Not as intimidated by serrated edges

[StuntZombie]

The first Spyderco I owned was a fully serrated Police model. It served me well, but when it came time to sharpen it, I was never able to get it back to the same out of the box level. Even a trip back to Spyderco wasn't able to bring it back. After letting it languish in a box for a couple years, I sold it off, and vowed to never buy another serrated Spyderco.

Not too long ago, I won a lot of knives off e-Bay, and one of them was a serrated Dragonfly. I always wanted to give the model a try, so I sent it back to Spyderco, and they put a wonderfully sharp edge on it. I used it for a bit, and dulled it back up. I tried a couple different sharpening methods, but nothing seemed to work. I got aggravated, remembered my vow, and swore I would resell it at some point. I just hated serrated edges, and how difficult it was to resharpen them.

A few days ago, I came across a video segment from the Sharpmaker instructional video posted on Youtube. After watching the segment on serrations a couple of times, I figured I would give sharpening my Dragonfly another shot. I know now that I was going too fast originally. Once I slowed down, I was able to get each serration push cutting sharp in no time.

So, now that I no longer find myself intimidated by the thought of having to resharpen serrated edges, it's kind of opened the door for me to models I wouldn't have considered before. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, especially since I've been cutting back on my buying. At least it means I'll have more options.

It also means I won't be shaking my head in disbelief when another member starts extolling the virtues of their serrated edges. :D

[Surfingringo]

Great post. Pretty much mirrors my experience. I always avoided them because I was afraid of having to sharpen them. It's super easy with the the sm though and like I was just saying in a thread over on bf, I am able to keep my se salts hair whittling sharp! A crazy sharp spyderedge will make a fan out of most anyone!

[StuntZombie]

Its rather embarrassing how easy it was. I no longer have a Sharpmaker base, so I just freehanded with my remaining triangle stones. Even then I was very happy with results. Its just a shame that I missed out on some good knives because I didn't think I could deal with a Spyder edge.

[Revival]

A serrated spydie will be my next purchase. I will admit that I have avoided them in the past as well.

[Surfingringo]

I'll make one small suggestion to those of you who are just starting...and remember, this is just opinion based on my own experience. I do like 3-1 or 5-2 front/back passes. I touch up my se knives at 20dps but when I do the back side, I tilt the knife to about a 5-10 degree angle instead of 20. This works perfect and minimizes the long term effect that my sharpening has on the serrations.

[Ray Allen]

I agree it easy, with the right tools. I picked up a tapered round diamond coated sharpener to go along with my Sharp Maker and the tapered cone makes it very helpful to adjust to different sized serrations. Produces wicked sharp results.
Best....

[Evil D]

I like my dremel method. I get the serrations nice and toothy with a tapered diamond rod and then strop the edges with a cotton wheel and red rouge on my dremel. You have to be careful and use low speed so you don't burn the edge but it get stupid sharp edges.

[Holland]

awesome thread! i am still in the position of having minimal experience sharpening serrated knives. i plan to start practicing and trying to learn how soon though

[Donut]

I have a small Serrated collection. I admire serrated edges a lot. My most used is my Lil Matriarch.

[opusxpn]

Same thing here I kept away from serrations for a long time until I got the sharpmaker and understood the geometry a little better, now I love all edges, plain, serrated even the combo edges.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

There is a custom knife maker and he claims serrated edges are "useless for all practical purposes". I don't agree, I have used serrated Spyderco knives and others and they are good. But he claims in real hard field use you cannot sharpen them with improvised stones and you need special equipment to do it. What do you say to that?

[Jazz]

There is a custom knife maker and he claims serrated edges are "useless for all practical purposes". I don't agree, I have used serrated Spyderco knives and others and they are good. But he claims in real hard field use you cannot sharpen them with improvised stones and you need special equipment to do it. What do you say to that?

With most smoothish rocks, you can sharpen a PE. Try that with SE. I'm not a fan of SE, but you asked. Also, while it's in my head, all those Scandi grinds are harder to sharpen on improvised rocks, etc., too (you can't get the entire bevel properly sharpened, though you could put a microbevel on it). Anyway, that's my thoughts. I do have a couple SE models, and appreciate that I at least know how to sharpen them.

[Ray Allen]

I say bull. First, serrations last a long time to begin with. Second, the easy to obtain diamond tapered rod I use is about the size of a short pencil. Slip it in your shirt pocket if your really worried about field touch ups.

[paladin]

still not a SE fan...seems like a good idea to keep steak knives from being dulled beyond useless by slicing on ceramic plates and similar applications-- beyond that I'd like to know in what applications a SE out performs a PE in utility & serviceability. Not flaming on SE fans (JD). Educate me...please :) :spyder:

[Evil D]

There is a custom knife maker and he claims serrated edges are "useless for all practical purposes". I don't agree, I have used serrated Spyderco knives and others and they are good. But he claims in real hard field use you cannot sharpen them with improvised stones and you need special equipment to do it. What do you say to that?

Is this by chance the same knife maker who says the "Americanized tanto" is also useless? I see a pattern forming here.

Once again, this person's views are very opinionated, and only focusing on one side of the spectrum. Ask a professional sailor/fisherman who deals with cutting ropes on a daily basis if SE is useless for his practical purposes. Ask the folks who use the Spyderco Whale Rescue blade if SE is useless for cutting nets/ropes/fishing line off whales to save their lives. Ask a paramedic if a SE Rescue blade is useless for cutting seat belts. This "real hard field use" probably consists of a bunch of tasks that SE simply doesn't excel at, which only means SE doesn't excel at those things. SE is a very purpose designed edge style that excels at cutting specific types of matieral, so if you go out and bushcraft with one then you probably won't feel that it's as capable as a PE blade (although I have seen many examples of people camping and bushcrafting with SE blades and they got along just fine). If this person simply says that PE is much more versatile, then I could agree with that, but there are still a bunch of scenarios where SE will out perform PE.

Now, I have always been of the opinion that there is a simple way to look at this and decide which is better, and for me it boils down to this...a PE can do anything a SE can do, but a SE can't do anything a PE can do. Even though a SE blade may cut rope better, you can still cut rope with a PE. I have yet to see someone carve a spoon with a SE blade though

[Joshua J.]

I sharpen SE blades on a large flat stone. I got the method from a youtube video with two guys destroying a Byrd line SE edge and then bringing it back in just a few minutes with a belt sander. It was a fun video but last I checked it had been taken down.

Basically you just grind on the flat side (opposite the scallops), almost flat with the primary bevel (the blade is held nearly flat on the stone) and only use the Sharpmaker rod to remove the burr from the insides of the scallops (using the standard Sharpmaker method, or free hand if you just have a rod).
I can get an SE edge from dull to shaving in minutes with this method.
I also like to strop on the corner of a 2x4.

Edited to add:
One important note with this method is it keeps the shape of the scallops, since almost all of the grinding is on the opposite side you have the entire hight of the scallops to go through before they've lost their shape, and by that point your knife is probably pretty much done anyway.

[Evil D]

I sharpen SE blades on a large flat stone. I got the method from a youtube video with two guys destroying a Byrd line SE edge and then bringing it back in just a few minutes with a belt sander. It was a fun video but last I checked it had been taken down.

Basically you just grind on the flat side (opposite the scallops), almost flat with the primary bevel (the blade is held nearly flat on the stone) and only use the Sharpmaker rod to remove the burr from the insides of the scallops (using the standard Sharpmaker method, or free hand if you just have a rod).
I can get an SE edge from dull to shaving in minutes with this method.
I also like to strop on the corner of a 2x4.

This is sort of what I do with mine as well...but if I'm sharpening a FFG/SE knive like my Stretch, I just lay the blade completely flat on a stone on the back side of the blade, though when I do this I'm removing the burr from the back side since I create the burr from the front side with my tapered diamond rod.

[paladin]

Now, I have always been of the opinion that there is a simple way to look at this and decide which is better, and for me it boils down to this...a PE can do anything a SE can do, but a SE can't do anything a PE can do. Even though a SE blade may cut rope better, you can still cut rope with a PE. I have yet to see someone carve a spoon with a SE blade though

My sentiments also. I just don't have many of those "specialized" tasks that I have to perform a a regular/repeated basis. I think your SE sharpening protocol is very good also David, thanks!

[StuntZombie]

still not a SE fan...seems like a good idea to keep steak knives from being dulled beyond useless by slicing on ceramic plates and similar applications-- beyond that I'd like to know in what applications a SE out performs a PE in utility & serviceability. Not flaming on SE fans (JD). Educate me...please :) :spyder:

One area I've found the serrated edges work much better is cutting rubber and PVC hoses. I find my PE blades will bind up, while the Dragonfly will just fly right through it. It doesn't make much sense, since most of my PE blades have better blade and edge geometry..but there you go.

[FCM415]

I'm a plain edge guy... But acquiring a Pacific Salt serrated gave me a new found respect for serrated. I was never one of those who badmouthed serrated edges every chance they get, never had a strong opinion against them... But I think those who say things like serrated edges are useless, crap, etc. are a little ignorant. I'll always prefer a plain edge, but serrated has its uses and advantages. I will be getting more H1 serrated Spydercos. Hawkbill LB, and yellow Salt 1 in my sites.

Now combo-edges, I really do dislike those... But even those are useful to some.

All my Spydercos (a lot) came sharp but the sharpest believe it or not is the Pacific serrated. I was shocked myself. The separate scallops were ribboning phonebook paper and I even whittled hair. I get it plenty sharp with my Sharpmaker.. I have a WorkSharpKO on the way and am hopeful it can get it that sharp again. Sharper out the box than my ZDP's, what the?