Serrated or Plain Edge for EDC

Personally, I prefer a plain edge. Serrated edges are great for cutting fibrous materials, but not so good at cutting cardboard in my experience. I cut a lot more cardboard than anything else.
 
I prefer plain edges. I have five knives with combo edges and one fully serrated.

Combo edges (I have two Spyderco Tenacious knives)...




The fully serrated one...


I find plain edges much more suited to my day-to-cut cutting and desire to spend little time sharpening to get things back into shaving-sharp action. I like the combo edges well enough to carry them sometimes, but the fully serrated knife in my collection is more of an emergency this-must-cut-whatever-it-encounters-NOW!DAMMIT! tool. Mostly that's meant I've carried the fully serrated one in and around water, nets, ropes, fishing line, hooks.
 
I prefer a plain edge, about all I like a serrated knife for is a bread knife. I’ve tried serrated knives before but they just didn’t help much in my daily tasks. I don’t mind having a secondary blade serrated on my multi tool but it gets little use.
 
Carry both! Get something with a full spyderedge to keep clipped in your pocket, then keep a slipjoint or lockback in your pocket with a plain edge blade (or two, or three, or...). Then you get the best of both worlds!

Or keep a serrated fixed blade on your belt with a plain edge folder in your pocket.

Or...the possibilities are endless!

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The only two serrated knives I have live in the kitchen. One is a little Spyderco Z-cut offset I picked up at the factory store a few years ago; it makes fruit and veggies fall apart just by waving it at them. And there's a bread knife (we bake our own) we've had for going on four decades. Otherwise it's plain edges for me.
 
I think serrations are fine for knives that are going to be used like steak knives and those that are going to be used for social work. I have a few serrated beaters that still seem to saw through whatever I put in front of them.
Two of the knives I keep on my person just for protection are a fully serrated Combat Troodon tanto and a Spyderco Civilian. Both of those would do massive damage. Not surgical in the least, but oof...

I have a couple of cold steel and Spyderco folders with serrated edges that haven't been anything more than stropped in 20 years, and they still more or less rip open a box at work or whatever. Just like my 20 year old steak knives that I have been sawing across ceramic plates without a thought or care. Serrated knives can rarely get dull enough to at least not work in some regard. They just turn into more of a hand saw than a hair popping blade.
 
AntDog said:
Plain. And Cold Steel’s serrations suck ass.
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Talking to the OP now :
I agree on both points .
The CS serrations , for my use day to day , pick up and hold gluey tape debris during a task and stop cutting where as larger Spyderedge serrations keep working .
As far as plain edge ; I prefer that because I tend to want to do sort of precise carving / paring cuts and serrations are a nonstarter there.

I have and like the Large Hold Out (XHP no less ! ! !) (still kicking myself I didn't buy a medium when they were around) . I have the plain edge. 👍
If you haven't seen it though , the Cold Steel video on their old site where the guy approaches a DOUBLE free hanging rope and with one quick swipe easily severs it using a serrated Hold Out is worth looking up .

The good news is you can keep the serrated for hunting Griz and ORDER ANOTHER ONE in plain edge for EDC.
 
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Idk… depends on my mood … sometimes pe …
Then sometimes serrated just powers through everything you put it against.
 
I like a serrated edge in those sort of Stanley knives with the replacement blades.

It murders its way through cardboard.
 
For me, EDC is plain edge unless I know I am going to be cutting tough materials where serrated is a benefit. I used to like the combo edges, but found that I wanted more plain edge available more often.

That being said, I often have a combo edged knife in my truck, but not usually on my person.
 
Plain edge. Easy to sharpen, makes a cleaner cut, doesn't grab and tear on things. Yes, sharp serrations don't do as much tearing, but they don't glide through material like a nice continuous edge. I have a 3 knives with the combo edges, but they were purchases of opportunity and were dirt cheap beater knives. 2 of them are tanto + serrated :eek:

The only serrated knife I want back was a mini griptillian with the tanto + serrations. Worst blade combination ever but something about that knife spoke to me. I have a beat up auto stryker tanto serrated and it doen't have the same appeal. I think it was the angle of the tanto that made it a versatile work knife for scraping, scouring, cutting, and sawing.

I have a Spyderco Salt 1 with the full serrated H1 steel that works well. But it is not an EDC, it's a salt water fishing knife.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I think serrations are fine for knives that are going to be used like steak knives and those that are going to be used for social work. I have a few serrated beaters that still seem to saw through whatever I put in front of them.
Two of the knives I keep on my person just for protection are a fully serrated Combat Troodon tanto and a Spyderco Civilian. Both of those would do massive damage. Not surgical in the least, but oof...

I have a couple of cold steel and Spyderco folders with serrated edges that haven't been anything more than stropped in 20 years, and they still more or less rip open a box at work or whatever. Just like my 20 year old steak knives that I have been sawing across ceramic plates without a thought or care. Serrated knives can rarely get dull enough to at least not work in some regard. They just turn into more of a hand saw than a hair popping blade.
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I am going to steal the term "social work" immediately.
On-topic, I carry exclusively plain edges, although the excuse to get a serrated Delica and carry a third knife is tempting...
 
mouseshadow said:
serrated Delica
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Very very similar but with a fuller "more man size" handle is the Salt 2 .
((( little known fact Spyderco had women's hands in mind when they designed the Delica . I have and carry tons of Delicas . . . I'm not saying )))
Just saying you might like the Salt 2 . It is kind of the "Man handle size Delica".
I love that thing ! ! ! !
And it looks so good in black blade and black FRN handle with all those deep serrated silver teeth that I HAD TO HAVE IT though I don't need serrated much , don't need rust resistant at all and . . . well I just like that knife a lot !
Like it so much I also bought the plain edge in H2 and reground it even thinner to test the toughness of H2 .
 
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