Serrated or Plain Edge, How Do You Decide?

N

Nalapombu

Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
303
Hey all,

I am looking at a Spyderco Police or Military for a new carry knife. As you all know they come with the plain edge, the combo edge and the full serrated edge. How do you decide what edge to get? What are the advantages of one over the other?
I am just aggravated at not knowing what edge to pick. I will be using for everyday duties, not really any tough stuff.

Thanks for the help and info.
Nala
 
Welcome to the forums!

The decision is easy! Well, hard, but leasy: let me explain! A lot of folks buy the combo edge; I did for my first quality folder (Benchmade AFCK). But after you use the knife a bit, and learn more about knives, you will probably find out that plain edges will suit your needs better.

My advice is to get the plain edge and learn how to put a ppolished push cutting edge, and a toothy slicing edge, on that pain edge folder. Once that is done, you'll know whether you NEED serrations at all.
 
It's definetly a subjective issue where people tend to be fans one way or the other. I'm a plain edge fan because

1) I like to sharpen and I don't have the knack or special rods required to sharpen a serrated edge.

2) I find a plain edge easier for some fine work (sharpening a pencil for example)

3) A plain edge is more people friendly

4) Plain edge looks better to me.

I'd say the serrated edges are better for emergency cutting, like having to get through a seatbelt or rope very fast. Serrated will also perform longer without needing sharpening.
 
For my needs, a plain edge works well. I usually do small things with my knives like opening mail, opening packages, cutting little things here and there, etc.
 
Nalapombu - I think you'll find that BFers, and knife knuts in general, tend to overwhelmingly favor plain edge rather than serrated edge blades. I certainly fall into this category. I have a few serrated blade knives, but 95% of what I own is plain edge; I simply find this style blade more versatile.

I find combo edge blades to be the worst of both worlds. If you need a serrated edge, buy a knife with a fully serrated blade. If you need a plain edge, too, carry two knives: one plain edge, the other serrated. Did I mention that I hate combo edges ..... ? ;)
 
I used to have a Buck CrossLock folder that had one drop-point blade on one side, and a sheepsfoot fully serrated blade on the other side. Had gotten it originally so that I could use the serrated blade on cardboard boxes and such. Mistake. I haven't used that knife in a very long time, as a sharp plain edge will cut through cardboard like butter, too.

The key is that serrated blades are good for slicing for fibrous materials; for sawing. If you don't need to do any sawing, you probably don't need serrated.
 
I have one knife with a combo edge (a Schrade,) and it's a pain in the ass to sharpen.

Other than that I have one other non-plain edge on a Leatherman Wave which has one plain edge and one serrated edge. I do find the serrated edge handy for slicing tomatoes onto my sandwiches at lunch.

Other than the afore mentioned tomatoes I find that a plain edge suits all purposes. The same goes for kitchen knives, except the serrated uses extend to bread as well.

You will definitely want to sharpen your knife, and a sharpening tool for serrated edges costs quite a bit more than for a plain edge and is difficult to get good results.



Lindsay
 
I agree very much with the points made by Ming65. If you want a knife you can use, sharpen, use, sharpen, use, sharpen... you want a plain edge, not a serrated one. I think serrations are a pain in the ass to sharpen, so I don't have any fully serrated blades. Many are plain edge, and many are combo edge. I like having the option of which to cut with in one knife.

---Jeffrey
 
May not have the "nasty" factor of a serrated blade, but the plain edge is just so much more practical for EDU. I gave up on serrations a long time ago.

I have a PE Millie, and it's a cutter! Luv it!!!! :)
 
Spydies look, and feel, better with serrations. I have a plain edge delica and it just seems, I don't know, wimpy. But my fully serrated endura? Watch out! :D
 
If you do buy the serrated version, be sure to get yourself a Spyderco Sharpmaker to make resharpening much easier.
 
Unless you plan on losing or discarding it within a couple years I would get a plain edge. Even with special tools it is virtually impossible to keep a serrated blade from looking a little ratty with repeated sharpening. It takes a special purpose machine to maintain the precise contours of a serration pattern when it is sharpened. You can keep it cutting well with manual tools, but the look will degrade. A well sharpened plain edge will be more utilitarian than a serrated edge. A serrated edge is a little like a pruning saw, you can saw through things but you can't contour things in more sophisticated ways with such a rough edge.
 
My user knives that I take to the field when I deploy tend to be combo edge...An inch and a half or two of serrations near the bottom of the blade give me just a little more cutting "oomph" to rip through line and 550 cord (fibrous stuff as mentioned before). True, they can be a pain to sharpen compared to a straight plain blade, but they do hold their edge for quite a while so it's not that big of a deal, especially if you've got the right sharpening rod.

My more expensive "show" pieces are plain blade...just look a little more civilized for presentation. I've got a plain blade scarab that I've differentially sharpened (polished on the tip, course in front of the choil)...The course grind does almost as good of a job as the factory serrations when cutting fibrous materials. I'd worry more about the blade design (profile matching use, thickness, steel, etc.) as the important criteria.
 
I strongly prefer plain edged knives, but I do like a little serration sometimes, especially when cutting a lot of cardboard boxes or rope.
 
I don´t like serrations, my feeling is that unless you are sure that you need them for your particular use, you´ll be better served by a full plain edge.

You can learn to do a smooth edge for push cuts or a coarse teethy edge for slices, you can take a plain blade and put a coarse edge on the base and a smooth edge at the tip, or whatever suits your needs.
 
Having used both blade types in construction, mainly cutting rope & heavy plastic banding straps, I find that the serrated edge is by far the fastest & longest lasting. A quality knife steel like you get with Spyderco helps keep sharpening to a minimum , but when needed, it's a breeze with the Spyderco Sharpmaker ceramic sticks. Just by getting that sharpener, you eliminate the problems with serrated sharpening. I've dulled mine good, & brought em right back. Works great on plain edge knives & a lot of other tools too. I usually get a combo edge these days when the knife's an all purpose edc, IF the blade is 4" or longer. Then you have a useful length of both. If you're ever in an accident or have to respond to help free someone from a seat belt, serrated wins, no contest. They're that good, when it comes to heavy duty cutting.
 
As everyone else is saying, it all comes down to needs.

I need a serrated edge for most of my cutting at work, just to make it faster. Like cutting 15-20 layers of 18oz tarp fabric, or getting through 1/2" 3 braid nylon rope. have fun opening a pallet that's shrink wrapped with plain edge.

I can do the other stuff at work with a plain edge, like cutting webbing(plain edge, it's just like butter) or 4mm plastic wrap. I have learned how to make PE sing though.

My work carry is different from the EDC/non work. I carry 2 small serrated for work, and that gets traded out for a CE(military, 02 model) and plain(herbst ti, 98 model or calypso jr lt, 01 model) for non work.
I have a large serrated(spydie frn endura, 98 model) and 2 plain(fb03 or 05 and ss 'fly, neck carry) on 24/7 carry.

A Plain Edge is more versitile and less likely to cause a stampede of the bleating class. On most knives a PE looks better too. Some are desinged to have serrations though. Of your given choices, the military looks good with any of them, while the police is a real slicer with a SE.
 
I prefer the SpyderEdge. The only thing it can't effectively do is scraping chores, and the excellent Leatherman Wave is generally on my belt for abusive stuff like that anyways. In the rare occasions when it's not, I have a plainedge blade on my money clip.

The spyderedge just elevates cutting performance to a whole new level. No other knife company does them like Spyderco.

All my Spydies have teeth! :D
 
Out of the many knives I own I have one that is serrated.

It is only used on fresh, warm bread.


Steve-O
 
I have had a Spyderco mini-dyad as EDC for a couple of years. It has two blades: One with a plain edge and one sheepsfoot with spyderedge (serrated).

I use the plain edge 19 out of 20 times! As other people said already, emergency cutting of ropes, fabric, etc. is the only place where the serrations have an edge (pun intended).

The plain edge is easier to sharpen, and gives a much more controlled and delicate cut.

Just my .02
 
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