Sharpening Serrated Edges

[Rob64]

I am confused about the sharpening of serrated edges. I thought that some knives with serrations such as Spyderco's could be effectively sharpened with the Sharpmaker. However, an earlier post referred to the difficulty in sharpening Cold Steel serrations with any sharpener. Can only some serrated knives be sharpened with commonly available sharpeners like the Sharpmaker? What is the best method for sharpening these edges? This may influence my next knife purchase. If the serrated edges cannot be sharpened effectively then I may bypass them. I have always liked serrated edges for certain cutting tasks, but I usually find the partially serrated more useful than a full serrated. Your comments are appreciated.

 

[Dexter Ewing]

Welcome to the forums! The Spyderco style serrations (found on a majority of production knives) can be sharpened effectively and easily if you choose the right sharpener. I use the Spyderco 204MF Sharpmaker on my serrated knives. It works without any oil or water for lubrication, and it is easy to set up and break down.

To answer your question about the Cold Steel style serrations, because of the "micro teeth" in the pattern, the 204 cannot get inside these to sharpen them effectively. It'll just pass over them, rounding off the teeth while catching the bigger teeth effectively, like the Spyderco style serrations.

Bottom line is that serrations CAN be sharpened as easily as plain edges. I would highly recommend that you purchase a 204 if you have a lot of serrated blades. This will make life a lot easier for you.

 

[knifenerd]

I have a somewhat different position on the topic. The 204 Sharpmaker will effectively sharpen the "tips" of the serrations,but the very idea of "dragging" the blade across the corners of the stones and thus destroying the finely-ground serration patterns, just rubs me the wrong way.(no pun intended )

I prefer the much more laborious method of using properly radiused hones and diamond coated tapered rods to work each serration individually. This is a time-consuming process, but will give you excellent results.

Bottom line? IMHO, serrations are a pain in the butt, but(t) sometimes they are appropriate for the task at hand. I try to keep my serrated blades at the minimum.

 

[Mykl Clark]

I'm gonna have to go with Dex on this one. I hated serrations until I got my sharpmaker. But now it is just as easy if not easier to sharpen them as a regular edged knife.

 

[shivey]

I agree with what Knifenerd said, other than serrations being "a pain in the butt" and taking a lot of time to sharpen. I use med. and fine DMT tapered diamond rods, maintaining a 12-15 degree angle, with light back and forth strokes on each serration. I finish with a Chef's Choice manual serrated knife sharpener, with diamond hones. The trick being to move the blade through the groove very lightly - just the weight of the blade - about three or four times. This will sharpen the points and remove the small burr on the back of the blade. This would only be fairly time-consuming if you let the knife get really dull, which I don't. In fact, I can sharpen one of my fully serrated blades in less time than it takes for me to sharpen a medium-dull pl. edge on the 204...and the edge on the serrated blade will last much longer. Oh, and I'm only talking about aggressive serrations, like what Spyderco offers. I won't buy other kinds, eg CS.

 

[Strider]

I have found with a couple of kitchen knives I own that are serrated along with the serrated blade on my Gerber Tool that using the edge of a flat stone works fine for me. The edge is narrow enough to fit the slots on the serrations and able to sharpen them up quite nicely without spending extra money for special sharpeners.
Bob

 

[Razoredj]

For those who haven't seen them yet, there are sharpeners designed specifically for those pain-in-the-behind CS serrations:

 

[Rob64]

I noticed in Benchmade's catalog that they will sharpen any of their knives for a nominal $5 fee. What is interesting is that they state that the sharpening service DOES NOT include serrations. The extra time and attention needed would probably run the cost up of the sharpening service.