Serrated blades are much harder to sharpen. That is their main drawback.
I can sharpen my non-serrated blades with any whet stone or knife sharpener I happen to find very quickly. A serrated blade requires a particular shaped rounded stone to sharpen and takes a bit longer to do.

 

Serrated blades are much harder to sharpen. That is their main drawback.

+1 on this. Basically you need a Rat tail file or similar shaped diamond sharpener to sharpen these serrations. Really it depends on intended purpose of use. For Rope, seat belts, and the like, serrations are hard to beat. For more Multi-purpose uses I think a plain edge surpasses the serrated edge. Plain edged knives might not cut as fast, but they adapt more readily to more uses.

 

Been asked and answered before. Passion run deep on this topic. For the record:

I hate serrated knives. I refuse to own one of any kind. I view them as strickly amateur.

If you love them try shaving with one.

 

. I view them as strickly amateur.

If you love them try shaving with one.

Amateurish statement kind of. If you are sitting calmly on the couch making a para cord bracelet then serration are not necessary and really kind of suck. If you are in a situation where rope, real rope, not para cord, needs cutting fast serrations are hard to beat. That said, I think serrations as they are done today stink, and are mostly for looks. ESEE does some good serrations. I had an ESEE3 when I worked in the port of Galveston and that was a sweet little knife for rope work. They could also be sharpened on a standard stone. Serrations have their place on knives, but I prefer to have them on a folder or something separate then my main blade. If I could choose, I would take a Hinderer Rescue type Knife with serrations like ESEE does them. Oh, and yes, serrations are no good for shaving for sure. This is what the disposable razor is for.

 

Steak knives and some bread knives have the need for serrated edges, I would rather have plain edge everything else.

 

I look at it a bit differently and not so vague as yes or no.

On my larger camping/fishing knives I like a plain edge.

On my folders/utility knives I like partial serrations. Cuts through rope, straps on boxes, seat belts, etc. so much better.

I have different knives for different things, so depending on what your knife is being used for the answer could change.

While some might consider this amateur, I think it is just a smarter way at looking at your tools and how to use them.

 

It will always be a never ending debate, just like what pistol caliber to carry. I am a straight edge man, but solved the problem with my duty knife.

 

Plain. Serrated if your cutting rope and boxes. I can tell you plain is more user friendly.

 

Plain edge, especially if the blade is less than six inches. I hate a pocket sized knife that is partially serrated. Now if you got a ten inch blade, some serrations is fine.

 

If you want a knife...buy a knife...if you want a saw...buy a saw.

 

Is this from a bushcraft perspective or an EDC perspective? I don't normally carry a saw around town, but I always have a knife.

 

Plain edge for me. If you keep your knife sharp, cutting rope is easy.

 

I also forgot to add. AR-15

 

Hahaha epic!

Gimme a plain blade about 6" in overall with about 1 to 1.5 inch milled serrations, such as ESEE 6, Gerber Silver Trident, Or Gerber LHR

You never know when you will need to cut that rope in less than 10 secs. Just sayin...

 

Ford edc I just use a plain edge. I feel the blades are too small to have half serrations and after cutting myself with half serrations and seeing how much damage it does, I try to stay clear of them when they are not needed. Like others said serrations have their purpose. On my bunker gear I have a half serrated fixed blade knife as well as a full serrated Spyderco Atlantic salt, because most of the things I will encounter that Ill have to cut will be faster with serrations. My bushcraft knives wont have serrations on them.

If your going to edc and you really have a need for serrations but still want a plain edge I think knives like fire65 put up are a good choice. Spyderco has a version as well, as Im sure other makers do also.

 

If you absolutely NEED serrations, the Veff style serrations by CRKT are the best bet for you. Other than that I prefer straight edge.

 

I like all knives and have a huge collection. There are so many choices that I could never say that there is a "best" because most knives can be used well for one thing but not necessarily for another.

I happen to like serrated blades. As long as the serration isn't too long it won't interfere with the function of the non-serrated section of the knife. Serrations help in cutting rope or small tree limbs. The actually make the knife more useful in my opinion.

 

A sharp plain edge cuts rope just fine. Just look at those fat guys on the cold steel videos chopping rope. LOL.

I hate serrated bushcraft/survival blades. I find it odd that they even exist. Now for cutting bread, a serrated knife kicks butt.

 

They exist because you also have that tatical realm where a combo edge is very useful. Those in the military have many uses for the serrations.

 

My pocket knife is an old foldable non-brand half-serrated, half-plain blade. For everyday tasks, I love it. It does it's job well.


When I'm out overlanding, camping, or what have you, I carry an Ontario knife that was manufactured some time back. It was labeled as the new knife for the Marine Corps -- I don't think they adopted it. It's roughly a 6.5" plain blade, and I prefer that. If I were to lose the ax off my Tacoma, I'd be less worried about hurting the edge of the knife if I were to use it as a hatchet to chop up fire wood.

 

I've never found any real use for the serrated blades, not to mention they're hard as Hell to sharpen. The non-serrated blades, to me, always seemed to be what I needed when i needed a knife.

 

I personally like serrated....this is what I carry everywhere I go....it is partially serrated....its spring assisted opening....has seatbelt cutter and a few other things on it for EMS/Fire use....I have 2 of them and love em better than the more expensive knifes hubby has for me. Hubby has sharpened the other one once and its razor sharp as this one is too.

 

Interesting that theyd choose a combo for this...the plain edge is kinda worthless in this application, should of been just all serrations. Seems like a good design, kinda cool that it has an O2 wrench on it. Is the seatbelt cutter any good? So many knives have them and they end up being pretty much worthless because they are either dull from the factory or become so with one use. I personally keep a benchmade rescue hook at my side at all times.

Its price is up there, but check out the new benchmade triage.

 

I prefer a partially serrated blade, for my everyday carry at least.

Mostly because I tend to abuse my knives and I'm not very good at keeping them sharp. Knife = prybar, screwdriver, scraper, boot cleaner, trowel, etc. With the serrated portion I can still usually hack/saw through what I need to even if the plain edge is pretty dull.

 

In my experience people who bash serrated blades often never have or don't know how to use them. Get what works for you.

 

In my experience people who bash serrated blades often never have or don't know how to use them.

There is something off about serration bashers. I was looking for objective arguments for and against serrations but most made fallacious Appeals to Subjectivism, "to me" type statements. For instance:

It seems like as with everything else,it comes down to what you prefer to use.... Everyone has their preferences.

The only objective argument presented was the difficulty in sharpening serrations. This is very disappointing to me b/c it side steps entirely the topic.

As far as I'm concerned serrations are a waste of perfectly good blade space.

The "because" is completely missing. Others said a plain edge cuts rope just as well as a serrated. This claim is nonsense as it implies saws exist for no reason other than to annoy knife enthusiasts.

 

Personally, I'm not a big fan of serrations. They are good for cutting rope, but that's about all as far as I've seen. TP

 

some serrations at the back or the base of the blade is always useful . but a full serrated edge is not a good thing as most of the uses of a blade require a straight one .

 

I like 1/4 or less serrations on my knives.

 

You started a very good discussion with your question - thank you. If a straight edged tool needs sharpening, it is relatively easy. Dulled serrated edges are more difficult to sharpen. In my experience, straight edged knives have always done what I called upon them to do.

 

I have never had to sharpen my serrations, I always read that comment. I have a partial serrated Spyderco Delica that I have had for over a decade. I beat the **** out of this knife, use the serrations all the time and I have never sharpened them.

People who say this don't have any clue what they are talking about, they just repeat the same bull**** they read someone else say and it grows from there.

 

Exactly. Me personally, I like it if a blade has partial serrations, specially if the serration section is real small compared to the rest of the blade. The only times that I can see serrations being impractical is when one chokes up on a knife to use it for detailed tasks that require more control at the hilt of the blade, and more use of the base or "start" of the blade. In those cases you usually are trying to do some type of precision cutting and serrations are impractical. This is the reason I try to keep a knife for every chore. There are very few knives that you can call "an everything knife" and even those few have their perks. It's okay to own more than one knife, folks.

 

A knife, blade, tool, serrations...etc that has never been sharpened is a knife, blade, tool, serrations...etc that has not been used OR has been used and is presently dull.