Spyderco Forums

Sadly serrations are misunderstood. You cut with the tool differently!
Thanks again!

JARHEAD wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 11, 2026 11:41 am

IMG_0531.jpeg

Serrations and Magnacut is a winning combinaison !

Making Pico? Them maters look good!

The DF2 I received had quite snaggy teeth, so I got to work with my new Sharpmaker. Being time-poor, I thought I'd speed up the process by reprofiling the bevel on my Worksharp Precision assisted sharpening system. This completely ruined the serrations. I then tried getting back the serrations with a die-grinder with minor success.

I was very disheartened by this. The lesson though, is that I do not have the time for serrations these days. When I have more free time, I will sink some hours getting the serrations right on my Matriarch 2, then I will revive the serrations on this mangled DF2 and get the edge looking nice and wavy like you guys. But now that I have a Sharpmaker, I am going to put a 15dps on all my PE knives, so that I can use the Sharpmaker to keep my knives wicked sharp. I will also be picking up a DF2 PE in K390 - I did not expect to like the DF2 in-hand as much as I do.

Give the Chaparral SE a try I think you will be impressed. If you get one that is too shaggy and I know what you mean I have found the CBN RODS on the SPYDERCO Gauntlet to be indispensable when it comes to getting them down I have CBN Rod for the sharpmaker also but prefer the Gauntlet.

The Chaparral is pretty near perfect out of box in SE. it sure shocked me.

v9w1Co2 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 12, 2026 4:05 am

The DF2 I received had quite snaggy teeth, so I got to work with my new Sharpmaker. Being time-poor, I thought I'd speed up the process by reprofiling the bevel on my Worksharp Precision assisted sharpening system. This completely ruined the serrations. I then tried getting back the serrations with a die-grinder with minor success.

I was very disheartened by this. The lesson though, is that I do not have the time for serrations these days. When I have more free time, I will sink some hours getting the serrations right on my Matriarch 2, then I will revive the serrations on this mangled DF2 and get the edge looking nice and wavy like you guys. But now that I have a Sharpmaker, I am going to put a 15dps on all my PE knives, so that I can use the Sharpmaker to keep my knives wicked sharp. I will also be picking up a DF2 PE in K390 - I did not expect to like the DF2 in-hand as much as I do.

As @BeggarSo said already: There definitely are those SE Spydies that really don't demand any of your time to get the serrations "right" (like in "mellow", not snaggy).
They will actually even be a bit quicker and easier to sharpen on the Sharpmaker than PE in my experience..

Among those: Yes, Chaparral SE, but also Endela SE, Stretch XL SE, Caribbean SE (that one I haven't tried nyself though) and more...

@BeggarSo and @Wartstein,

Thank you for your input. The Chaparral has been one I've flirted with buying many times. 2mm blade stock on a Spyderco interests me very much. How do you find CTS-XHP on SE?

CTS-XHP is a wonderful steel, it gets compared to S30V allot but it is different, I do like it better.

As I recall it was something that Sal worked with Carpenter Steel on and as I recall was not widely adopted years ago due to Carpenter not being able to supply. Cold Steel switched to S35VN due to this.

Maybe Sal will chime in, I might have mixed my history.

v9w1Co2 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 13, 2026 1:45 pm

@BeggarSo and @Wartstein,

Thank you for your input. The Chaparral has been one I've flirted with buying many times. 2mm blade stock on a Spyderco interests me very much. How do you find CTS-XHP on SE?

I´d highly recommend a Chap SE!

Should you not like how it cuts and performs (but I bet you will!), then imo serrations are just not for you in general.

/ XHP in SE?
Works very well in my experience with the Chap SE.

I must say, I am very impressed with S35VN and SE. I gave my bestie this Native 5 Factory 2nd about 3-4 years ago I think. He's a mechanic and he uses his knife for everything that you'd probably cringe over. I've been secretly giving him knives for long term testing for years because he's not at all a knife AFI, not a steel snob whatsoever, and has no opinions on steel type or heat treat or HRC, so he will give you the most unbiased no BS opinion and real world results you could ever ask for.

Because he's hard on edges (and because I fix them for him) I've reprofiled the serrations down to 20 degrees on the front, and I've sharpened it in a full 1:1 ratio of passes left/right on a Sharpmaker just as you'd do with plain edge, so I've intentionally created a small bevel on the back side so the edge itself is a full 40 degrees inclusive. I also just today reprofiled the plain edge section down to 15 degrees on both sides because he likes a standard V edge bevel more than a chisel grind (I have also given him some full chisel grind plain edge knives too).

I took it apart and cleaned it and greased it and it locks up perfectly, no blade play and drops shut. This knife was a 2nd and I think it was because the jimping on the lock bar where it meets the blade is pretty wonky and ground almost diagonal compared to the blade. He has chipped both sections of the edge but it has mostly sharpened out.

He really liked the combo edge, even on such a small blade like this. He uses the plain edge as a scraper and says if the plain edge doesn't cut it "the serrations for d*mn sure will".

I also find it very interesting that even though he's hard on his knife he seemingly knows the limits of what you should be doing with a "plastic" knife and hasn't broke it. I don't think he gets into any situation where he'd have to baton with it and if he needs to do hard prying he has a whole garage full of better tools. But I've seen him use it as a scraper and a probe of sorts and to do light prying like pulling off old brake pads.

Anyway, the lighting tonight was weird but you can see the 40 degree secondary bevel on the plain edge side. I drop down the back bevel just to make it easier to repair edge damage.









I also have no idea what's all over the blade, it won't polish off with Flitz. It doesn't seem like a scratch/scuff either, it's like a streak of chemical stain or something.

Break fluid patina.

Even though sneaky you are a good friend

@BeggarSo and @Wartstein

Again, thanks for your input. I have had my eye on a Tasman Salt 2 Hawkbill SE for gardening but I will instead pick up a Chaparral SE. If I don't like it, my partner will use it in the garden.

Evil D wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2026 5:15 pm

....
He really liked the combo edge, even on such a small blade like this. He uses the plain edge as a scraper and says if the plain edge doesn't cut it "the serrations for d*mn sure will".
.....

He is a wise man... exactly what I found with my very first (partly) serrated Spyderco, a combo edge Delica, and what is still true in my use:

- Serrations will cut when plain edge can´t anymore

- And one of the for me personally very few real life advantages of PE in an EDC folder (!) is that it certainly makes for a better scraper than SE....(on another note and off topic here the same is actually true for straight spines vs curved spines)

BeggarSo wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 16, 2026 5:52 pm

Break fluid patina.

Even though sneaky you are a good friend

I think it most likely was brake fluid, maybe transmission fluid. I'm not sure which other fluid he might encounter that would be harsh enough to stain a blade like this, and it's not like S35VN is on the low end of stainless.

And I may be sneaky but he hasn't had to buy a knife in about 15 years so it's mutually beneficial

Would like to hear what you guys think about the criticisms made in this video.

v9w1Co2 wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 26, 2026 7:58 pm

Would like to hear what you guys think about the criticisms made in this video.

To me it does not seem that the guy actually is in a position to draw conclusions about the Sharpmaker..

...Apparently he did not even bother to read the instructions and learn how to set it up correctly:
- When sharpening PE one rod was in the 30, one in the 40 degree position...
- He started to sharpen PE on the corner and not on the flat of the rod, which would make more sense since he wanted to remove material quicker

... And with SE?
- He went too sloppy and fast imo

Don't know, but stating that a system literally "sucks" for sharpening SE after not even having learned how to use it properly while many experienced knife users explicitly recommend it for SE is a bit strange...