Sharpening serrated knife with Sharpmaker, please help.

bh49

bh49

Joined
Dec 27, 2005
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I have only one knife with serrated edge, this is Delica 4 SE. With regular use, not abuse (food, plastic, cardboard) it became dull, not really dull, still can cut, but not as good as used to be. For my sharpening needs I am using sharpmaker. I set it up on 40 degrees and sharpened on white stones with 3/1 strokes ratio. I would like to make knife sharp to be able to push cut a paper, but I could not. I used magic marker to check an angle and it looks like I am grinding microedge but still after hundreds of slow strokes the knife is not sharp as I want it to be. I can not sharpen free hand.
Any advice how I can improve condition of my knife will be appreciated.
Thank you
 
Use the corners of the brown stones, first. They don't remove nearly as much metal as you think, and if the knife hasn't been sharpened in a while it could probably use them to set the edge again. I know the video says not to use them, but I haven't had any bad things happen when I sharpened some of the neglected serrations in my collection with them. I'm sure others will have some better suggestions, as the vast majority of my sharpening is on plain edges.
 
I do 3-4 strokes on the side with serrations and than one pass on the opposite side to remove a burr
 
Right or wrong ,when I sharpen serrations I do some gentle strokes forwards onto the rods, as well as pulling backwards. I think that this may catch areas at the rear of the serrations that the backwards strokes may have missed.

Any how, paranoia about the whole of the blade not being scary-sharp led me away from serrated knives. I now only buy plain edges.
 
Steven Andrews said:
Right or wrong ,when I sharpen serrations I do some gentle strokes forwards onto the rods, as well as pulling backwards. I think that this may catch areas at the rear of the serrations that the backwards strokes may have missed.

Any how, paranoia about the whole of the blade not being scary-sharp led me away from serrated knives. I now only buy plain edges.
Click to expand...

To tell the truth I tried this too. But it did not help me much.
 
gunmike1 said:
Use the corners of the brown stones, first. They don't remove nearly as much metal as you think, and if the knife hasn't been sharpened in a while it could probably use them to set the edge again. I know the video says not to use them, but I haven't had any bad things happen when I sharpened some of the neglected serrations in my collection with them. I'm sure others will have some better suggestions, as the vast majority of my sharpening is on plain edges.
Click to expand...

I will try to do this, may be it will help. The only concern is a burr. Will I be able to remove it well? Hey, can not make it any worse. Unless somebody have other ideas
 
bh49 said:
I will try to do this, may be it will help. The only concern is a burr. Will I be able to remove it well? Hey, can not make it any worse. Unless somebody have other ideas
Click to expand...

Yes, the brown stones will remove the burr they form.
 
How are you sharpening the opposite side, just the same as the serrated side on the Sharpmaker.

-Cliff
 
I think I know what Cliff is getting at. You really want to get the knife as close to flat to the stone as possible when you are hitting the back side of the serrations to remove the burr. I'm probably at maybe 5 degrees or less to the stone when I remove the burr. Otherwise you are just slowly adding a 15 or 20 degree bevel to the other side of the serrations, making it much more obtuse as you sharpen it more. Over time that will decrease your cutting ability.
 
gunmike1 said:
I think I know what Cliff is getting at. You really want to get the knife as close to flat to the stone as possible when you are hitting the back side of the serrations to remove the burr.
Click to expand...

Yes, ideally this is the case. On steels which burr heavily you may have to elevate it a little.

bh49 said:
Yes. The only exeption is 3-4 strokes on serrated side, than one stroke on flat side.
Click to expand...

Because you are essentially micro-beveling the serrations they should respond very quick. Generally there is a lot of advice to touchup on very fine hones but often this leads to trouble, especially with rods.

If your serrations are worn and you attempt to sharpen them with the corners of the fine rods then the rod will act much like a smooth steel and deform the weakened metal rather than cut it cleanly.

It is often better to move back a little in grit to remove the weakened steel and then refine the edges. So start with the medium rods and hone basically alternating. Hone the serrated side and then just run it smooth on the back.

When the edge has been cleanly form with the mediums then you can move to the fine. You can usually check the condition of the edge by eye under light, a small magnifier makes it immediately visible.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
It is often better to move back a little in grit to remove the weakened steel and then refine the edges. So start with the medium rods and hone basically alternating. Hone the serrated side and then just run it smooth on the back.

When the edge has been cleanly form with the mediums then you can move to the fine. You can usually check the condition of the edge by eye under light, a small magnifier makes it immediately visible.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Thank you. I will try this tomorrow
 
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