Serrated or Smooth?

I don’t need a long flat stone to sharpen serrations like I do with a plain edge. Just the corner of something hard.

I used to be like jbmonkey jbmonkey , throwing my serrated obsidians in the creek, angry at my lack of understanding. Then I watched Sal Glesser’s video about dragging the serrations down the corner of a stone and began to use other tools and language to communicate with the other animals.

The length of edge is multiplied by having serrations, they’re easy to sharpen contrary to popular belief (easier than plain for me), and I understand it will take awhile for others to catch on to this new fangled idea. Especially if you don’t watch the darn video of Sal sharpening them.
 
I guess this brings up the discussion that knife serrations are not actually meant for sawing, but for more aggressive slicing. In other words, they should not and do not do the job of a saw.
 
jux t said:
I don’t need a long flat stone to sharpen serrations like I do with a plain edge. Just the corner of something hard.

I used to be like jbmonkey jbmonkey , throwing my serrated obsidians in the creek, angry at my lack of understanding. Then I watched Sal Glesser’s video about dragging the serrations down the corner of a stone and began to use other tools and language to communicate with the other animals.

The length of edge is multiplied by having serrations, they’re easy to sharpen contrary to popular belief (easier than plain for me), and I understand it will take awhile for others to catch on to this new fangled idea. Especially if you don’t watch the darn video of Sal sharpening them.
Click to expand...

I know how to sharpen them. own and use many partial serrated and full serrated fixed blades and folders. the kabar serrations just aren't great ones. it's not enough to be really useful. I have a partial serrated kabar. I don't find it a useful setup over a plain edge kabar. to each their own though
 
jux t said:
They will continue to cut when the rest of the knife is dull, and they aren’t difficult to sharpen with the corner of a harder abrasive. Once I watched how Sal of Spyderco sharpens them, it clicked with me that they are very easy as long as they don’t have huge peaks/valleys to skip off of.
Click to expand...

I think it's the narrow scallops on many serration patterns that are more difficult for most people to sharpen, due to the difficulty of getting a stone in there, and at the right angle to restore/maintain the apex. That's one of the reasons why I always hated serrations before. That and most factory knives are way too thick behind the edge to either cut well, or be convenient to maintain. But when I realized how I could grind them myself according to whatever geometry I wanted, serrations suddenly became my favorite edge type. Pointy teeth that can puncture and initiate a cut, relatively wide and shallow scallops easy to get a sharpening rod into, and nice and thin behind the edge to make cutting sweet and honing a snap.
 
jbmonkey said:
I know how to sharpen them. own and use many partial serrated and full serrated fixed blades and folders. the kabar serrations just aren't great ones. it's not enough to be really useful. I have a partial serrated kabar. I don't find it a useful setup over a plain edge kabar. to each their own though
Click to expand...
I was mostly ribbing I’m sure you know that. Just expressing that they will cut for a longer time and are easy to sharpen when you realize you don’t have to sharpen each serration individually as an overwhelming amount of users think. I’d get the hide off a deer faster with dull serrations than a dull plain edge.
 
Sharpen them enough and they’ll all lose those peaks that get hung up during sharpening.
 
Not all serrations are the same for sure. Cold Steel might have the worst, being far too narrow. Most of Spyderco serrations have been the best for me, and David Mary David Mary ’s serrations appear to be good and readily sharpen-able, too.

Forgot to point out that for a right hand user, the standard USMC type Kabar serrations are ground so you can still whittle/peel with the edge oriented efficiently. Vast majority of companies grind serrations on the show side simply because it looks better in advertisements.
 
jux t said:
Not all serrations are the same for sure. Cold Steel might have the worst, being far too narrow. Most of Spyderco serrations have been the best for me, and David Mary David Mary ’s serrations appear to be good and readily sharpen-able, too.

Forgot to point out that for a right hand user, the standard USMC type Kabar serrations are ground so you can still whittle/peel with the edge oriented efficiently. Vast majority of companies grind serrations on the show side simply because it looks better in advertisements.
Click to expand...
those cold steel ones are terrible beyond maybe cutting things like meat boots. the tips bend and break off easily on the serrations and sharpening without the right tool ain't no fun. agree spydercos and Davids are real good and useful.
 
I bought a Lansky stone designed for Cold Steel serrations. And even with that I couldn’t get them back to factory sharp.
 
David Mary David Mary

Have you ever done the large "scallop-type" serrations on a Chopper or something that will batton logs?
I know/believe they can be great for slicing, but I wonder if the high point contact would break any off during impact shock....might be a good test with 1V?
 
I prefer a straight edge for 99% of my "knife" cutting needs and on the occasion I require a serrated edge I prefer the whole blade to be serrated like Spyderco's S.E. blades.

Usually when a serrated edge will benefit me the short section on a partially serrated blade lacks the length to do the job I need it to any easier than a plain edge ... thus why I have a couple fully serrated blades.

A lot of knife serrations are pretty poorly done to boot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top