I will now EDC only SE for 6 months.

[Donut]

Let me know if you want to borrow one or two of my SE friends. :)

That includes a SE Dragonfly if you want.

[Jazz]

Sorry - can't do something that insane, bro. :p My complaint is I despise sharpening, and with SE they need to be kept sharp for envelopes, etc. I ain't got time for dat. I have figured out how to properly get them nice and sharp, but, like I said... ugh. I used to use a Salt 1 SE at work (opening tons of stuff and cutting cardboard), and when I switched to PE, it was like night and day. I just steel it once in a while and Bob's yer uncle.

[ABX2011]

Is there a description or video of your sharpening technique for serrations?

[RadioactiveSpyder]

Madness, David, sheer madness! I predict you will cheat on this with your PE lovelies, they won't take kindly to being ignored for so long!

I couldn't do it as there are just too many fine things I do with my PE blades, like recently delicately shaving the top edge of my bathroom door with my Slysz Bowie so it fit better (wood had become too swollen with the moisture buildup...). My guess is one of my SE blades would have chewed that up, or at minimum taken a bit more time to do it carefully.

Good luck Evil!

[enduraguy]

My serrated Military is the only knife I currently own. So by default it's all I carry. It began life plain edged. Sent it to Willey Knives and had them put a Spyder edge on it. Their serration pattern gives you a few more teeth on a Military than the original factory pattern. EvilD, is your Military an older, factory serrated model?

[Evil D]

My serrated Military is the only knife I currently own. So by default it's all I carry. It began life plain edged. Sent it to Willey Knives and had them put a Spyder edge on it. Their serration pattern gives you a few more teeth on a Military than the original factory pattern. EvilD, is your Military an older, factory serrated model?

It's an older one but still S30V so not that old, and it's factory serrated.

Is there a description or video of your sharpening technique for serrations?

I don't have a video up yet, but I will very soon. I've been meaning to get one up anyway. I did do a thread about it a while back though that you can check out in the meantime.
http://www.spyderco.com/forumII/viewtop ... emel+strop" target="_blank

[bh49]

The time has come to throw down a challenge to all you SE doubters.

I have no doubts that this can be done.
There is forum member SpyDutch. He was very active in 2005-2010. He still shows-up once in a blue moon. He used to carry only SE for years, not month. No PE even on Key Chain. Sal even put SE for him on two sprints which were released on PE only.
So David, I believe in you. You can do this.

[xceptnl]

David, this challenge sounds excellent and I can ALMOST commit. I do admit that neglecting my other knives will be the hardest part of this challenge, not the using of the SE only. I have been carrying the "Ladyhawk" for months in the watch-pocket but I think I will upgrade. I can give up my larger carry (my right hand primary) in PE for an SE challenge, but I will have to retain at least one PE on my person.
So tomorrow morning, the GB goes back into the case and I will replace it with the SE Military beater I picked up in a trade a few months back.

[Jazz]

What if we all took the challenge and went a week?

[Slash]

Did you try shaving with it yet?
Inside joke you know as your signature had a quote of mine for a little while there a few years ago.
Serrations have their place. For instance if you're doing much rope cutting and the like.
But, plain edge is just more versatile and you'll find yourself not making the 6 months.

[NotWellKnown]

While I can't currently take this challenge, due to getting a brand new Manix2 LW, I don't think it'll be that difficult. I EDCed a serrated Tenacious for several months, and only stopped because I wanted to try other knives. I currently always have a serrated H1 Enuff on me as my backup, and use it for cutting cardboard and opening mail. Good luck to anyone attempting this challenge.

[PayneTrain]

I could do a week, but 6 months? I'm used to rotating several times a week. I don't want to make my other knives mad. They are KNIVES after all, and they know where I sleep...

[ZL1]

I don't think I could do that, but I'm sure my Dad could. He likes serrations a lot!

[kennethsime]

I did this for a week when I picked up my Matriarch 2, my first SpyderEdged knife. It worked surprisingly well; although I missed my Stretch (I still love that knife), the M2 did everything I asked of it and more. 6 Months? Nope. But I'll do another week-long challenge when I pick up another spyderedged knife (maybe the H1 D'fly).

[Surfingringo]

What I like about this challenge is it could actually change some people's views about serrated edges...and ultimately might help stop this ugly trend of discontinuing spyderedge versions of knives! Commit to carrying a se for awhile and you might be surprised. I agree that sharpening is probably one of the main things that keeps folks off se knives. Carry one for six months and you'll have to figure that out too. Good news is, there's nothing to it! Sometimes when I hear some of the complaints people have about se vs pe, it makes me realize they are talking about a serrated edge that just isn't sharp. Not really fair to compare a dull se to a well sharpened pe. A dull pe knife doesn't cut worth a **** either.

[Evil D]

What I like about this challenge is it could actually change some people's views about serrated edges...and ultimately might help stop this ugly trend of discontinuing spyderedge versions of knives! Commit to carrying a se for awhile and you might be surprised. I agree that sharpening is probably one of the main things that keeps folks off se knives. Carry one for six months and you'll have to figure that out too. Good news is, there's nothing to it! Sometimes when I hear some of the complaints people have about se vs pe, it makes me realize they are talking about a serrated edge that just isn't sharp. Not really fair to compare a dull se to a well sharpened pe. A dull pe knife doesn't cut worth a **** either.

This is exactly my goal, aside from myself being part of the diehard PE group. I've never really shunned SE, in fact my first Spyderco was my SE Native, but due to not being proficient at sharpening them I've definitely avoided them. That has now changed and I dare say I can sharpen a SE blade just as quickly as PE.

What I'm finding so far is that in use it helps if you don't focus too much on the serrations being there and just cut like you would normally cut. There seems to be a mental hurdle there where I'm paying more attention to the serrations being there, and when I just focus on cutting something and not thinking so much about the serrations or how they're going to perform, I'm finding that for most cuts there is very little difference in now the cut feels. The only issue I have so far is an issue I was already well aware of and have always disliked about serrations, and that is when you're cutting corrugated and you're cutting against the flutes, sometimes the serrations snag and rip the flutes instead of cutting. This is less of an issue when the knife is extremely sharp, but this is one area where PE does seem to have an advantage, despite the fact that most people will argue that cardboard is an area where serrations accel. I would assume at some point PE will dull to the point that it too will start ripping across the flutes before it cuts, and at that point the serrations will probably still be going strong and likely take an advantage.

[Surfingringo]

What I like about this challenge is it could actually change some people's views about serrated edges...and ultimately might help stop this ugly trend of discontinuing spyderedge versions of knives! Commit to carrying a se for awhile and you might be surprised. I agree that sharpening is probably one of the main things that keeps folks off se knives. Carry one for six months and you'll have to figure that out too. Good news is, there's nothing to it! Sometimes when I hear some of the complaints people have about se vs pe, it makes me realize they are talking about a serrated edge that just isn't sharp. Not really fair to compare a dull se to a well sharpened pe. A dull pe knife doesn't cut worth a **** either.

This is exactly my goal, aside from myself being part of the diehard PE group. I've never really shunned SE, in fact my first Spyderco was my SE Native, but due to not being proficient at sharpening them I've definitely avoided them. That has now changed and I dare say I can sharpen a SE blade just as quickly as PE.

What I'm finding so far is that in use it helps if you don't focus too much on the serrations being there and just cut like you would normally cut. There seems to be a mental hurdle there where I'm paying more attention to the serrations being there, and when I just focus on cutting something and not thinking so much about the serrations or how they're going to perform, I'm finding that for most cuts there is very little difference in now the cut feels. The only issue I have so far is an issue I was already well aware of and have always disliked about serrations, and that is when you're cutting corrugated and you're cutting against the flutes, sometimes the serrations snag and rip the flutes instead of cutting. This is less of an issue when the knife is extremely sharp, but this is one area where PE does seem to have an advantage, despite the fact that most people will argue that cardboard is an area where serrations accel. I would assume at some point PE will dull to the point that it too will start ripping across the flutes before it cuts, and at that point the serrations will probably still be going strong and likely take an advantage.

I would agree with you on the cardboard. If your knife is good and sharp though you can just pushcut it with the edge perpendicular to the cardboard. That works much better than trying to cut at an angle like you would with a pe imo. I think for certain tasks the trick to getting optimal performance out of a se is just push cutting with one single serration.

[Evil D]

Yeah, single serrations are where SE really shine, as they work like individual hawkbills. That means at almost any angle, you get a slicing motion so even push cuts are slicing cuts on the outer sides of the serration. By design it really is a thing of beauty. It makes me wonder how a blade would perform if the size of the serrations were doubled so that the large ones now become the small ones, and between those you have ~1/2 inch serrations? I know Sal has commented that they have experimented with different patterns and find the current pattern to be the best performing, but I don't think I've seen serrations much larger than the 1/4 inch ones currently being used.

[twinboysdad]

Sal even put SE for him on two sprints which were released on PE only.

Respect. What were the sprints?

[Jazz]

It wouldn't change my view on serrations. They simply don't cut as cleanly on most things. Rags, just for example. Even brand new and sharp, they're no match for a nice, sharp plain edge. If I was cutting a lot of wet rope, then maybe.