Sharpening serrations just as if they are regular edge?

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

So I did this the other night with a Gerber 1/2 plain edge, 1/2 serrated. Got tired of using the rod to sharpen the serrations, so just sharpened the whole thing end to end like normal. It's eaten up some of the serrations, and after 5 or 7 good sharpenings, the serrations will be completely gone, BUT, it seems to cut quite well. Lazy man's way of sharpening serrations. Anyone else as lazy as me, or done this?

 

[theken206]

good god no

 

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

I just use one of those diamond pen sharpeners for serrations.


Also, look into getting a dremel tool to fine hone the serrations.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Well it's a cheapie knife; wouldn't do it to a good one.

 

[DAVIDSDIVAD]

Yeah, I can't imagine how soft the steel is with OP's knife for him to actually be knocking down serrations so easily.

snapping them off, maybe.

 

[theken206]

somewhere HSO just felt something, hes not sure what, smack him in the back of the head

 

[hso]

And here I was wondering why I had this strange compulsion to check in at this late/early hour.

 

[Al Thompson]

I've filed several off the blade to create sort of a "scalloped" bite in the blade. Works fine.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

somewhere HSO just felt something, hes not sure what, smack him in the back of the head

Hee hee.

 

[sm]

I have added scallops and/or serrations to a plain edge knife.

Al,
I think you and could I could drive folks nuts, and make hso rich selling videos of some of the stuff we have done. *grin*
Not that hso is not exempt and we should keep a video camera on that boy too.
*lol*

Granted, I prefer plain edges, that said, there is place for scallops /serrations for some tasks.

I do this by hand, as I come up before Dremel tools and learned to do by hand before I could use the powered tools of the day.

Sometimes the scallops/serrations need to be near the tip.
i.e.
Box of frozen vegetables and cutting the frozen cardboard. One can get purchase on that frozen box, saw through with plain edge to follow.

I did that for an elderly lady that had flare ups with arthritics, on a Old Hickory steak knife, and a Gerber LST she carried.

She also needed some help coring an apple and ...<cringe alert>....I heated up a Old Hickory paring knife, bent the tip, leaving slight curve, with the serrations near tip, and then put the temper back in the knife.

Worked great for grapefruit too.


*film-at-eleven*

 

[franconialocal]

You should get.....

Spyderco's sharpening system, the "Sharpmaker". It does serrations AND straight edge the same way with tri-angle stones. Put the stones in the provided (set angle) base and go to town. Again, because you are running the edge of the stone it does the straights AND serrations all in one motion.

 

[rcmodel]

Lazy mans way, and probably the best way, is to only sharpen on the flat back side, and leave the serration's alone.

That brings up the points and makes them sharp again.
The edge up in the scollop's is protected by the points and are more then likely still pretty darn sharp.
Or at least they will be when you sharpen only the flat side.

rcmodel

 

[MacPelto]

I've done it. In fact, I deliberately went after them for the purpose of de-serrating the blade on a knife I was given. Took a long time and left a heck of a belly on it, too.

I also deliberately de-tantoed a benchmade Stryker in the days before they made a drop point version.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

I can see it now... "MacPelto's De-Tantoing Service: While you wait".

That was/is my ultimate goal - to de-serrate it (eventually), since I've decided I don't like serrations on knives anymore.

 

[mio]

i dont think it would be fun for either one of us if you forced me to do that to one of my knives however it is your knife that you paid for and you use so do with it as you wish

 

[bikerdoc]

I once tortured a chinese mystery steel knife that was 1/2 serrated and made it a plain edge just to see if I could do it. Like the man said I wont do that again.

 

[MacPelto]

I can see it now... "MacPelto's De-Tantoing Service: While you wait".

That was/is my ultimate goal - to de-serrate it (eventually), since I've decided I don't like serrations on knives anymore.

Hehe - I don't know about 'while you wait.'

I decided that I don't like serrations, either, which is why I did it. I just keep my knife sharp. If you make the transition smooth, de-serrating can make for a wicked looking knife. Therer are guys on a knife forum that I belong to who regrind production knives all the time - some of them look insanely cool.

Interestingly, the one that I de-tantoed was my EDC knife for like 10 years. I only recently replaced it because the liner lock wore out.

 

[Macgille]

I've never found a good use for serrated edges except for slicing french bread and cutting ropes. I don't have any so I don't sharpen them. P.S. I also don't have any stainless steel knives. Guess why.

 

[sixgunner455]

Couple of guys at the office (military guys) had me take the serrations off their Gerber Gators, after I showed them how sharp their knives could actually be. They didn't want those serrations in the way anymore, so I reground and convexed the blades.

They don't loan those knives out anymore.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Spyderco's sharpening system, the "Sharpmaker". It does serrations AND straight edge the same way with tri-angle stones. Put the stones in the provided (set angle) base and go to town.

Sounds good - I'll look into it.

 

[Hans Esker]

+1 on the Spyderco Sharpmaker.

Keep in mind that both the Sharpmaker and the clamp type systems systems will slightly round off the tips of the serrations. This is a result of the serrations being ground down slightly since you are not using stones formed to grind serrations like the manufacturer did. IMHO (and the way I do it), the way to reduce this is to do most of your sharpening on the side of the blade that the serrations are ground on, taking as little metal off the unground side as possible. Note this is the opposite of what is suggested above, but I must admit i have not tried rcmodel's method yet. I will have to try that, and perhaps change my methods.

Ok back to theory that I have read, and prototyped in my mind to verify, but not had the budget to try yet:
If you really want to keep the tips sharp, or fix some abused/broken serrations, you need to get some slipstones that are the same shape as your serrations (if you have to you can reshape japanese waterstone slipstones to fit). These are normally used to sharpen small woodcarving gouges. Alternately you could get some tool and die maker round stone files.

Lansky sells some "Dogbone" Sharpeners that are shaped to fit the Spyderco and Cold steel serration patterns, but I keep forgetting to buy one.

As for a breadknife:
(a taskNot for the impatient/lazy)
You can rework/resharpen it with a chainsaw file if it is soft (What I did since it was a softer thrift store rescue knife), but if it is harder you could use a dremel or the above mentioned stones of diameter appropriate to the serration size. This may take some trial and error to find the right diameter file, however.
First you need to join the teeth just like when sharpening a handsaw. Use regular files or stones to do this. Then individually regrind each serration, maintaining the original geometry if you like, or changing it to better suit your needs and wishes. Finish off each serration with abrasive string or a leather thong impregnated with Chromium Oxide compound.

I wish i had a camera so could show you how wicked my breadknife looks. It has a serrations going along the belly that is near the tip, which lets you gut all the way through without hanging the end of the handle blade off the cutting board.