Serrated or Plain Edge for EDC

ILFreemason

ILFreemason

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2025
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I like to carry large folders like the cold steel xl line without pocket clips. I primarily carry the large Espada g10. I really liked the idea of an even longer blade and picked up an S35VN 6” Hold Out with the fully serrated blade. I think it looks awesome, but I find the handle a bit too large for my hands, and I think the serrated blade was a mistake. My cutting tasks are standard day to day packaging and such. I’ve only used it a day, but think I prefer a plain edge.

Thoughts? IMG_2004.jpeg
 
John Phillips said:
I like this one A LOT.
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Those are good serrations. Cold Steel’s are not.

I had a fully serrated Vaquero that so many tiny teeth busted off of, I ground em all off. Literally took it to a grinder and made it a plain edge.

The damn things break off just cutting cardboard and they are impossible to sharpen. Hence, the sucking of ass.

I realize it’s just an opinion, but it’s a solid one based on real experience.
 
AntDog said:
Those are good serrations. Cold Steel’s are not.

I had a fully serrated Vaquero that so many tiny teeth busted off of, I ground em all off. Literally took it to a grinder and made it a plain edge.

The damn things break off just cutting cardboard and they are impossible to sharpen. Hence, the sucking of ass.

I realize it’s just an opinion, but it’s a solid one based on real experience.
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I also have an xl vaquero fully serrated. I think it works great on meat and flesh, but for everyday tasks the pain edge makes more sense. For defense I think the full serrations make more sense, but then so does a gun!
 
ILFreemason said:
I also have an xl vaquero fully serrated. I think it works great on meat and flesh, but for everyday tasks the pain edge makes more sense. For defense I think the full serrations make more sense, but then so does a gun!
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Ehhhh, not really. If you’re gonna use a knife to defend yourself it’s best to stick and move. People who are cut live. People who are stabbed die. If I’m pulling a knife on somebody I’m way past wanting them to walk away.

There are a lot of factors but the main one is that people wear clothes and serrations can hang up on clothes - especially little tiny idiotic serrations.

I agree on the gun though.
 
While I can list many advantages for a plain edge, I prefer to have a partially serrated blade on my EDC. When I absolutely positively have to cut what I need cut right that moment and don't have a moment to spare, the serrations are very welcomed. In that scenario, the most likely knife that I'll have access to is my EDC in my pants. That could be a rope in a boating scenario, a seat belt in a roll over accident (car on fire) or whatever. If I can't sharpen them and I've used them that much, I'll just get another knife. Knives are cheap and easily replaceable. With that said, I do baby my EDC knives with regards to avoiding the serrations unless they are needed. 99% of tasks I need to do with my EDC are done with the plain 3/4 of the rest of the blade just fine. And I can sharpen that.
 
DocJD said:
David Mary David Mary makes the very best I've ever used and sharpened ( easy peasy ) . :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup:
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Thank you for the kind words Doc. I'm glad you like them and find them easy to maintain.

chandlerkj said:
With that said, I do baby my EDC knives with regards to avoiding the serrations unless they are needed.
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This is the reason I first started making serrations the way I do. Because I too found myself not wanting to cut with serrated blades for fear of the difficulty involved with sharpening them once they slow down. But that difficulty was always related to two things: Thick behind the edge, requiring significant reprofiling and material remove before good cutting performance was restored once the edge had degraded enough; and small serrations that are difficult to get into with sharpening tools to perform said reprofiling.

So I grind the blade thin so there is not a lot of material to remove once it needs to be sharpened, and the serration scalllops relatively wide so that sharpening rods can easily hit the whole apex between the points.

As the Doc said, easy peasy.
 
AntDog said:
Ehhhh, not really. If you’re gonna use a knife to defend yourself it’s best to stick and move. People who are cut live. People who are stabbed die. If I’m pulling a knife on somebody I’m way past wanting them to walk away.

There are a lot of factors but the main one is that people wear clothes and serrations can hang up on clothes - especially little tiny idiotic serrations.

I agree on the gun though.
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Very good points!
 
ILFreemason said:
Very good points!
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Funny you should say that. It's one of the things that I think is missing from a lot of serrated knives. The idea behind rounded points, namely that they won't snag, I have often found to be not the case, as in the example of Chinese Spydercos I have owned, where the rounded point serrations did indeed snag, even if the scallops themselves were slicing paper.

Whereas the Cold Steel points, while pointy as they should be (in my opinion) are just way too small to be practical for a cutting tool expected to provide a sustainable use/maintenance cycle.
 
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