I understand that serrations do great for cutting rope and strap material but for anything else I personally cut, a good sharp plain edge seems to be the best.

Maybe I just don't get it.

Seriously, what am I missing?

I agree with you. I have very rarely needed to have serrations to cut something. Of course it could be that they started out as a "tactical" feature...and as everyone knows, anything with the word tactical in its description is special. In case you are wondering, I happen to find the word tactical, when used in a description of a feature or item, to be one of the most overused, idiotic words ever invented.

I love them. I won't buy a knife without them or spring assist. I run a large manufacturing shop and I use it daily to cut cardboard, packing tape, nylon banding, stripping wire,etc.

IMHO, serrations are for the 95% of people who never sharpen knives yet want them to be able to cut.

That said, I like having serrations on my "daily chores" knife. For cutting stuff like foliage, small branches, and grapevines the serrations are nice to use and since I seem to be cutting that stuff a couple times a week it is nice to have.

However, a dedicated hunting or camp knife is completely different and I don't want serrations on those. They also tear meat if you use them for butchering.

Serrations are great for utility work cutting "stuff".

I do not like them for butchering game.

For a general puropse utility knife half serrations and half regular blade works great.

I resharen my serrated blades on a Spyder Co with triangular ceramic sticks.

The grey sticks work best for me.

I find that a partially serrated blade, like my Buck custom house 110 with BG-42 blade, works great for cutting along the sternum of deer while field dressing it.

quote:

Originally posted by kodmag1:
I find that a partially serrated blade, like my Buck custom house 110 with BG-42 blade, works great for cutting along the sternum of deer while field dressing it.

I absolutely agree with you on that. I've used serrations to cut deer sternums before myself. They do indeed work great for that. Thanks for the reminder.

I dont like or use serrated blades either. First I am proud of my knife sharpening skills - big child says my wife - and second when I cut myself with straight blade it heals faster than a cut with serrated blade.

Rambo had them on his second movie knife; what else do you need to know?

Rich

Like the "Miracle Blade" serrated blades will cut anything but not finely/with finesse.

Serrations increase the pressure at point contact & the pressure from "drawing" the knife.
a high quality fine grained steel blade sharpened to a surgical edge is a lousy tool to cut mixed flesh & bone ( even relatively thin bone).

The best fish filleting blades have a hard steel sharpened with a moderate grit without a smooth surgical edge. The same knife model for boning game performs better with a surgical edge with fine grit.

any quality plain edge blade will do as good a job as a serrated "tactical" combination blade ( or better) on webbing etc with the rear 1/4 - 1/3 of the blade finished with a small med-coarse grit after getting the whole blade surgical sharp.

like most things in life , its horses for courses.

They're tacticool....

I have serrations on a Gerber River Shorty.



It's as "tactical" as I'm going to get, designed to cut boating line, nylon-kydex strap, and miscellaneous kayak tasks. Mostly it's intended as a "cut me free" knife to get out of being trapped in a kayak.

Serrated full length on one edge, half length on the other edge. Squared tip like a screwdriver (keeps you from stabbing into the wet-suit when cutting loose).

NRA sent me a serrated edge folder. It was a membership perk.

Beyond that, I want a fine edge I can sharpen on a stone.