sharpening serrations

E

edged932

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Apr 17, 2014
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i am looking at getting a knife with a combo edge blade such as a victorinox soldier/one hand trailmaster or a pocket knife with serrations the problem is however i can barely sharpen a straight edge let alone a serrated one. can anyone give me some advice on sharpening serrations? would be appreciated a lot. also maybe some suggestions of a decent knife with a combo edge under £40.
 
Hence why I looked long and hard for the discontinued Spyderco 701 stones. They have rounded edges in two different radii to make serration sharpening pretty darn easy. I'm sure there's a similar product in current production somewhere, just have to look.
 
The Spyderco 701 stones are not discontinued. The set of both stones was. They are available separately.
 
One can easily sharpen serrations using a diamond tapered rod. They are sold even in Wal-_ _ _ _. They look similar to a fountain pen, only diamond coated. Lay it in each divot at the correct angle and give it a few light push strokes. Serrated edges are very handy. DM
 
There is absolutely no reason to grind the serrations unless they have been damaged. By doing so you only disrupt the serration geometry and make sharpening them much harder than it needs to be.

To sharpen serrations start by using a stone or ceramic rod around 1000 grit on the backside of the serration. Give it a shallow micro bevel of just a few degrees. This will raise a burr on the front side of the serration which can then be stropped off with a leather wheel, paper wheel, cotton wheel, shoe lace, corner of a bench strop, or whatever stropping method you would like to use. I have yet to see another method that compares with speed or finished sharpness while not disturbing the appearance.
 
knifenut1013 said:
There is absolutely no reason to grind the serrations unless they have been damaged. By doing so you only disrupt the serration geometry and make sharpening them much harder than it needs to be.

To sharpen serrations start by using a stone or ceramic rod around 1000 grit on the backside of the serration. Give it a shallow micro bevel of just a few degrees. This will raise a burr on the front side of the serration which can then be stropped off with a leather wheel, paper wheel, cotton wheel, shoe lace, corner of a bench strop, or whatever stropping method you would like to use. I have yet to see another method that compares with speed or finished sharpness while not disturbing the appearance.
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Bingo!
 
pjwoolw said:
The Spyderco 701 stones are not discontinued. The set of both stones was. They are available separately.
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Are you sure? They were very hard to find last year, and I had to buy each from a different vendor. Even now they're out of stock everywhere. Anyway, if you can find them, they're great for all sharpening, including serrations.
 
The 701 stones may be on the way out but last I looked Spyderco didn't show them as discontinued. Its to bad if they won't offer them anymore. A very handy tool. I lucked out and found an old set at the local Woodcraft a few years back.
 
knifenut1013 said:
There is absolutely no reason to grind the serrations unless they have been damaged. By doing so you only disrupt the serration geometry and make sharpening them much harder than it needs to be.

To sharpen serrations start by using a stone or ceramic rod around 1000 grit on the backside of the serration. Give it a shallow micro bevel of just a few degrees. This will raise a burr on the front side of the serration which can then be stropped off with a leather wheel, paper wheel, cotton wheel, shoe lace, corner of a bench strop, or whatever stropping method you would like to use. I have yet to see another method that compares with speed or finished sharpness while not disturbing the appearance.
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Great advice. I always did it backwards when I owned serrated knives. I'd grind the scallops with a diamond rod on the "front" side and then knock the resulting burr off the unground side. Your method sounds waaaaay easier. :thumbup::cool:
 
I use the technique Jason mentioned , except I use some sticks left over from cutting stones.



I don't touch the serrations on combo knives if I don't need to , or unless the customer specifies he wants them done. I don't buy serrated knives personally.
 
I use DMTs diamond tapered rod, or the outside corner of my Washboard - is a perfect fit for Benchmade small serrations and on the larger ones I use a bit of roll to hit the entire surface (still have to make a video for this). Is the one time I still use a Sharpie to verify what I'm doing. For me this maintains the original features and geometry very well. If I'm using the rod I put the knife in a padded vise.

Personally I've observed too much softening of the transitions into the peaks whenever I have used items like dosed bootlaces etc to hit them with compound. They get sharp but tend to loose some aggression as the peaks melt a bit. Am much more comfortable grinding them from the front and remove the burr from the backside with a strop, the tapered rod, or sandpaper wrapped around a tight radius - I try to minimize wear on the backside just as I would with a standard chisel grind.
 
Jason B. said:
There is absolutely no reason to grind the serrations unless they have been damaged. By doing so you only disrupt the serration geometry and make sharpening them much harder than it needs to be.

To sharpen serrations start by using a stone or ceramic rod around 1000 grit on the backside of the serration. Give it a shallow micro bevel of just a few degrees. This will raise a burr on the front side of the serration which can then be stropped off with a leather wheel, paper wheel, cotton wheel, shoe lace, corner of a bench strop, or whatever stropping method you would like to use. I have yet to see another method that compares with speed or finished sharpness while not disturbing the appearance.
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Great! "start by using a stone of ceramic rod around 1000 grit." Did you mean using the actual edge (i.e. triangle) of a stone which is about 1000 grit (Arkansas Hard? then Arkansas Black?) I'm browsing to see if using an edge of a stone makes any sense. Thanks
 
Great! Thank you, Jason. "Start by using a stone of ceramic rod around 1000 grit." Did you mean using the actual edge (i.e. triangle) of a stone which is about 1000 grit (Arkansas Hard? then Arkansas Black?) I'm browsing to see if using an edge of a stone makes any sense. Thanks
 
get a "shaper" paper wheel from grizzly.com, profile it to fit in the serrations w/ sandpaper, and then use buffing compound. super simple. super fastl l.
 
OldMarineVet said:
Great! Thank you, Jason. "Start by using a stone of ceramic rod around 1000 grit." Did you mean using the actual edge (i.e. triangle) of a stone which is about 1000 grit (Arkansas Hard? then Arkansas Black?) I'm browsing to see if using an edge of a stone makes any sense. Thanks
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I use a 1000 grit waterstone, comparable to a medium grit ark stone. I then polish, just a two step process.

P.S. I am sharpening on the back flat side so I use the flat surface of the stone.
 
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