Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

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Hobnob
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#141

Post by Hobnob »

For those that strop their SE blades, which I think refines the edge, I tried something new. Took a block of Basswood and sanded one of the edges to match the profile of the large scallops. Then loaded it with Flexcut stropping compound.A few edge trailing passes on each scallop really brings out a nice edge. Any compound would probably work. The Flexcut is a little more aggressive than green.
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Evil D
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#142

Post by Evil D »

Handy little trick for reprofiling the PE portion at the tip without getting into the teeth. I put on three layers of tape for peace of mind and even the diamond rods didn't wear through (though I was still careful to avoid hitting the teeth area).

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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#143

Post by pantagana23 »

I'm casually scrolling through this thread, and wondering:
Do we know how is the factory edge on SE knives made?
Are those diamond plates already shaped as the spyderedge?
I really would like to see this in a video.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#144

Post by Evil D »

pantagana23 wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 5:01 pm
I'm casually scrolling through this thread, and wondering:
Do we know how is the factory edge on SE knives made?
Are those diamond plates already shaped as the spyderedge?
I really would like to see this in a video.


I thought there was a large grinding wheel with the pattern formed into it. I know it has been said that over time the grinding device wears and the shape of the teeth will vary from early production vs late production.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#145

Post by Doeswhateveraspidercan »

I have read that on these forums also but never from a Spyderco representative like Taz. I for one would love to watch a factory tour of how Spyderco does things like Chris Reeve did of his facility years ago.
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Evil D
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#146

Post by Evil D »

I'm very curious how Taichung are grinding serrations, theirs are different from any other pattern I've seen. I would imagine a robotic arm could cut each one individually sort of like a CNC.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#147

Post by Doeswhateveraspidercan »

I'm with you on that. I like to imagine with the precision Spyderco constantly displays that they have a fair amount of high end robotics in play.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#148

Post by Hobnob »

Yes, I too am interested in seeing how the Serrations are done. Based on my SE blades, it looks like the process differs from model to model. On my Pac Salts the scallops are deeper which line up in the SM with the 30 degree slots. The Salt 2's line up with the 40 slots. The Salt 2 Serrations are shallower and more obtuse. No measurements, just the calibrated eyeball.

I would be interested in what others have observed.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#149

Post by geronm042 »

Doeswhateveraspidercan wrote:
Tue Dec 03, 2019 6:24 pm
I have read that on these forums also but never from a Spyderco representative like Taz. I for one would love to watch a factory tour of how Spyderco does things like Chris Reeve did of his facility years ago.
I think there is one but with way less details.

Would be very interested to. I thought these serrations were kind or grinded instead of machined... that would be cool to know more.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#150

Post by pantagana23 »

Nice to see we have interest here.
I for one, would buy a grinder shaped for my specific knife, if this is how the serrations are made.
I mean, you have all these sharpening tips & tricks in this thread, but you'll never get even close to initial sharpness of all segments of the blade, you only get the teeth thinner if you sharpen it like PE and don't sharpen every segment of serrations.
Even if you do sharpen every dent, you're still left with the outer "wave" (look on the teeth, these are not needles going to a point, but wavy patterns).
Would love to see any response from the factory here.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#151

Post by vivi »

I get my SE knives sharper than they come from Spyderco. I also prefer how they cut when they're a little wavy and not factory fresh & spikey.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#152

Post by Doeswhateveraspidercan »

I have erasers with grit built into them for cleaning. They are a soft compound. If I wanted to I could use diamond files and shape them to fit a specific Spydie edge.

It would not surprise me if there are abrasive stones made of a soft bonding material like these that could be formed and adapted for purposes such as this that could be put on a Tormec or a variable speed bench grinder.

Might want to ask the folks at Gritomatic to investigate they are really into abrasives.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#153

Post by pantagana23 »

I finally found the answer I was looking for:

Image

So basically if I want to sharpen my serrated blade properly, I have to buy one wheel like this, but for specific model of knife I have, as serrations differ.
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Evil D
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#154

Post by Evil D »

pantagana23 wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 2:17 pm
I finally found the answer I was looking for:

Image

So basically if I want to sharpen my serrated blade properly, I have to buy one wheel like this, but for specific model of knife I have, as serrations differ.


"Properly" is debatable. I'll stick with my Sharpmaker. Then you don't have to worry about the blade pattern matching the wheel pattern.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#155

Post by pantagana23 »

Evil D wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 5:35 pm
"Properly" is debatable. I'll stick with my Sharpmaker. Then you don't have to worry about the blade pattern matching the wheel pattern.
Ok, fair enough.
But take a look at the grinding wheel.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but any flat sharpener only sharpens, or regrinds if we could call it that, the bottom of those indentations on the wheel.

You're basically sharpening only the top of the teeth on the blade, leaving the concave parts dull.
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Evil D
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#156

Post by Evil D »

pantagana23 wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 5:56 pm
Evil D wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 5:35 pm
"Properly" is debatable. I'll stick with my Sharpmaker. Then you don't have to worry about the blade pattern matching the wheel pattern.
Ok, fair enough.
But take a look at the grinding wheel.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but any flat sharpener only sharpens, or regrinds if we could call it that, the bottom of those indentations on the wheel.

You're basically sharpening only the top of the teeth on the blade, leaving the concave parts dull.


Well yeah if you use the flat sides of the Sharpmaker rods, that's why you use the corners. They get into each serration individually and sharpen the entire edge.
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#157

Post by pantagana23 »

Evil D wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 6:00 pm
Well yeah if you use the flat sides of the Sharpmaker rods, that's why you use the corners. They get into each serration individually and sharpen the entire edge.
Interesting.
If you do sharpen like that, you can get into all parts of the blade.
My fault watching one to many videos where they show that it should be sharpened like a plain edge.

So the corner of the Sharpmaker stones is a bit round?
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Evil D
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#158

Post by Evil D »

pantagana23 wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 6:04 pm
Evil D wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 6:00 pm
Well yeah if you use the flat sides of the Sharpmaker rods, that's why you use the corners. They get into each serration individually and sharpen the entire edge.
Interesting.
If you do sharpen like that, you can get into all parts of the blade.
My fault watching one to many videos where they show that it should be sharpened like a plain edge.

So the corner of the Sharpmaker stones is a bit round?


Yes, the corners are designed for serrations.

https://youtu.be/wAu1b9N4oC0
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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#159

Post by bbturbodad »

I was having issues with SE knives not cutting straight without considerable compensation in my cutting technique compared to PE blades...So yesterday I sharpened my LM to about 12° before breaking down a couple dozen boxes and WOW what a difference! Not only did it cut nice and straight it's slicey AF. :D

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Re: Compendium of tips for sharpening serrated knives

#160

Post by The Meat man »

bbturbodad wrote:
Wed Feb 19, 2020 7:38 pm
I was having issues with SE knives not cutting straight without considerable compensation in my cutting technique compared to PE blades...So yesterday I sharpened my LM to about 12° before breaking down a couple dozen boxes and WOW what a difference! Not only did it cut nice and straight it's slicey AF. :D
Beautiful! What did you use for the sharpening?
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