My simple technique for sharpening serrations

[Jazz]

For some reason I thought sharpening SE was done one serration at a time.

That's what I thought, and I still didn't get them near as sharp as I do since figuring this out. So easy! After enough sharpenings, you'd want to go at each serration to bring the points back, but until then, just go slow and smooth at the right angle, and Bob's yer uncle. I use a triangle stone layed flat, so I do like Vivi and rock it til it feels right. I use the edge of my strop after, and it's works great.

[on_the_edge]

Nice video. Thanks for doing that.

[jstrange]

Do you guys use the 30 degree and 40 like a plain edge or one or the other?

[Revival]

Do you guys use the 30 degree and 40 like a plain edge or one or the other?

I was curious about this as well.

[JD Spydo]

It's not often that I praise any sharpening tools other than Spyderco's and I do like most of them. But these VEFF sharpening tools for serrations are very interesting and I've heard good things about them. Not at all trying to detract from VIVI's great video or the content of his thread>> but not all serrations are created equal and I do think that VEFF Sharpening tool is interesting to say the least.

It's also interesting to note that the new, upcoming DOUBLESTUFF 2 stone has radii edges similar to the ones on the 701 Profile stones.. I'm very anxious to try that new sharpening tool as well. There is a lot of really neat stuff coming down the product pipeline in the near future. This is going to be a great year for new sharpening tools and knives both IMO.

[Mora2013]

Do you guys use the 30 degree and 40 like a plain edge or one or the other?

I put my sharpmaker in the 30 degree setting, but I don't look to go straight up and down. I put the corner of the stone flat onto the bevel by feel (which is close to the 30 degree angle) and draw through. On the backside, I try to go near parallel, without scratching the sides of the blade.

[Mora2013]

It's not often that I praise any sharpening tools other than Spyderco's and I do like most of them. But these VEFF sharpening tools for serrations are very interesting and I've heard good things about them. Not at all trying to detract from VIVI's great video or the content of his thread>> but not all serrations are created equal and I do think that VEFF Sharpening tool is interesting to say the least.

It's also interesting to note that the new, upcoming DOUBLESTUFF 2 stone has radii edges similar to the ones on the 701 Profile stones.. I'm very anxious to try that new sharpening tool as well. There is a lot of really neat stuff coming down the product pipeline in the near future. This is going to be a great year for new sharpening tools and knives both IMO.

JD - I think you are the culprit in causing me to spend more on spyderco sharpening equipment in the last few months than have I spent on knives during that time. You are such an enabler!

[bh49]

Thank you for video. very interesting

[Donut]

My only comment - I might add toe->heel strokes to your heel->toes strokes as that seems to hit inside the scallops more evenly for me

Ken

I'm with Ken on this. Make sure you at least do a few strokes that start with the tip of the blade on the stone and go towards the pivot end of the blade. Just to make sure you're hitting the other side of the scallops. (Do we have a name for the smaller grooves on a serrated knife?)

[Fred Sanford]

Vivi, great vid dude. Side note: the fact that you skate helps. :) I'm an old skate freak.

[J D Wijbenga]

Thanks for the insightful video!

[vivi]

I use the 30 degree setting as all my serrated knives seem to be ground at 15 degrees inclusive from the factory.

To get to the smaller serrations, you do nothing different from what I did in this video. This technique gets them sharp enough to push cut thin receipt paper.

Taking a really dull SE back to life will take a while. Like PE, its best to touch up the knife when its 80% sharp rather than 50% or less.

Thanx Vivi, nice video. I use a slower stroke to make sure that the corner of the white stone gets into each serration.

sal

Thanks for the kind words Sal. I usually go a bit slower with lighter pressure when I'm doing my normal sharpening. Tried to keep it brief for the video :)

Also, and I've not tried it yet, I read somewhere you can use a leather boot lace treated with green jewelers paste as a strop for serrated edges.

I like the way that idea sounds. I'll give it a go.

[Calicoast]

Good stuff. Just FYI though, it's not really the end of the world if you aren't "following the curve" on a PE knife unless we're talking about an extremely upswept tip. You can even deliberately sharpen in one direction and manipulate the teeth so that they cut more aggressively in a push or pull cut.

Sharpmaker: toe to heel is working for me on the Pac Salt SE / pull cuts. Took a little practice going opposite direction. Thanks for the information all.
C

[JonLeBlanc]

I use my Sharpmaker, but slower strokes like Sal mentioned.

Also, and I've not tried it yet, I read somewhere you can use a leather boot lace treated with green jewelers paste as a strop for serrated edges.

That’s a neat idea, I’m gonna try that for sure.

[StuntZombie]

In which direction do you to the heel to toe strokes, upwards or down?

[Evil D]

In which direction do you to the heel to toe strokes, upwards or down?

I always make downward/edge leading passes but I alternate going from heel to tip and then tip to heel.

[StuntZombie]

Got it. I wasn't sure if it would be a back and forth motion as you run the blade up and down the stone.

[Calicoast]

Reading through all this, so you think the best way to round these serrations out would be to alternate strokes on the sharpmaker from toe to heel / heel to toe?
C

[Evil D]

Got it. I wasn't sure if it would be a back and forth motion as you run the blade up and down the stone.

I've seen guys do that on very dull knives, typically PE but I don't do it.

[Evil D]

Reading through all this, so you think the best way to round these serrations out would be to alternate strokes on the sharpmaker from toe to heel / heel to toe?
C

I start off with the brown rods on any new SE blade I get and sharpen intil I have a small visible bevel started, basically s micro bevel that is no longer "micro". That usually rounds them off enough that they snag less. They'll get there through repeated sharpening anyway.