TOOL 😉
 
As it pertains to the this particular instance with the multi-tool the OP is referring to, I'd say just look at that blade as another tool. A utility blade of sorts, with the added utility of serrations there when you might need them. Then carry your proper knife with a plain edge for most cutting tasks. Boom, done, talked into it, go ahead and click complete order because we all know you have it in your cart ;) .

As for combo edges in general, I feel the same as most of us do. I bought some of them early in this journey, and sometimes I'll reach for one and decide to give it a carry, only to open it and be like, "oh yeah :rolleyes:, never mind." I will say that those knives did serve me fine back when I did carry them, and I used them for everything from property renovations to farm work frequently, and never felt like I was lacking. Still, I now have a strong preference against combo edges.

That's not to say that I feel serrations have no use whatsoever. I carry a SE Dragonfly in H1 daily just for those times when serrations may come in handy, and I've found that to be all I ever need. I think the H1 Dragonfly is perfect for this because it disappears clipped in my back pocket until I need it, requires little to no maintenance, and there have even been reports that SE is the ideal edge for H1. Or, it might just be an excuse to carry more knives ;)
 
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It's a multi-tool. Don't think of the blade as a "combo blade", think of it as a "multi-blade". The pliers and other "multi-tools" aren't going to work quite as well as dedicated pliers or having ALL those dedicated tools that the multitool provides. But they'll get the job done, in most cases. Same with the blade.

Don't overthink it. Use it.
 
Not a fan of combo edges unless it's a steak knife, and even then it's only because the serrations keep cutting long after the edge has been mashed into ceramic.

Like Centermass, I'm a proponent of full serrations or none- so go ahead an make the whole thing serrated!
 
Sharpening most serrations is not difficult. It takes me less than 10 minutes to sharpen all the gullets on my fully-serrated Spyderco Enuff in H1 steel which needs sharpening fairly often. I use fine and coarse DMT tapered rods and a plain hanging strop. Or you can just use regular stones on the flat side, which will eventually round off the points, which is a good thing because Spyderco points are too pointy and therefore tend to snag. My fully serrated Atlantic Salt Sheepsfoot is particularly bad in regard to snagging.

Benchmade and Civivi serrations are not as deep and pointy as Spyderco serrations, so they cut better than Spydercos.

Gerber serrations are mostly similar to Benchmade serrations and also cut well. But the Gerber Highbrow has flat-top serrations that are exceptionally good. The Highbrow is the only serrated knife that I have tried that will cut hard rubber garden hose in two or three strokes. It's a shame that the steel is 7Cr17MoV. The Mantis MT7.2 BS Folding Pry Knife also has flat-top serrations that are great for cutting rope; I have not tried it on hose because the puppy lost interest in chewing up hoses.

Victorinox has wavy serrations that are the best serrations for most things I have tried cutting other than garden hose. Victorinox sells a diamond rod for sharpening their serrations that is very easy to use.

Some kitchen knives have extremely fine serrations that even the DMT tapered rods cannot get into. But you can grind the flat side.

I would love to have an A.G. Russell SeaMaster 2.0, which has the serrated portion near the tip plus a marlinspike, but $345 is outside my price range.
 
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When you need serations . You will know , and they will come in handy. I think it fits the tool set of a Leatherman. That have it all type of tool (go for lolly)
 
I don't like partially serrated blades. Only if it was truly 50/50 and 4" or greater would I consider there to be enough of either length to make it worth carrying. But I don't carry knives that big, and I'd rather carry one plain and one fully serrated anyway. A combo edge is a compromise regardless, especially when you consider that you can tailor blade shapes to your needs and not just whether they're serrated or not (ie: serrated hawkbill and drop point plain, or whatever).

As for a combo edge on a multi-tool, I honestly wouldn't care if I liked the rest of the tool enough. But I don't carry a multi-tool as my EDC knife. I have a Charge XTi in my backpack, so when I have my backpack, I have a multi-tool, although the knife blades are probably the least used tools on the thing.
 
I've owned some but I'm not really a fan of them either. I looked back and figured out that I had never used the serrated part to cut anything, so I just ended up with a knife with less actual cutting edge. I had the idea that maybe a totally serrated blade was good for a backup utility blade when I considered carrying a second knife to I wouldn't cut bad things with my nice folder. I have a fully serrated Byrd Hawkbill that I have carried sometimes but don't recall using it for anything so eventually I stopped carrying it. I wanted to buy a SOG Pentagon double edged blade that had full serrations on one side and plain edge on the other side so I was covered either way, but "daggers" are not allowed in my state. I bought a fully serrated Spyderco Ladybug one time. My daughter and I were having lunch at a fast food restaurant and we were talking about it- we rolled up a paper napkin and tried cutting it with the serrated blade and that didn't work very well. My other plain edge folder cut the paper very easily.
I've been thinking a lot about how serrations work on knife blades and I think we might be doing them wrong. People tend to "saw" with serrations but the serrations are not sharpened that way. I have some kitchen knives with a different type of serrations and they work well for sawing. I've also noted the different type of serrations used on some CRKT knives and I wondered if they would cut better than standard serrations. I have some old electric fillet knife blades from my uncle that I intend to try sharpening and I'll probably sharpen them a different way so the sides of the serrations are sharp, not the bottoms of the serrations.
As for multi-tools- I do carry one frequently but I don't recall using the blade since I always carry a real folding knife too. My favorite multitool is a Leatherman Charge and it has a plain blade and a separate fully serrated blade.
 
In a related note, how many scallops does it take before a blade can be called partially serrated?

I think one is just called a gut hook or seat belt cutter.
 
shane45-1911 said:
I can't talk you into it, because I am not a fan of combo blades.

It works OK on a multi-tool blade, as that is the essence of the tool - options and versatility. But on a knife, I don't want partial serrations. I have lots of knives that are plain edge, and a few that are fully serrated. 95 percent of my knife usage doesn't require serrations. The remaining 5 percent can still be done with a plain edge, although maybe not as efficiently.

If I was cutting rope or fibrous material frequently, serrations are definitely a plus. I don't cut a lot of rope. And if I did, I would use a fully serrated blade.

A lot of my paramedic and LEO colleagues also carry fully or partially serrated blades for the proverbial "cutting seatbelts" duty, but the reality is that a sharp plain edge actually works just as well.
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