Blade Steels Proven Good For Serrated Edges

[M Sea]

Have had some SOG serrated knives in AUS-8 that also did well but H1 does better for me.

[Airlsee]

Has anyone used the byrd line's 8cr13mov SE much?

[skeeg11]

Serrated Byrd is the best deal on the market. Doesn't get the respect it really deserves. The lockup on my Hawkbill and Cara Cara Rescue is first class with no play in any direction and I'm talkin' really leaning on 'em. They are also drop shutty.

[kobold]

Also, Z-Cuts are CTS BD1N.

[Karl_H]

I will just add that I would like to see Spyderco make a serrated knife in a tough tool steel, like: Z-Tuff, Caldie, or CPM 3V. Z-Tuff seems like it has the best combination of properties for a serrated blade.

[JD Spydo]

I will just add that I would like to see Spyderco make a serrated knife in a tough tool steel, like: Z-Tuff, Caldie, or CPM 3V. Z-Tuff seems like it has the best combination of properties for a serrated blade.

This Z-Tuff blade steel sounds pretty interesting. I wish Larrin would chime in at some point and enlighten us on the properties of these other steels. Not sure about CPM 3V though because the one time I got to look at a fixed blade with that steel it seemed pretty hard just by looking it over.

But I will admit that XHP surprised me that it was a decent steel in SE. I've never had any dealings with Caldie but I would be interested to check some of these blade steels out. It seems that the only way to know 100% for sure is to actually try them out in a hard use cutting job. I was also a bit surprised to see that 440V ( CPM S60V) did as well as it did in SE. But I will warn all of you that 440V is a literal monster to sharpen in SE or PE.

[bjz]

My experience is fairly limited to a Byrd rescue 2 and now an SE tenacious lw. The Byrd seems to never need sharpening even though it lives in a whitewater rescue floatation vest and is wet and sandy for long periods of time.

The tenacious is getting subjected to an increasing amount of weeding/pruning of woody plants around concrete as well as other items fairly abrasive from sand, grit and such and seems to hold up admirably for a tool in its price range. In fact, I’m debating a second (rather than a SE native 5) so that I can have dedicated home/work pieces, and will undoubtedly pick up the SE resilience LW when it comes out. Heck, if they gave the efficient the same SE/LW treatment as the tenacious, it would be an instant purchase for me.

If 8cr does as well as I’ve experienced, I suppose I should start saving for something even nicer!

AT this point I can tell you with 100% confidence that you can't go wrong with VG-10 in SE. And you might just see what everyone else here on this thread has found to be great. That way you don't have to spend a truck load of money like many of us have :o :D

Thank you Sir! I ended up ordering an s35vn Native 5lw from KnifeWorks. I’ve wanted a native for a while so I just went for it over a rockjumper. Now, if only they still made the SE DF2 in vg10!

[elena86]

I am not one of the named spyderedge gurus but I dare to say that I have extensive experience with Spyderco blades in spyderedge format… more than 12 years now. I fact, what attracted me into the spydervortex was the image of an old school SS SE Police. I love my spyderedges and use them way more than my plain edge spydies. I know the general consensus is that the spyderedge cuts better when the tips are rounded but I dare to have a different opinion. I like my spyderedges as pointy and agressive as possible. I allways have a spyderedged claw in H1 on me as my secondary blade and package ripper. I used to carry a Tasman but for the last two years my Dragonhawk took over. I also used the heck of a salt Dragonfly and I was impressed by the cutting power of that little high hollow grind blade. Nothing beats H1 in a high hollow grind with teeth. I also had a positive experience with VG10. My SE wharnie Delica in VG10 is a dream to use and sharpen. Just purchased a wharnie Salt2 in LC and so far I am very happy with the results. S30V would not be my first choice for serrations but don’t ask me why.

[The Mastiff]

I recently bought a Salt in LC200 serrated to try this steel in SE. It will be the first SE I've bought and used in more than a decade ( best I can recall). In fact today is the first day with it in my pocket. Running my finger over the edge feels really strange and I must admit not sharp at all compared to my regular carry. My experience knows that is an illusion and it can cut like a chainsaw though. I carried an ATS 55 SE model for years so I'm not that new to them

Joe

[JacksonKnives]

"Proven Good For Serrated Edges"
In one sense, this is really easy: all good knife steels perform well with serrations, if you pick the right test. Sal says most steels cut CATRA cards 2x longer when serrated.
In another sense, this is very difficult, since we haven't defined what makes a serrated edge good.

For me:
Low-angle stability (high hardness + enough toughness to prevent chipping) is at the top of my priorities, since the semi-dull serrations mostly just frustrate me. I use serrated knives like I use bread knives: I want them to be able push-cut soft materials, I'm only using the serrations to prevent wear or damage when the knife hits something like a cutting board. I also run into hard materials like copper wire and nylon ties and I want to be able to make a careful cut without damaging the edge.

H1 is capable of getting sharp, but it's not hard enough to hold that edge as long as I'd like in the material I'm cutting.

[Superflex]

My Para 3 PS 52100 is so easy to sharpen

[JD Spydo]

My experience is fairly limited to a Byrd rescue 2 and now an SE tenacious lw. The Byrd seems to never need sharpening even though it lives in a whitewater rescue floatation vest and is wet and sandy for long periods of time.

The tenacious is getting subjected to an increasing amount of weeding/pruning of woody plants around concrete as well as other items fairly abrasive from sand, grit and such and seems to hold up admirably for a tool in its price range. In fact, I’m debating a second (rather than a SE native 5) so that I can have dedicated home/work pieces, and will undoubtedly pick up the SE resilience LW when it comes out. Heck, if they gave the efficient the same SE/LW treatment as the tenacious, it would be an instant purchase for me.

If 8cr does as well as I’ve experienced, I suppose I should start saving for something even nicer!

AT this point I can tell you with 100% confidence that you can't go wrong with VG-10 in SE. And you might just see what everyone else here on this thread has found to be great. That way you don't have to spend a truck load of money like many of us have :o :D

Thank you Sir! I ended up ordering an s35vn Native 5lw from KnifeWorks. I’ve wanted a native for a while so I just went for it over a rockjumper. Now, if only they still made the SE DF2 in vg10!

As good of results as I've had with Crucible's 440V ( S-60V) in serrated models I'm pretty sure that "S35vn" might just well be a really good steel for serrated models.

Just yesterday I did a lot of food and veggie processing here at the home yesterday and I did most of it with my older fully serrated AUS-8 Catcherman model along with my serrated TEMPERANCE 1 model ( VG-10) and I also had my older Spyderco K-04 kitchen blade as well. None of those steels are standouts in PE but I've had great luck with all 3 of those in SE over the years. AUS-8 is about as mediocre as you can get in PE but in SE it's a really durable, dependable performer.

It really amazes me that so many of these forgotten, average rated at best, older blade steels that seem to stand out in SE.

[JD Spydo]

My Para 3 PS 52100 is so easy to sharpen

I was never aware that they did full SE model in "52100". That's interesting and I would like to check out a full SE model in that steel.

However for the most part I do prefer stainless blade steels with at least reasonable corrosion resistance properties because of the type of work I usually do with full SE blades. And so far with all the full SE models I've ever used hard I find that most of them that perform really well are blade steels with Chromium contents either right at or above 10.5%

[Superflex]

My Para 3 PS 52100 is so easy to sharpen

I was never aware that they did full SE model in "52100". That's interesting and I would like to check out a full SE model in that steel.

However for the most part I do prefer stainless blade steels with at least reasonable corrosion resistance properties because of the type of work I usually do with full SE blades. And so far with all the full SE models I've ever used hard I find that most of them that perform really well are blade steels with Chromium contents either right at or above 10.5%

Mine's a partially serrated blade. I guess I should have said CE

[JD Spydo]

My Para 3 PS 52100 is so easy to sharpen

I was never aware that they did full SE model in "52100". That's interesting and I would like to check out a full SE model in that steel.

However for the most part I do prefer stainless blade steels with at least reasonable corrosion resistance properties because of the type of work I usually do with full SE blades. And so far with all the full SE models I've ever used hard I find that most of them that perform really well are blade steels with Chromium contents either right at or above 10.5%

Mine's a partially serrated blade. I guess I should have said CE

Well That's cool because I didn't even know that they made the PARA3 in CE either. But I've been so busy in the past year I'm sure that I've gotten way behind in keeping up with Spyderco's newer stuff. And I'm ashamed to admit that too.

I would love to have another C-36 Military model in CE again. I could probably even go with a PARA2 in CE but I wouldn't want to go any smaller than that. I wish I would have never traded the CE Millie I had in 440V. Sometime CE can come in very handy if all you need the TEETH for is to cut rope and cordage. That's really curious now you've got me wondering if 52100 would be a good steel for serrated edges? I suspect it would be from all I've heard about it.

I'm also now wondering if that Superblue might be a good steel for serrated edges as well?

[Evil D]

Hurts every time I see "52100" and "serrations" in the same sentence. If a Military had been offered in full SE I'd have one in my pocket right now. Sigh.

[JD Spydo]

Hurts every time I see "52100" and "serrations" in the same sentence. If a Military had been offered in full SE I'd have one in my pocket right now. Sigh.

I've read a lot of articles over the years in the major knife magazines about 52100 blade steel. I distinctly remember a lot of those articles in the old, discontinued publication known as "Tactical Knives" which was about my all time favorite magazine for knives>> those guys always spoke well of that steel. They used to have a section in Tactical Knives called "The Steel Bin". And they wrote about 52100 blade steel on more than one occasion.

But I never ever heard whether or not that 52100 was a good blade steel for serrations. But again I would like to try out 52100 and Superblue both with teeth. I have a sneaking suspicion that probably both steels would be decent for SE.

[Evil D]

Hurts every time I see "52100" and "serrations" in the same sentence. If a Military had been offered in full SE I'd have one in my pocket right now. Sigh.

I've read a lot of articles over the years in the major knife magazines about 52100 blade steel. I distinctly remember a lot of those articles in the old, discontinued publication known as "Tactical Knives" which was about my all time favorite magazine for knives>> those guys always spoke well of that steel. They used to have a section in Tactical Knives called "The Steel Bin". And they wrote about 52100 blade steel on more than one occasion.

But I never ever heard whether or not that 52100 was a good blade steel for serrations. But again I would like to try out 52100 and Superblue both with teeth. I have a sneaking suspicion that probably both steels would be decent for SE.

It's hard to say since we've only been given an inch and a half of serrated 52100 to play with, it would be hard to really get a feel for how the steel performs from just that. It seems like a steel that I would like, but it may not have the edge retention that others are looking for so it may not be great to everyone. I expect K390 to be pretty ridiculous in edge retention so the only questions will be about toughness and ease of sharpening and whether the gains are worth the loss of corrosion resistance.

[JD Spydo]

Hurts every time I see "52100" and "serrations" in the same sentence. If a Military had been offered in full SE I'd have one in my pocket right now. Sigh.

I've read a lot of articles over the years in the major knife magazines about 52100 blade steel. I distinctly remember a lot of those articles in the old, discontinued publication known as "Tactical Knives" which was about my all time favorite magazine for knives>> those guys always spoke well of that steel. They used to have a section in Tactical Knives called "The Steel Bin". And they wrote about 52100 blade steel on more than one occasion.

But I never ever heard whether or not that 52100 was a good blade steel for serrations. But again I would like to try out 52100 and Superblue both with teeth. I have a sneaking suspicion that probably both steels would be decent for SE.

It's hard to say since we've only been given an inch and a half of serrated 52100 to play with, it would be hard to really get a feel for how the steel performs from just that. It seems like a steel that I would like, but it may not have the edge retention that others are looking for so it may not be great to everyone. I expect K390 to be pretty ridiculous in edge retention so the only questions will be about toughness and ease of sharpening and whether the gains are worth the loss of corrosion resistance.

This may not be in the same general conversation concerning ideal blade steels for serrated blades but another group of steels I've wondered about for a premium serrated blade are the "tool steels". I've never owned or used a fully serrated blade made of D-2 but I would love to try it. I've even wondered about 0-1 as well for a blade with TEETH?

I've also heard that S-7 is known to be an excellent steel for axes, hatchets, chisels and other striking tools>> which makes me wonder if that might be a good steel to try out on a fully serrated blade?

[Evil D]

This may not be in the same general conversation concerning ideal blade steels for serrated blades but another group of steels I've wondered about for a premium serrated blade are the "tool steels". I've never owned or used a fully serrated blade made of D-2 but I would love to try it. I've even wondered about 0-1 as well for a blade with TEETH?

I've also heard that S-7 is known to be an excellent steel for axes, hatchets, chisels and other striking tools>> which makes me wonder if that might be a good steel to try out on a fully serrated blade?

Any steel with very high edge stability and toughness are steels I'd love to try, and if it can also be ran on the harder side without sacrificing toughness then all the better.