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Sharpening a serrated Spydy
- Thread starter rmeron
- Start date
There are actually a few options you have on that job of sharpening Spyderedges ( or any other serration pattern for that matter). Probably the easiest and most economical way to get it done would be with Spyderco's 204 Sharpmaker system. They have an instructional video that comes with the unit that carefully shows you how to achieve a pretty sharp set of serrations..
Albeit the sharpening fanatic and Spyder purist that I am I've taken another method all together. Spyderco used to make a sharpening kit called the 701 Profile set. They are ceramic files that come in medium and fine and they have radii on both sides of the file and they fit 95% of all of Spyderco's serration scallops. They you have alternating corners on those files that fit the spike portion of the serrration pattern. I use those because I can keep the serraions almost as pristine as they came from the factory.
Now there is another company that makes diamond files that also work reasonably well. The company is DMT and they make a wide array of diamond files and other sharpening tools that you can use to hand sharpen serrations with. But you might also want to look into the archives here at BF to get more ideas. But hopefully some of the other guys will chime in on this one. You can also take a look at 3M's selection of diamond files. They mainly cater to the woodworking tool crowd but I have a few of their diamond files and I've had good luck with them as well.
SURFINGRINGO knows most of the tricks on using the 204 Sharpmaker and I know he's used it for serrations more extensively than I have>> so I hope to hear from him. But I would start out with the 204 Sharpmaker>> you really can't go wrong with it.
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Hi rmeron, like JD said, I would start with the sharpmaker. It is very simple to keep a serrated knife extremely sharp. You will eventually wear into the serrations, but believe me, it takes a LOT of sharpening to really do any damage to the teeth. I use my serrated pacific salt daily on fish and it sees a lot of rough work. It has been sharpened at least once (and often twice) a week for the last few years. I would guess it has been sharpened between 150-200 times on the sharpmaker. The serrations show a little bit of wear but not bad at all. Overall, the sharpmaker is a simple and functional sharpening method for serrations. It will eventually round off your serrations, but that takes a long long time to happen.
I don't have a current picture but here's one from about a year ago. Serrations still in great shape after around 100 touchups.
There is a section on the DVD that comes with the SM where Sal explains how to use the SM on serrations. I have adapted his technique a bit and get good consistent results over time. Here's a copy and paste of an old post I made if you are interested.
Serrated Edge:
Fine rods in the 40 degree slots. Three passes on the serrated (left) side pulling straight down like normal. Then 2 very light passes on the back side. When working the back side, tilt the knife so it is almost flat with the rod...about 5 degrees instead of the 20 degree angle you would get if you pulled straight down. Repeat until sharp. Thats pretty much it. One tip is you want to go fairly slow and keep the pressure fairly light so that you don't "jump" the serrations. If you go too slow it doesn't work....too fast either. There is a certain speed at which the rod will smoothly enter and sharpen each of the individual serrations as you pull the knife down. It will be pretty obvious once you are doing it and have a tactile feel for it.
I don't have a current picture but here's one from about a year ago. Serrations still in great shape after around 100 touchups.
There is a section on the DVD that comes with the SM where Sal explains how to use the SM on serrations. I have adapted his technique a bit and get good consistent results over time. Here's a copy and paste of an old post I made if you are interested.
Serrated Edge:
Fine rods in the 40 degree slots. Three passes on the serrated (left) side pulling straight down like normal. Then 2 very light passes on the back side. When working the back side, tilt the knife so it is almost flat with the rod...about 5 degrees instead of the 20 degree angle you would get if you pulled straight down. Repeat until sharp. Thats pretty much it. One tip is you want to go fairly slow and keep the pressure fairly light so that you don't "jump" the serrations. If you go too slow it doesn't work....too fast either. There is a certain speed at which the rod will smoothly enter and sharpen each of the individual serrations as you pull the knife down. It will be pretty obvious once you are doing it and have a tactile feel for it.
And I agree with SURF the 204 Sharpmaker would be the ideal tool for you to get started with. This is where my sharpening fanaticism comes to play>> I go above and beyond what a lot of the guys here do. I don't mind sharpening each scallop and spike by hand whereas most of the guys would get impatient very quickly 
It's kind of a therapy for myself and I love the fact that it keeps the edge looking just like it did from the factory.
Now if I used a blade like one of the Salt Series on a daily basis I would do exactly what SURF is doing. Also for a really beat up edge don't forget about the selection of diamond files I talked about on the previous post>> because they can save you a lot of time getting out bad dings and chipped edges.
DMT and 3M have been the best diamond files I've used up till now. DMT also has some decent ceramic files as well. You want to look at their "conical" diamond rods. They aren't all that expensive either. But do go over to the other Sub-Forum here at BF on "Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment" there are a lot of older threads that are very informative. There are some threads here at the Spyderco Sub-Forum too that have some decent information on sharpening Spyderedges and serrated edges in general.
Hey keep us posted and let us know how you're doing. There are a lot of great vendors you can get the 204 Sharpmaker from. I've heard that Basss Pro and Cabelas both carry the 204 unit. Good Luck
It's kind of a therapy for myself and I love the fact that it keeps the edge looking just like it did from the factory.Now if I used a blade like one of the Salt Series on a daily basis I would do exactly what SURF is doing. Also for a really beat up edge don't forget about the selection of diamond files I talked about on the previous post>> because they can save you a lot of time getting out bad dings and chipped edges.
DMT and 3M have been the best diamond files I've used up till now. DMT also has some decent ceramic files as well. You want to look at their "conical" diamond rods. They aren't all that expensive either. But do go over to the other Sub-Forum here at BF on "Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment" there are a lot of older threads that are very informative. There are some threads here at the Spyderco Sub-Forum too that have some decent information on sharpening Spyderedges and serrated edges in general.
Hey keep us posted and let us know how you're doing. There are a lot of great vendors you can get the 204 Sharpmaker from. I've heard that Basss Pro and Cabelas both carry the 204 unit. Good Luck
115Italian
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You also can send the knife back to spyderco for resharpening.
Yeah you can do that but I don't recommend it>> because if this guy is going to be an avid knife user and collector he really needs to learn the skill of sharpening. Actually it's a great thing to learn because so many people who use knives simply don't have a clue as to how to properly sharpen them. It's not rocket science or nuclear physics at all. Learning the skill of sharpening is really just good old common horse sense. There are a few good books out there that are simple to understand that would help anyone who wants to take time to read them.
Also upon purchasing the 204 Sharpmaker the video is very thorough showing most of the sharpening tricks and methods. Once you get the hang of the skill of using the 204 Sharpmaker and see the methods and angles being used it will actually become easier to use benchstones and other methods as well. No I want this guy to learn it so he won't have to depend on anyone else.
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You should go ahead and get the diamond rods from the get go. The medium and fine rods will probably work fine for awhile on your new spydies but eventually you are going to have to do some heavier cutting and reprofiling. Especially if you have some other knives in your collection. The diamond rods are really essential to getting the most out of the Sharpmaker.
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I only have the diamonds, but by all accounts, the diamond and CBN rods are pretty much identical in grit and performance.
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What angle do you use when you sharpen the backside Jason? Just a degree or two above flat?
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With most of the hollow/saber ground blades I lay it flat like a Scandi grind and keep pressure towards the edge. Not many FFG serrated blades but when they need it I usually try my scotch brite wheel first and if that does not bring the edge back I revert to sharpening the backside just high enough to not touch the side of the blade.
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And then what do you strop/buff the cut side of the teeth with? Wheel with compound? Sorry for all the questions, I have some new se salts and was thinking to experiment.
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Jason,
Based on the geometry, I'm thinking, unless it's flat against the back side, the sharpening with stone will not get to the inner part of the curve. Perhaps waterstone has some 'give' that make it possible? I haven't got any SE because of the sharpening required (not having full sharpmaker rods either, only UF).
Based on the geometry, I'm thinking, unless it's flat against the back side, the sharpening with stone will not get to the inner part of the curve. Perhaps waterstone has some 'give' that make it possible? I haven't got any SE because of the sharpening required (not having full sharpmaker rods either, only UF).
If the edge is not too dull then the sharpmaker will work well. I've also read about people using a buffing wheel on a Dremel to "strop" the edge sharp. If the knife is very dull then it takes a little more equipment. I bought a very dull SE Endura one time and used a tapered DMT diamond rod to sharpen the edge. I've thought about sharpening serrated edges occasionally and it occurred to me that if someone can sharpen a convex edge with sandpaper on a mouse pad, you could wrap sandpaper around the edge of a thin object and us it on serrations, at least the larger serrations. The Sharpmaker rods are pretty much ideal for sharpening the small serrations.