Serrated vs Plain

Any reason to want a serrated over plain?

Specifically in a 4-5" blade used for camping/survival.

I'm out of the mainstream here, but no, serrations are a PITA for a general purpose blade

No serrations for me. Won't make 'em, won't buy 'em.

Own over 20 knives. None are serrated. Despise them.

I have two of the same Kershaws. One's a regular blade and the other is a Tanto with serrations. In my opinion the Tanto blade with serrations is pretty much a pain in the ass to use and sharpen. The regular blade is easier to sharpen and I can use the whole blade to cut with.

Pretty much what i was thinking.

I just picked up a new ESEE 4 last week thats serrated. Its my fist serrated fixed blade. I dont see any reason to need them and i can see the hassle in sharpening.

I wouldnt have bought it if it wasnt 60 bucks.

In that size and style, plain. The benefits of serrations really come in two forms. Sawing against a cutting board where the teeth are actually dull and the inside curves are sharp, so you aren't dulling your edge on the surface. This is what you see in some carving knives and most bread knives. Works fine, rarely needs sharpening because it doesn't get dull. If done right a small ceramic or diamond stick can touch them up as needed. The little hand held "V" sharpeners also work. You aren't going to get a super perfect edge, but it works. Version two is usually small toothy serrations, often spaced with the occasional slightly larger curve. These are meant to give some aggressive cutting power to a knife that might be poorly or rarely sharpened. It works pretty well on things like clothing, nylon strapping and keeps an effective edge fairly well but is almost impossible to restore to factory condition after the fact. A lot of folks just treat it like a regular edge and sharpen it, where the tips of the serrations keep getting sharpened and inside the serrations is not touched. A fairly acute edged triangle sharpener can sometimes do a good job on these but most are too fine for anything else to get in there well and you have to work slowly.

In the end, a properly sharpened plain edge is superior in normal use except for very specific and rare situations and even then it's mostly just a matter of the non serrated blade needing sharpened sooner but performing better if maintained.

Now for the ironic part. On a folder edc I prefer about 3/4" to 1" of gentle serrations. I like it because I tend to be pretty lazy about sharpening my own edc and sometimes that serrated area is handy when I have to cut a tough piece of rope or something.

Wow, last time this came up, the serra-nazis came out of the woodwork.

I do own some serrated knives, but given a choice, I always opt for a plain edge, for the reasons already mentioned.

On the automatic knives I collect, half are serrated, and half plain. I think the serrated look more badass, and are very functional for cutting rope, etc. But it is a pain to sharpen unless you send it back to the factory to be redone. But then again, serrations on the blade don't get dull very quickly and last a long time.

When I was younger, I preferred the look of serrated knives more. Now that I'm older, and hopefully a little smarter, I find little to no use to a serrated edge. If I was in an environment where I cut rope or maybe heavy webbing, the serrated would come in handy. But for everyday carry and use, the plain edge is better suited. I have partally serrated blades that I wish were just plain, but I can't change it now.

Not my words. Copy pasta from another board.



Take your plain blade and cut a hard plastic clothes hanger.

I'm pretty sure no matter how sharp your knife is, I can get through it faster and with less strokes with the serrated part of my combo blade.

I had to cut the brass ends off an old, wet firehose. Cloth, nylon, rubber, more nylon, more cloth. I'll take serrations.

When you have to cut a shit ton of rope, serrations are a god send.

I am ambivalent on serrations. I WILL make them but they are a PITA to cut and file. However, I will mention that the most often used blade of opportunity is a steak knife....a cheap one at that. A slashing wound with a serrated knife is terrible to close up and worse and far more painfull than anything else. Plus, NO ONE will be trying to grab it from your hand without coming away very bloody...which is why I make these for certain customers for their vests and packs etc....



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By goatherder62 at 2012-03-10

none of these are finished...they get black Gun Kote and Line-x handles....but they are examples I have on my bench at the moment. I have used and had a lot of various knives and serrations have their purpose and i use them for that but I don't always need them. Problem is, some knives don't have enough or they have bad ones that don't work. As for sharpening them...really? You have problems with sharpening them? I have never thought of them as any sort of a problem.....

Both have a place... camping and survival = plain edge
Easier to sharpen. Better for skining and overall use

I like serrations but I believe that it is because I use my knife at work all day from opening boxes to cutting out weatherproofing that has been on windows for over 20 years it really just depends what the intended use of the tool is.

Goatherder, those are perfect examples of serrations that are NOT a problem to sharpen. It's the really finely spaced ones, where it's like they just ground a line in the blade there and called it a serration that are a problem. As long as a normal ceramic or diamond stick can get in there it's all good. The steak knife comment is dead on too, and they are another great example of where serrations are a good idea. You KNOW you're going to be pressing that portion of the edge against a hard surface over and over and over and over... and you probably won't sharpen the darn things very often if ever. Well, the easy solution is to get the actual cutting surface up off the hard plate so it stays sharp. Meat is generally not that hard on an edge, even most bones aren't that bad for the edge unless you start hacking at it with a fine edge. That plate? Yeah, it'll eat your edge in a heartbeat.

I've not found a time where I wished I had a serrated blade when using a plain blade. Quite a few times I have been using a serrated knife and thought about throwing it in a lake. It had nothing to do with how sharp the blade was.

All of the blades I have now are plain edge (after loosing a few knives to deep water). I have never found a use for serrated and sell the serrated knives before I use them.

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