The problem with SpyderEdge...

[Lurker]

My problem with serrations is that they are a pain to sharpen. I have the excellent Sharpmaker 204 and I have found that the recommended method of sharpening serrations with it tends to round down the sharp points between the serrations over time. Rounded serrations will still cut pretty well, but I believe the proper method involves stroking the interior curve of each serration individually to preserve the points. That takes meticulous work with a tapered rod, and is one reason I shy away from buying serrated knives. I want to be able to use my knives hard and keep them very sharp with minimal effort and equipment-- harder with serrations.

What if Spyderco made knives with a special serration pattern that fit perfectly onto the corner of the standard Sharpmaker rod? Then you could sharpen it properly by simply running each serration down the corner of the rod and then moving to the next serration on the next stroke. The 204 would control the bevel angle and preserve the points while giving an excellent sharpening to the whole interior edge of the serration. That would be the best of both worlds: A knife with serrated slicing power, but the maintainability of a plain edge. They could call the new edge pattern something like SpyderSharp or SpyderTeeth.

Sal? Are you listening? This idea is pure gold and I'm giving it to you for free! (just because you make great knives)

 

[pyrguy]

The corner of the rod fits the small serations. You have to use them free-hand it because the angles don't match. I use rolled-up piece of fine grit sandpaper on the big serations. Took me about an hour to do a friends Police that was too dull to cut butter. Now the serations almost push cut paper. He asked me not to get it too sharp.

Take your time to get them right and it won't take long to get them sharp.

 

[mnblade]

Don't forget, you can send your knife back to the company for complimentary sharpening. Considering that, even with hard use, a serrated blade will remain cutting sharp for a long long time, I'd just mail it back to Golden for a tune-up every year or so.

 

[Snow]

Not to just be a jerk, but it's not really that hard. All I do to sharpen my Spyderedge knives is first going over them like normal (By normal I mean how the video shows) and then going back and doing each serration by itself while paying close attention to detail. It hardly takes me more than 10-15 minutes.

 

[Sal Glesser]

Hi Lurker. Sorry the 204 is not working well for you. It will over a long [eriod of time round the corners of the teeth somewhat, but the slower you go down the stone the better.

We once made a ceramic stones of both coarse and fine that was the shape of one large and two small serrations. This permitted one to do as you suggest with a "fitted" tool. I've also heard of people using chain saw files because the are a constant radius.

IMO, a tapered file cannot work as it changes the diameter of the serration from small to large as you stroke the tooth. I've seen some pretty destroyed serrations where folks have used a tapered file. get a lupe of about 10X and look at the tooth before and after filing with a tapered file and you'll see what I'm talking about.

sal

 

[Lurker]

"Sorry the 204 is not working well for you"

Sal, thanks for your reply. I hope it doesn't sound like I am not happy with the 204. The Spyderco Sharpmaker 204 is the best sharpening system I have ever used or evaluated. I would not part with mine and I would recommend it to anyone. I also love Spydie knives.

I was just explaining why I tend to shy away from buying serrated knives in general. I'll try the tips posted here and probably get better results. Thanks to all.