I never got the love for serrations. I didn't know how to sharpen them. They snagged on things I tried to cut. They didn't seem to do anything a sharp plain edge could not. To me it seemed like they were for people who did not know how to sharpen knives, figuring a dull serrated edge can cut more effectively than a dull plain edge.
That mentality played into my treatment of the one SE knife I kept around, a Tasman Salt I purchased to try out this new fangled H1. I treated it as a beater / loaner, using it for things like cutting skateboard grip tape, sod and other abrasive, damaging materials. For the work I used it for, it didn't matter too much how sharp it was, it just had to be working sharp.
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My favorite knife is the Spyderco Pacific Salt. I carried a plain edged model for 8 years. Initially it was my summer beater, a knife I carried when I was swimming, kayaking, mountain biking or doing any other activity where it'd be exposed to corrosive environments. Over the years it grew to be my go to EDC knife. The old beat up Pacific Salt that'd been through **** and back, a meager $60 knife, was seeing more pocket time than my $200 sprint Military and other higher end Spydercos.
Since it was my favorite model, and the H1 blade steel had me particularly impressed for many different reasons, I always followed discussions surrounding new H1 knives and the Salt series. I noticed many discussions regarding plain edged VS serrated edged H1.
H1 is a unique blade steel in many ways. It is Nitrogen based instead of carbon based like most knife blades, and it also work hardens. Work hardening comes into play on the production level when Spyderco grinds serrations into the blades. This process makes the H1 edges much harder than the plain edged H1 blades.
So after hearing about how the grass is greener on the serrated side for nearly a decade, I caved and gave a serrated Pacific Salt a go. I told myself I was going to carry it and no other knives for two weeks.
I thought I would have to force myself to carry it for those two weeks. I couldn't imagine trying to rip open my mail or hack apart an onion with it. I expected to post a write-up here about how I gave serrated knives one last honest go and I don't see the appeal.
That was four months ago.
That serrated Pacific Salt has been in my pocket every single day since then.
Why? What was different this time?
I like sharp knives. Really sharp knives. If I can't whittle individual hairs and push cut circles in receipts, it does not go in my pocket. I reach for another knife or sharpen that one.
This right here was the key. That old Endura was dull from the previous owner, and my Tasman was a beater I never properly sharpened. When I took the time to get the serrated knife just as sharp as my plain edges knives, the knife immediately impressed me from the first time I used it. I tried it on everything I could think of. The result was always the same, it effortlessly destroyed whatever I put in front of it.
It's the same thing as the first time you use a hair popping sharp plain edge knife when you're used to sawing through cardboard with a dulled POS. My eyes were once and for all open to the advantages of a serrated edge.
The first advantage I noticed is the thinner edge. I am someone who regrinds every single plain edged knife I intend to use to about 1/3 to 1/2 the factory thickness. This serrated knife came ground at 15 degrees inclusive, and I aim for 8 degrees per side when sharpening plain edged knives + microbevel. This means I do not have to bother with regrinding the edge, which saves me time and effort. If you are like a normal person who does not regrind everything, then the serrated edge being twice as thin from factory will mean you'll see a dramatic difference from edge geometry alone. We're talking 35-40 degree edges VS 15 degrees, big difference.//forum.spyderco.com/postin ... &p=1156626
The second advantage I noticed is how it grabs material when it cuts. Certain materials, a plain edged knife will sometime slip around a bit, especially if it's not freshly sharpened. Think ripe tomatoes, raw sausages, clearing light vegetation, cutting dense plastics and synthetic rope. The serrated edge digs into materials in a way plain edges do not, because it's slicing the material at so many different angles at once. This effect is especially pronounced with a freshly sharpened serrated knife. The effortlessness with which it chews through certain materials is unlike even my sharpest plain edge knives. This will be very dependent on what types of materials you use your EDC knives for. I cut open plastic and cardboard packages, open mail, cut pallet straps, do gardening stuff, trim back vegetation on hiking trails, basic food prep like slicing bread and quartering apples, trim strings and tags off clothes, break down cardboard for recycling...stuff like that. For all of those things I've found the serrated version of the salt to do better than the plain edge. I will say that slicing large pieces of cardboard took some getting used to because of the chisel grind, but once I adapted my technique I found it's easier with the serrated edge.
The third advantage I noticed is increased edge holding and superior sharpening response. This is due to the nature of H1 rather than SE vs PE I'd imagine. If it were two VG10 Enduras being compared I'd expect to maybe see a bit more edge retention in SE, but not a dramatic difference, and I wouldn't expect a different feel while sharpening. The higher RC SE takes an extremely fine edge a little more easily for me. I've always had that experience with high RC steels like ZDP189 and SE H1.
The fourth advantage I noticed is, to my complete surprise, they're easier to sharpen. I've been sharpening PE knives decades longer than I have been sharpening serrated knives well. Yet in the 4 months I've carried this Pacific Salt, I've come to find it's easier and quicker to sharpen than my plain edged version. One reason is you do not have to follow the curve of the blade. If you look closely at many serrated Spydercos (Can't speak for every model), the serrations are all aligned the same direction, ignoring the curve flowing from ricasso to tip. This means my curved blade sharpens just like a wharncliffe. Second, I only need to grind one side, then I do one nearly flat to the stone pass on the back to knock off the burr. I hit the presentation side on the corner of my strop, then it's popping hairs off without touching my skin whether I finish with my medium rods or ultrafine. Half the time I don't even use my sharpmaker, I'll take one of the triangle rods and hold it in my left hand and freehand it. With the bevel being so wide, it's really easy to rock it back and forth on the sharpening stone to get a feel for the right sharpening angle. It's very intuitive to go by feel after you get some practice.
The fifth advantage I noticed is they tend to minimize edge damage. For example I was doing some gardening work with the Pacific Salt and got the edge caught on some steel wiring. The wire got caught in one of the large scallops and rolled the steel a bit, but the rest of the edge was fine. If it were plain edge, I'd imagine it would have slipped down the length of the edge and blunted it some. There was another time I bumped the edge on a stainless steel prep table. Some of the serration tips rolled a bit, but the scallops were still deadly sharp and kept cutting. The damage tends to be more localized when accidents happen.
It's mostly the increased edge holding and the aggressive slicing action that sold me. I'm usually pretty careful with my knives and I never had difficulty sharpening plain edged knives, but quicker sharpening is nice.
I can't stress enough how much of a difference getting it properly sharp made. That is the only reason I didn't warm up to serrated edges sooner. Sawing through cardboard, ripping and tearing it...that feels like garbage compared to a smooth, clean stroke with a plain edge knife. Once you combine the aggressive nature of a serrated edge with a hair popping sharp edge, it will be even more effortless than that razor sharp plain edge knife even on a push cut.
Now, none of this is to say that serrated edges are the best there is for every task. I wouldn't want to use one to mince garlic or shave my face. Another thing to note is they took some getting used to for me. I had to learn some new sharpening techniques to fully appreciate them, and being chisel ground you have to modify how you cut certain objects to maintain a straight slice. It wasn't difficult to adapt to them but it's worth noting.
For an EDC knife, serrated is the way to go for my uses. I never thought I would say that. I never thought I would be considering a serrated Ark and Aqua Salt. Now I see what all the fuss has been about, and I feel silly for being so late to the party. I gotta see about trading some of my backup PE Pacific Salts for SE
I've owned every Spyderco folder I've wanted, from the Lil Temp to the ZDP189 Caly 3.5 to the S90V/CF Military and every iteration of both sizes of the Manix. This is the king of my collection:
If anyone is interested I can make a video of my sharpening technique.
