Steels and spyderedge

[Matus]

Interesting discussion indeed! My experience with serrated edges is somewhat limited. H1 on my pacific has seen quite some use in the garden (a LOT of contact directly with ground) and it would take quite a beating as the edge stability is not that great (mainly rolling), but it would be fairly easy and fast fix.

My Cruwear Ayoob first got some thinning of the wide bevel and once the serrations were not so 'high' I slowly have started to drop the angle on them. Had I tried to just drop the angle right from the start I would have probably risked to run into similar issues like David did. Still - this is my favorite SE pattern as it is not so deep/aggressive and improves the ability of the knife to tackle stuff without catching on it at all. Love it.

My k390 SE Delicy is way to new - but I am noticing (in spite of very good out-of-the-box srapness) that it catches a lot on stuff. I expect it will improve a lot after first proper sharpening as that usually takes away the sharp points a bit.

Generally - I would prefer that serrations (and indeed depending on the knife design and purpose) are ground either a bit under 20 degrees, or a bit under 15 degrees, so that one can use the standard Sharpmaker angle settings to sharpen / touch up the edge. Wit PE I don't care quite as much as setting new edge angle is a matter of few minutes even with k390 on a diamond bench stone, but with SE it is a bit like fighting with one hand behind the back, so there I would really appreciate to keep the easy of sharpening as a part of the edge design process.

I am not saying that all SE edges should have the same pattern - after all they are designed with different purposes in mind.

[CrustyOtter]

Hey Marius,

Thanx for the thread. Don't how I missed it back then, but I'm on it now. Great discussion.

Hi Riclaw,

Thanx for bumping it up.

I'm with David in that I would like all of the serrations ground the same, but that's been much harder to do that one would think, because of the way serrations are currently made.

I'm interested in what y'all think?

sal

Wow, thanks for stepping in Sal.
I'm by no means an expert (on much of anything knife related really). I've been debating the new Military 2 since it was first announced and considering what blade configuration I'd like to buy it in. Just this morning I was debating the S30V SE vs Cruwear vs holding off for a 15V model (and hoping for 15V SE). I placed my pre-order this morning for the S30V SE, and when the time comes, I'll get the 15V Mil 2 (hopefully in full SE). For my uses, 4" folders are outdoors, harder use knives and I've grown to prefer fully serrated edges. I own a few combo edge knives and I just don't care for them. They offer a little of the advantages of both PE and SE, but not enough of either.

I have a HUGE preference for tool steels over stainless and, so far, my all time favorite has been k390. I own more than a few of your k390 models and I've been more than pleased with every one of them. I hope we see more k390 fully serrated blades in the future. I have been impressed with S45VN and Magnacut in my limited experience though and I'd be very interested in fully serrated blades in any of those steels, as well as Cruwear, M4 and a few others.

Edge angles, geometry, heat treatment, those are elements where I prefer to shut up and listen to the more experienced folks discuss what they know.
Jack

[Bill1170]

Hey Marius,

Thanx for the thread. Don't how I missed it back then, but I'm on it now. Great discussion.

Hi Riclaw,

Thanx for bumping it up.

I'm with David in that I would like all of the serrations ground the same, but that's been much harder to do that one would think, because of the way serrations are currently made.

I'm interested in what y'all think?

sal

I too would like all the serrations ground the same. 14 degrees would be perfect for me. I realize a shaped grinding wheel changes as it wears down.

I’ve wondered how expensive it would be to cut serrations using high speed wire EDM. Probably too expensive for the market to bear. That would be one way to gain exact geometry.

I also missed this thread until it got bumped this month.

[JD Spydo]

When it comes to serrations I still believe that Spyderco is King. But I tend to have differing viewpoints when it comes to the blade steels which are ideal for full SE blades. Over the years I've personally discovered that many of the blade steels that perform well in full SE are for the most part some of the blade steels that don't really rank high for Plain Edged blades.

Spyderco's older GIN-1 from the inception was frowned on because it never really was all that great for PE blades. But I've found that GIN-1, 440V, ATS-55, ATS-34 along with H-1 and LC200N to all be great for full SE blades. I could also add CTS-XHP and Cruwear as being two of my other all time favorites for SE blades.

My two ultimate favorites are ATS-55 and 440V (S60V). The properties of steel desirable for SE blades I've found to be quite different than what performs well in PE.

[Albertaboyscott]

Serrated s30v has been very good for me

[CrustyOtter]

When it comes to serrations I still believe that Spyderco is King. But I tend to have differing viewpoints when it comes to the blade steels which are ideal for full SE blades. Over the years I've personally discovered that many of the blade steels that perform well in full SE are for the most part some of the blade steels that don't really rank high for Plain Edged blades.

Spyderco's older GIN-1 from the inception was frowned on because it never really was all that great for PE blades. But I've found that GIN-1, 440V, ATS-55, ATS-34 along with H-1 and LC200N to all be great for full SE blades. I could also add CTS-XHP and Cruwear as being two of my other all time favorites for SE blades.

My two ultimate favorites are ATS-55 and 440V (S60V). The properties of steel desirable for SE blades I've found to be quite different than what performs well in PE.

I'd wondered about that very thing: would my favorite steels in PE perform as well in full SE? I have The SE Police 4 in K390, though I haven't done much more than clean it and stare at it in awe. I'd like to see more models available in full SE K390 - I'd definitely go for a Sage like that, or a Native Chief? Take my money, PLEASE! Micarta would be my first choice but the std. blue K390 FRN would be fine too.