Plain edge or Partially Serrated?

I have another question I'd like you guys' input on. When choosing a general outdoor use, do you go with a plain edge or partially serrated, and why?

Thanks!

I used to think that partially serrated was the way to go, for cutting rope, webbing and the like. I've since learned two important lessons: a very sharp straight edge knife will work a treat to cut rope and webbing if you know what you're doing. And it's much easier to keep a straight edge knife very sharp. It's particularly hard to sharpen a serrated edge in the field.

IMHO, partially serrated is a "Jack of all trades, master of none" type of thing. And that "Jack of all trades" part is being especially generous. I would recommend a plain edge. If you absolutely think you need serrations, then get a fully serrated knife. I cannot think of any scenerio where I would recommend partially serrated. You end up with a knife that's not very good at anything IMHO. Maybe on the really big knifes where you have such a long blade that you have enough room for both functional serrations and functional straight edge. But the typical knife is just not long enough to support both types of edge IMHO. Unless you buy one of those Mall Ninja Rambo knives. Those may be long enough, but are so crappy in other ways that it totally negates any benefit of their long blades. Plus, a long blade can be more of a hinderance than a help in most situations.

I think a plain edge is more versatile. It can be sharpened fine enough to shave with or you can edge it with a coarse stone and put a micro-serration edge on it to cut ropes.

Serrated blades require a bit more work/time to sharpen and this can't done with a simple flat stone. I have a Spyderco tri-angle which can make this a lot easier to do but I never really got the knack of doing it on my Spyderco Delica.

Personally I prefer just a simple fine edge the full length of the blade and that's the only type of blade I use now except for the separate serrated blade on my multi-tool. YMMV. I don't cut enough rope to make any significant difference or need for a serrated blade.

Judging from what's on display at REI and other outdoor shops, partially serrated blades are all the rage these days. I think that is a shame. In my opinion a reasonable quality, well maintained plain edge is the choice for general use.

About the only serrated edges I have are rescue knives attached to our PFDs for sea kayaking and other boating use. The idea there is an instantly available knife to quickly cut oneself free from entanglements. Other than that rather specialized use I refuse to buy serrated blades.

The only circumstance where I carry a partially serrated knife is offshore. A serrated knife will cut wet slimy rope in a blink of an eye. And that may be all the time you have before you are dragged overboard. The rest of the time I use the straight part. I have a very old (at least 15 years now) benchmade folder with partially serrated blade.

Actually lately I have been carrying two knives. One for "cabin work" and a serrated fixed blade for deck cutting.

I would like to get rid of the old benchmade and get a new one just like it but with a straight blade.

Nomad

IMHTAO (In my humble, though accurate, opinion ) I would opt for the full plain blade. I am left-handed and the serrated models have the scallops (serrations) ground for right-handed folks.

YMMV

My $.02

I pretty much agree with what everyone here says, but I'm a classic, do as I say not as I do.

1) My "water" knife is a fully serrated Atlantic Salt by Spyderco. I've never used it to cut a line in an emergency but I think it would excel at it. I can verify that it cuts french bread and cheese quite well though.

2) I'd prefer a plain edge blade for pretty much everything else.

3) I actually carry a partially serrated blade 99% of the time. It is on my Skeletool. It has not let me down to date. Apparently the Skeletool I have now comes with a straight blade on it. I wish I had that one, but this seems to work fine.

3a) When I think I might "need a knife" I carry one or several others. The Skeletool is my EDC though.

I've always preferred partially serrated blades but it was mostly asthetic. I do like the advantage being able to saw through vines and green branches, and I stink at sharpening so a serrated edge worked better for me at hat task, and left me with a partially smooth edge that has never let me down.

As I do a little more bushcraft,I'm finding that a fully smooth edge is better for things like batonning wood. My DH and DS got mea smooth edge fixed blade for Mother's Day, and I quickly fell in love with it.



It has slighty edged out my trusty old Ruko, with the serrated edge on the spine of the blade.

I also prefer a straight edge, and I have had occasion to cut lots of rope and webing

Plain edge for me. I have a few knives with partial serrations and they can be handy. I much rather go with a plain edge because a sharp one will cut anything I need to cut and I can sharpen and/or touch up the edge easily.

Seems like the consensus is pretty clear. Straight it is.

Yup, for the vast majority of time spent on land, I like a plain edge. I've tried both serrated and partially serrated knives in the past and, after just a short time of hard use, they turn into plain edge knives anyway (as the serrations tend to break or wear away). I find it better just to start with a good plain edge and keep it sharp.

Now, when I'm on my boat or swimming/diving I carry a fully serrated blade. Simply because, out on the water, 99% of the time I'm cutting a line/rope. With that being the case, serrated edges work really well on line/rope.

bacpacjac - I like that Ruko. Serrations on the spine. Not THAT I can see a use for. The serrations don't interfere with the straight blade, but are there if you want them. I wonder if that Ruko knife is still available? I like the look of it.

Just some thoughts.

1. I never buy a knife that has serrations on the back edge of the blade. Can't even understand why they would be there. It just weakens the blade. Those kinds of blades remind me of the "Rambo" mentality - doesn't make a lot of sense.

2. Serrations are helpful if you are in a situation where you cannot sharpen your knife. The knife will retain cutting power with them - against softer materials like tissue and meat. A partially serrated blade (with the serrations on the sharp side, toward the handle) gives you options for this kind of outcome.

3. I agree that straight edges are easier to sharpen and generally work very well for most purposes. The only time I used to avoid them was on knives for skindiving - these knives were usualy made from crummy stainless steel alloys. The edge holding was so bad that serrations worked better for me. Eventually I gave up and just took a sharp knife made from 1095 steel into the ocean, and cleaned up the corrosion each time after I was done for the day.

Pete2

While I agree that putting serrations on the back side of a knife probably weakens the knife, so does putting an edge on it in the first place. It would be much stronger as a solid 1/8" thick chunk of steel with no bevel or edge. My thought would be that if you want a knife with both a straight edge and serrations, you will do better not polluting one blade type with the other with a "partial" thing. Instead, keep them seperate - on opposite sides of the knife. Or, as I mentioned in an earlier post, get one knife with full serrations and one knife without. That would be better yet. If you require a super strong knife (for batoning I assume), I would recommend getting an axe or tomahawk instead. A straight edge knife. A fully serrated knife. And a tomahawk/axe. And a saw. That's the ticket. No compromises by combining functions into one tool.

Plain edge for me. All day, every day. Serrations are useful on a bread knife and not much else.

For the last few years, I have used a partially serrated Bear MGC for deer hunting. I found the serrations helpful in field dressing the animal. For this years hunt, I have purchased a Browning game saw, so my last use for a serrated blade is gone. All of my other knives are plain edged.

+1 on straight edge for the general outdoor use, and easier to maintain that edge in the field. Serrations have their place and uses as well. I know a LOT of First Responders who carry a partly serrated or fully serrated blade for cutting seat belts and other tough materials. A serrated blade might also be useful if you cut a lot of rope or webbing on a daily basis. Just like a lot of things, it just depends on where you are and what you do (or expect to do) with the blade. If you think you might need a serrated edge at some point, consider a folder with a serrated blade, or one of the multi-tools that include a serrated blade (leatherman wave comes to mind). YMMV

Usual disclaimers apply.

If you do get partially serrated, make sure the serrations are not at the handle end. Close to the handle is where you have most precision, for carving etc. Serrations should be nearer the tip.

Although partial serrations can have a role, when a knife has them at the handle I suspect they are there mainly to make the knife look cool.

Oh please! What knife manufacturer would ever do such a thing?

I really like it Haertig. It's done everything I've ever asked it to. It's holds it's edge nicely, and the serrations are perfectly out of the way for batonning, which is a huge plus for me. The serrated part has been used many, many times for things like cutting vines, green branches and it does the job like a pro. It's a nice little saw. It's not a very big knife either, which I really like. (The blade is less than 5")

It's still on their website so they must still make it. (Model 25-12 for $33.50 http://www.rukoproducts.com/cart/index.php?target=products&product_id=201) My husband bought it maybe 12 years ago so it's certainly got the longevity to disprove the "the serrations weaken the blade" theory. Of course, it's never been used as a pry bar or as anything other than a knife.

That's an interesting-looking knife. Have you had any issues with the sawback cutting the inside of the sheath?

I think serrations on the back of the blade started with the Air Force survival knife. The serrations were terrible on wood, but man they really cut through the aluminum hull of an aircraft!

One of my military survival schools had a lot of old aircraft chunks and they showed us how to use the knife as an extraction device.

Like I said though... crummy for cutting wood.

Nomad

Move to the head of the class, if you please, Mr. Brangdon.



Get thee to a drollery!

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I always enjoy the "chunky vs. smooth" debate.

IMO, the majority of serrations on mass-produced blades are rubbish. They are in the wrong place, they are designed to look good rather than cut, and they are unmaintainable by the average user.

But that said, these days I find certain kinds of serrations, properly situated, highly desirable. I add my own using a diamond chainsaw file, at the forward third of the blade. Simple scallops that are simple to maintain. Over time they are sharpened out, using standard sharpening stones, and I refresh them as needed.

I find my serrations to be enormously effective in dealing with tough, fibrous vegetable matter and smaller woody branches/saplings. I find there is a longer period between sharpenings when the blade regularly dips into the dirt. It certainly lets lower-end "beater" knives punch far above their weight. There's also a safety factor IMO -- it's sometimes unavoidable (in my work) to cut toward the hand that's holding the material, and the serrated blade, used in a sawing+push forward motion, gives a lot more blade control while keeping up the pace of the work.

Does this translate to hardcore wilderness or survival use? For me, I think it does.

YMMV.

This is a great thread.

I carry a Leatherman Multitool with a regular blade that I use from time to time (it's very sharp), but I also have a cheap pocket knife that is 1/2 serrated.

I like the serrated to cut rope etc, but I do find trying to sharpen the ridges to be a time consuming task. I suspect the leathermans knife would probably do just as well.

I have always like the SOG FLASH II knives, but haven't gotten around to ordering one. I had picked out the one that was serrated, but after reading this, might actually change my mind.

For >90% of my cutting needs a plain edge is preferred and it's much easier to keep sharp. For the other <10% which are mostly contingency/emergency needs I have partially and fully serrated blades. However, those knives are rarely used and in one case has never been put to work, the fully serrated edge is factory sharp (and it is sharp).

I guess my point is why deal with the hastle of having a critical section of knife edge serrated when your cutting needs primarily require only a sharp plain edge? YMMV

For the rare times when a serrated blade might be the better choice over a straight blade, I'm thinking something like this (inexpensive) fully serrated knife might be the ticket:

http://www.amazon.com/Spyderco-Meadowlar...=I213ERVKSPJJAT

Or it's bigger brother (if your state allows "concealed carry" of a knife with a 4" blade):

http://www.amazon.com/Spyderco-Cara2-Rescue-Black-SpyderEdge/dp/B001EBXH04/ref=reg_hu-rd_add_1_dp

Several years ago Cliff Stamp showed cutting up a steel belted tire with a fully-serrated Spyderco knife made from H1 steel.

That was pretty much the end of that knife but I think the point was that in a survival situation, where destroying a knife is acceptable, it can be done. A regular steel knife might have survived better - his was H1 which is pretty soft.

I personally use a Syperdo Native that is partially serrated (S30V steel) though I carry a beautiful (and excellent) Fallkniven folder when I'm around more tender souls.

Like James, I carry a partially serrated Spyderco Native when working around the house (in my weekend jeans). Much better for cutting vegetation, carpets and the common yard and house use.

Like others I have and use both for their specific strengths. A sharp straight edge will cut a seatbelt or rope almost as well as a serrated edge, it just won't do it more than a few times. It also will NOT cut warm bread as well :-)!!!

Several have indicated a problem in sharpening a serrated edge. Sal Glesser (the owner of Spyderco) designed the Triangle sharpener - which allowed him to start selling serrated knives. The Triangle makes sharpening serrated edges almost as easy as straight ones.

Full disclosure - I have had Sal as a friend since before he made his first knife.

Respectfully,

Jerry

I have a number of plain blade knives, mostly Fallknivens and even a few plain blades with laminated powdered steel cutting edges. In one or two days of intensive outdoor use, I usually have to sharpen the plain blade or else. I don't like having to tote around and keep track of a sharpener whenever I carry plain blades in the field, either on day projects or on expeditions.

However, I also have several inexpensive serrated blade knives that have had an enormous amount of use over the years. These serrated blade knives have never been sharpened (not a single time), yet they still work perfectly well. I even run them through the dishwasher and we use them on gristle steak night and with pleasure.

Unless you like the sharpening thing (some of my company's board members indicate they find the plain blade knife sharpening ritual therapeutic), for general outdoor use and especially if you end up having an emergency or survival situation along the way, choose the partially serrated one.

I have a small Gerber that has a serrated blade (about 2.5"). It's OK for light work around the house but when I go hunting or backpacking that knife stays at home.

I find the serrated section tougher to sharpen.

My traditional blade works great and is simpler to use and keep sharp.

I prefer a straight edge, but with a knife like this Kershaw Roughneck I don't need to choose.

http://www.kershawknives.com/productdetails.php?id=156&brand=kershaw

Looks great! Is the same configuration available in a shorter length (4" blade or so)?

Hikermor, if that question is for me, the answer is I don't know. Regarding serrations on the spine, there's another advantage that I enjoy. The serrations on the spine serve as a scraper for a ferro rod. If my only fire starting gear includes a ferro rod and a knife with serrations on the spine, I still don't have to mess up my main edge. Further, the serrations on the Kershaw Roughneck can generate a thick shower of sparks, way more sparks than any dedicated scraper I have. The comparison is not even fair. The same is probably true for other serrated knives.