Serration Aggression Question

[Steely_Gunz]

Hello and an apology in advance if this has been answered before. I did a bit of a search but couldn't stumble upon an answer to my question, so I decided to turn to you learned folks.

I'm an admitted neophyte when it comes Spyderco in general. I have had 8 or 10 of them over the years, and I really like them all but never warmed enough to accumulate more than one here and there.

My question is that is it normal for particular models to have a more "aggressive" tooth to their serrations compared to other models? I have 3 or 4 Spydie Edge knives and all of them including the Civilian I purchased about a month ago have a very smooth finish to their teeth. However, after falling in love with the Civilian shape but wanting a more robust user, I decided to purchase a Matriarch 2 today from the same local place I purchased its bigger cousin. The serration pattern is way less polished and toothier than the Civilian.

It almost feels like a steak knife and makes an audible "zip" sound when I run my nail across them. They are certainly raised.

Is this normal? It actually doesn't bother me in the least as this is going to be a very much ridden hard and put away wet kind of knife. It slices paper cleanly right now, and I see myself sharpening this knife as often as I sharpen my steak knives (ie never). I was just curious as to if this is normal, a wearing out of the grinding wheel in Seki City, or a decision made to make a self defense knife more apt to damage and tear a target.

All in all, I'm really starting to dig the Spyderco Brand again. I love the Civilian and carry it daily, but this Matriarch is going to see more use as a work knife. I was just curious about these ridges.

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[yablanowitz]

I suspect they just replaced their old serration grinding wheel with a new one. I can't say it is "normal", but it is far from unique. The serrations on both my K390 Police4 and my Cruwear Ayoob showed those same ridges when new and both cut just fine. The points between the scallops are more rounded, making it less prone to snagging.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

Thanks so much for the info. I figured as much. I thought I had read something somewhere about the wheels wearing out and ending up with something like this.

Like I said, it really doesn't bother me.

 

[yablanowitz]

The wheel wears over time and is dressed periodically, so the serration pattern will vary slightly. The even pattern on these looks more like a brand new wheel, probably of a new type abrasive.

 

[Another Shepherd]

It almost feels like a steak knife and makes an audible "zip" sound when I run my nail across them. They are certainly raised.

Interesting. Out of 9 10 serrated and partially serrated Spydercos that I have, only one--a Stretch 2XL LW combo--has ridges, and even there the ridges are not as pronounced as on the blade in your photo. The gullets on the other 8 blades have the same scratch pattern as the primary bevel. I have not used that Stretch yet because it has such weird bevel angles and I have not got around to fixing it.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

It really is a very aggressive grind. Looking at my Civilian a little closer, I can barely see the lines where it was cut in. This Matriarch has micro-serrated teeth.

In truth, it's not affected how one would expect a serrated knife to cut at all. It still slices paper via the edge of the paper finding a deeper groove and splitting easily. It snaps through strong rope without an issue. Cardboard might not as well be there for as fast as it clears it.

I've done nothing to the edge of this knife since I got it short of keep it clean and strop it. I have a very squishy piece of loaded leather that when lightly bent over a countertop edge produces a surface that will get down in the serrations. Laying it flat and stropping the flat side seems to keep serrated edges sharp just fine. I don't see myself needing to hit the inside of the serrations with a ceramic rod for a good long while unless I do something to bugger the edge.

So far, the aggressive grind seems to be a non-issue, and it's behaving exactly the way one would expect the edge of a Spyderco to behave