Why no love for ESEE 6S (partially serrated)?

L

LostCause

Joined
Apr 1, 2022
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In my quest to reduce the number of knives I have, I did some sales and trades and made conclusion to have only 2 large fixed blade users. AK47 in 3V and ESEE 6S that's coming to me, and I can't wait for it.

I've been looking for some reviews and videos of the knife, but pretty much all I can find is non serrated version.

I took serrated one because:
1. I got much better deal for it
2. I always wanted a combo edge blade
3. I can sharpen serrations (have rods for that)
4. I like both, performance and looks of serrations

But I am just wondering is there a particular reason for this knife to be so much less popular that just pure plain edge version?
 
Serrations on most fixed blades are located, usually, at the lowest portion of the edge, closest to the hand. This part of the edge is used for things like carving or whittling. Ive never tried to whittle with a serrated blade, but Id imagine it wouldn't be great. It just limits your options IMO. A folding saw should always be part of your kit anyway, so i dont see the advantage of serrations. Thats the reason I personally dont like them.
 
Olumin said:
Serrations on most fixed blades are located, usually, at the lowest portion of the edge, closest to the hand. This part of the edge is used for things like carving or whittling. Ive never tried to whittle with a serrated blade, but Id imagine it wouldn't be great. It just limits your options IMO. A folding saw should always be part of your kit anyway, so i dont see the advantage of serrations. Thats the reason I personally dont like them.
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I have a smaller fixed blade. If I'm going somewhere where I'll need to whittle and carve - I'm taking my small fixed blade there with me too. Knife with size of ESEE 6 won't be ideal for those tasks anywhere.

But when cutting something such as sheet of plastic or rope - serrations can come very handy.

Also, I can always just take my other fixed blade instead, and there's no serrations there.

I can understand why bushcraft guys might hate serrations tho.
 
Its a matter of preference, for sure. Serrations are great for some stuff like you mentioned, when cutting things like rope they do a lot of the work for you. I personally do a lot of my cutting close to my hand, so I prefer a pain edge.
 
Olumin said:
Its a matter of preference, for sure. Serrations are great for some stuff like you mentioned, when cutting things like rope they do a lot of the work for you. I personally do a lot of my cutting close to my hand, so I prefer a pain edge.
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I'm cutting fibrous stuff more often than whittling or carving, especially carving with large blade. So makes sense for me.
 
I wish that ESEE would put partial serrations on some of their S35VN blades.

I don't whittle or process wood. For most of the things that I cut around the farm, serrations cut more easily than a plain edge. For some knives (mostly not Spyderco) serrations need sharpening less often than plain edges because they continue to cut well even when moderately dull. Of course, there are some things that are easier to cut with a plain edge, especially hard rubber garden hose (used to have a puppy who loved to chew up hoses). I guess that the numerous people who do not like serrations must cut different things than I do.

I like combo blades, but they work best on blades that are fairly long, such as a Spyderco Stretch 2XL, which has an inch and a half of serrations. But even with only one inch of serrations, my Bugouts cut multi-layer heavy duty cardboard better than any plain edges I have tried.

What I would really like is a combo blade with the serrations near the tip instead of near the heel. A.G. Russell makes one, but it's too expensive for me.

So I end up using fully-serrated Spydercos a lot. I recently ordered a fully serrated Cold Steel Double Agent to compare with my fully serrated hawkbill Byrd Meadowlark.
 
Another Shepherd said:
I wish that ESEE would put partial serrations on some of their S35VN blades.

I don't whittle or process wood. For most of the things that I cut around the farm, serrations cut more easily than a plain edge. For some knives (mostly not Spyderco) serrations need sharpening less often than plain edges because they continue to cut well even when moderately dull. Of course, there are some things that are easier to cut with a plain edge, especially hard rubber garden hose (used to have a puppy who loved to chew up hoses). I guess that the numerous people who do not like serrations must cut different things than I do.

I like combo blades, but they work best on blades that are fairly long, such as a Spyderco Stretch 2XL, which has an inch and a half of serrations. But even with only one inch of serrations, my Bugouts cut multi-layer heavy duty cardboard better than any plain edges I have tried.

What I would really like is a combo blade with the serrations near the tip instead of near the heel. A.G. Russell makes one, but it's too expensive for me.

So I end up using fully-serrated Spydercos a lot. I recently ordered a fully serrated Cold Steel Double Agent to compare with my fully serrated hawkbill Byrd Meadowlark.
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Swiss army do the serrations at the tip.
But what I was thinking was something like this.

 
I personally don't like serrated edges. They are better at cutting rope and other fibrous material, but they are not good at cutting other things. This is just my opinion though.
 
LostCause said:
I got much better deal for it
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I regularly see partially serrated knives sell for less than their full plain edge counterparts, I assume because it’s generally the less desirable configuration and has less appeal to most potential buyers.
 
LostCause said:
This sums it up. When encountering fabric, ropes or similar you suddenly wish you had serrations.

Same here. And ESEE6 is too big fot whittling and carving anyways, so there are other knives I'd do that with. Also, I'm yet to need to baton wood to make a fire.
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If you need the function of a serrated blade, why don’t you get a fully serrated blade?
If the 6.5” blade of the ESEE-6 is too big for other tasks, then why get a big partially serrated blade with only a small portion being serrated?
Personally I think this particular ESEE model was likely a copy of the partially serrated Ka-Bars: a little bit of “fighting” knife and a little bit of utility knife mostly for rope cutting and package opening. Most people don’t need this particular task combination, so likely that’s why this model is not so popular.
 
littleknife said:
If you need the function of a serrated blade, why don’t you get a fully serrated blade?
If the 6.5” blade of the ESEE-6 is too big for other tasks, then why get a big partially serrated blade with only a small portion being serrated?
Personally I think this particular ESEE model was likely a copy of the partially serrated Ka-Bars: a little bit of “fighting” knife and a little bit of utility knife mostly for rope cutting and package opening. Most people don’t need this particular task combination, so likely that’s why this model is not so popular.
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I wanted an ESEE6 to cut, chop and so on. That is not for serrations. But I do cut fibrous materials from time to time so I like that it has serrations.

But I do think those Ka-Bars are awesome, also such a blade just made by ESEE with ESEE toughness and warranty is making it even more awesome.
 
I often wonder what people are carving and cutting on a regular basis that they believe serrations would perform so poorly at? Absolutely to each his own, but serrations probably aren't the problem in a lot of cases. A little practice goes a log way.


Sam⚔️⚔️
 
I was just pondering this dilemma at 2am this morning when trying to decide which Esee 3 to buy. Partially serrated or plain edge. Ultimately, I chose the plain edge because I usually have a full serrated Spyderco in my pocket at all times. That’s actually been my MO for knife carry for some time. A serrated edged folder and plain edge fix blade. Although truthfully, if I saw an Esee that was partially serrated and it was discounted, I’d have no problem buying it
 
One of the first knives I bought for myself was a half serrated Spyderco Walker and the serrated portion's selling point was for the must cut now moments where you didn't care as much about how clean it was. Since then, I've only really been interested in full serrated for full not serrated to get better cuts of either.
 
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