Sharpening serrated blades

Joined
Mar 3, 2022
Messages
360
I have maybe a lansky n some cheap diamond rods and have done it a little. The one I had I liked was a crkt bivy. It had wide n narrow serrations. Seems like for one like that you'd want different diameter rods. Besides for <50$ or disposable razors I tend to avoid them just cause I'd rather have a sharp edge than a dull saw. Do people actually do this regularly? Is there anything available for different sizes and grits?
 
Yes - if the edge isn't extremely blunt, then a simple V-crock sharpener like the Sharpmaker is the easiest way to sharpen serrations.

You don't necessarily need a bunch of specialized hones to fit exactly into the serrations. The corner of a triangular rod on a device like the Sharpmaker is generally narrow enough for most serrations. And the method for using the SM on serrated edges is just the same as with sharpening a plain-edged blade, drawing the edge across the rods very, very lightly from heel to tip, just letting the corner of the rod skim across each of the scallops of the serrations. When the touch is right, you'll feel a light, zipper-like, buzzing vibration on the fingertips lightly holding the blade. Practice that touch with a light hold on the knife - I'd suggest using just your index finger & thumb to pinch the heel-end of the blade just forward of the handle, while very, very lightly drawing the edge across the rods.

If pressure against the rods is too heavy or if the angle held is too obtuse, the serrations will get burred pretty heavily and the vibration felt in your fingertips will be extreme and rough. So keep the touch very light and the held angle conservatively shallow so you get the lightest, skimming contact across the scallops of the serrations.

You CAN use the corner of a single triangular hone to do each serration individually, using it like a file going essentially perpendicular into the edge in each of the serrations. But in terms of results, you can do just as well in the conventional manner described for the Sharpmaker above.
 
I've done it with rods from a lansky v style sharpener and pen style diamond hones. The triangle rods would probably be an upgrade. The only thing I have to fit tight serrations is the very tip of one of the pen style jobbies.
 
If dealing with narrow serrations, sharpen only from the backside. A cheap knife or a stiff wire brush can be drawn through the cut side of the serrations to "steel" the burr that forms over to the other side, where it will be cut off by the stone.
 
Speaking of Lansky...

Lansky sells hones individually for their guided sharpener. They do offer medium & fine triangular hones (ceramic) for that system as well, and they're not very expensive - they seem to be in the $10 - $15 range, depending on which vendor you buy them from. I actually removed the Fine hone from the guide rod holder for my Lansky set to repurpose it for freehand touchup use (pic below), since I'm not using the guided setup anymore. I use that one quite a bit these days for all the blades I typically use. It's a good quality ceramic too - I actually prefer its slightly more toothy aggressiveness over the 'Fine' hone from Spyderco - those are good too, and longer, but considerably more expensive as compared to the Lansky.
uWxu5uU.jpg
 
Lansky also has some 4-inch rods made to fit Cold Steel or Spyderco serrations specifically. I just got a Lansky "Spyder Sharpener". It's like a the usual triangle rods except that one of the three edges is sort of sharp to fit the small gullets while the other two edges are rounded for the large gullets, but they are not rounded enough to sharpen the large gullets efficiently. The DMT tapered rods are much better.
 
Last edited:
Speaking of Lansky...

Lansky sells hones individually for their guided sharpener. They do offer medium & fine triangular hones (ceramic) for that system as well, and they're not very expensive - they seem to be in the $10 - $15 range, depending on which vendor you buy them from. I actually removed the Fine hone from the guide rod holder for my Lansky set to repurpose it for freehand touchup use (pic below), since I'm not using the guided setup anymore. I use that one quite a bit these days for all the blades I typically use. It's a good quality ceramic too - I actually prefer its slightly more toothy aggressiveness over the 'Fine' hone from Spyderco - those are good too, and longer, but considerably more expensive as compared to the Lansky.
uWxu5uU.jpg

Any chance you could do me a favor and measure the triangle dimensions of this Lansky rod compared to Spyderco tri-angle rods?

I can see the length is much shorter in your photo, but the rest of the dimensions appear the same. I'm really curious to know if it's exactly the same as the Sharpmaker rods.
 
Do you guys get into high carbide steels with serrations? If you do are you stuck with whatever you can get in diamond?
 
Any chance you could do me a favor and measure the triangle dimensions of this Lansky rod compared to Spyderco tri-angle rods?

I can see the length is much shorter in your photo, but the rest of the dimensions appear the same. I'm really curious to know if it's exactly the same as the Sharpmaker rods.
Identical in cross-section - both 1/2" across their width and the radius of the corners appears identical as well. The Lansky rod is 4" length, and the SM rods are 7". I'll see if I can post a pic of them side-by-side a bit later today.

If I didn't know better, I might assume they're both produced in the same factory. But the Lansky's bite is a bit more aggressive and leaves a little more toothy finish as compared to the Spyderco 'Fine' rods (or at least as compared to the set I have). The Lansky hone's finish, in terms of tooth, seems closer to the Spyderco 'Medium' rods that I have. Lansky also has their own 'Medium' brown/grey triangular rod - I don't have one of those yet, but noticed them in some online searching yesterday.
 
Do you guys get into high carbide steels with serrations? If you do are you stuck with whatever you can get in diamond?
There are diamond & cbn rods available for the Sharpmaker - same dimensions as their standard ceramic rods. Not cheap - but available as an option.

Otherwise for diamond, I'd likely just use commonly available flat hones in diamond for sharpening from the back side. For light touching up as might be done with the ceramic triangular rods, I'd probably look to something like an EF (1200) DMT hone for that purpose. Shouldn't need anything more aggressive than that, unless the serrations are extremely dull.
 
Identical in cross-section - both 1/2" across their width and the radius of the corners appears identical as well. The Lansky rod is 4" length, and the SM rods are 7". I'll see if I can post a pic of them side-by-side a bit later today.

If I didn't know better, I might assume they're both produced in the same factory. But the Lansky's bite is a bit more aggressive and leaves a little more toothy finish as compared to the Spyderco 'Fine' rods (or at least as compared to the set I have). The Lansky hone's finish, in terms of tooth, seems closer to the Spyderco 'Medium' rods that I have. Lansky also has their own 'Medium' brown/grey triangular rod - I don't have one of those yet, but noticed them in some online searching yesterday.

Very interesting and good to know information, thank you!
 
Very interesting and good to know information, thank you!
Images below, comparing the Lansky Fine to the Spyderco SM Fine. If any difference at all, the Lansky might be just a hair narrower across the flats, and maybe a tiny bit smaller in the radius at the corners. I noticed just a little more wobble with the Lansky when I put it into the SM's base, as compared to the stock SM rod (and both do wobble somewhat). But the differences are so small as to be negligible.
o4SKX5y.jpg


Below, the Lansky is to the left, SM rod at the right.
e9qx0At.jpg


Below, SM rod at the left, Lansky at the right.
0FWs7uu.jpg
 
That's pretty interesting David, thanks for the comparison. It really looks like they could possibly be from the same factory. I never though of removing one of my Lansky triangle stones from its holder and comparing it to the Spyderco stones. Good to know!
 
That's pretty interesting David, thanks for the comparison. It really looks like they could possibly be from the same factory. I never though of removing one of my Lansky triangle stones from its holder and comparing it to the Spyderco stones. Good to know!
When I was still using my Lansky set, I don't think I ever even used the triangular hone at all, with the guide. But after I started freehanding, I pulled it out of the kit and set it aside for occasional freehand use, still in the holder. I think I got the idea to remove it from the holder based on having to fix one of the other Lansky ceramic hones in the kit years ago. If I recall, one of them had fallen out of the holder on its own and I reglued it. Having remembered doing that, I also remembered they're not very securely glued in place. So that's when I decided to pry this one out of the holder for good. Didn't take much effort either, to pry it out.

Lansky also markets these triangular hones to be used in-hand, with little plastic or rubber caps on the ends for a secure hold. I'm assuming those caps are probably easily removed as well. Seem to be priced about the same as the guided versions in their holder.
 
For freehand sharpening, the edge of a regular flat whetstone can be use to sharpen serrations. A flat pocket stone's edge works too. This way doesn't require buying any extra sharpening gear for your serrated knives.
 
Back
Top