What's the use of those tiny tiny serrations?

peacefuljeffrey

peacefuljeffrey

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Feb 24, 2001
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I've noticed that some knives, particularly some Cold Steel ones, feature serrations that are smaller than I imagine can be sharpened with the typical home sharpener. The corners of a Spyderco Sharpmaker can be used to sharpen a "Spyderedge" but aren't small enough to do the Cold Steel serrations, are they?

How do those of you who have Cold Steel knives sharpen in those tiny grooves?
 
I find that Cold Steel's serrations cut very smoothly.

Lansky now makes a ceramic stick designed for Cold STeel's serration pattern- that would be ideal. Also, if you have a buffer you can buff the teeth sharp! A sharpmaker stone can be used to sharpen each serration individually as well (in a filing motion). The lansky is probably the best option, and costs under $8 US.
 
Are we talking about the same serrations?

I'm thinking of the sub-Spyderco sized serrations on some of the Cold Steel knives I've seen -- they sure do look too small (at least, as I remember them) to wedge even the corner of a Sharpmaker into them. The ones I'm thinking of are about a millimeter wide...
 
Needle files would fit in there, I think CS just wants you to buy a new one their knives get dull.
 
I just slowly drag the blade across the edges of the Sharpmaker as though I weren't sharpening a serrated blade. Took forever to dull the El Hombre and Vaquero Grande I used, but only 30 minutes or so to resharpen the both of them. I bought the Lansky dogbone stick and feared I would shear off my fingers with it. For people who know how act in a safe manner, this shouldn't be a problem.

They cut through every medium I've used them on, so maybe Cold Steel created a great pattern. My guess is that Cold Steel wanted to outdo the SpyderEdge. You know, four tiny teeth instead of a measly three. Performance, marketing, caprice? Who knows? Just glad that they resharpen easy on a Sharpmaker and raise the performance and edge retention of AUS-8.
 
Since only one side of the blade is ground in the serrated area, just use the sharpmaker on the unground side. That is how Spyderco recommends sharpening serrations.

Mike
 
This reminds me...does anyone double grind serration? Wouldn’t that work better? Or would it perform the same and cost more money than it’s worth?
 
I don't sharpen the serrations on my Vaquero Grande, I steel them. works fine. It's not as if I use the knife for precision cutting. But a good steel will line those little teeth right up again.
 
When I first got into knives, I bought mostly 'combo' edges. I believed that since I knut had to be ready to cut whatever needed fixing, he should be prepared. I also know that wet, sandy rope is hard to deal with. Myerchin makes marlin spikes to help unknot such ropes, but many people just cut them.

After a year or two, I found that the combos didn't help me that much. The serrated part was good enough for rope, but the straight edge was very short. I started buying non-serrated blades, but to be fair, I bought a totally serrated Jot Singh Kalsa to see if that performed better. A lady friend of mine who was an apartment super needed a stout knife for rope and cardboard and really liked the total serration idea; I gave her the knife.

I have heard that a serrated knife seems to go longer between sharpenings. Probably true. But in the five years since I have bought my last serrated knife, I have not needed that type of aggressive cutting. We have a Gerber axe for really rough work outside. With the Edgepro, I can sharpen to a 'toothy' edge, and it seems to work just like a serrated knife. Besides, these new steels seem to go a long time between sharpening anyway.

I made the choice, no more serrations. That being said, if I bought a boat, I just might include a Myerchin or Cold Steel knife on board for the new opportunities or problems.
 
Since it is the tips of the serrations that do the work and thereby suffer the most dulling, having small serrations provides more tips to do the work with less dulling per tooth. At woodworking stores you can get wedge-shape hones that will handle narrow serrations. You can also fold Wet-Or-Dry silicon carbide paper around a table knife and use it as a narrow hone.
 
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