Fully Serrated Kife...?

EastMT

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Sounds like you have the ability to sharpen well past what the average joe is capable of. I can get a good edge but mostly use a wicked edge sharpening system.

Seems the general consensus is that the cutcos are adequate for a few animals. Id hate to have one dull in the field and not be able to touch it up.

I like VernAK's idea of using one just for dirty hide work but there are a ton of options for that.

Sharpening isn’t really hard, there are many different ways. I personally like thin blade at extremely shallow angle, 15-17 deg for hot meat cutting. This makes for a fine edge and easily rolled if you hit teeth or a rock, softer metal is much easier to bring an edge back. My high end hard steel knives hold an edge a long time but are much harder to bring an edge back after damage. A really thick blade doesn’t cut near as easily as far as amount of pressure required to cut through a price of meat.

I use a belt sander on new blades to get the desired angle, after that very slow soft sharpening on a steel.

That’s the biggest mistake most people make sharpening a knife, too fast, too much pressure. I can run a knife on a steel extremely fast, but every time you hear a clank you are making a tiny ding in your edge, defeating the purpose. For fine tuning a knife, soft slow swipes on the steel at an angle just a few degrees steeper than you initial blade grind so you are fine tuning the edge not just rubbing the bevel of the blade is the most important part, think old western stropping a face razor on leather, you are just polishing the edge microscopically.

Another trick is taking care of your steel. Wet/dry sand paper, wet it down and sand it with single straight swipes wrapping it around the steel at the bottom, pulling straight to the end repeated until you have a shiny straight grain showing, then oiling with veg oil, this will tune a knife much easier and faster as well. F. Dick orange handle and Victorinox steels are my go to steels before the hunt, smaller fine flat steel for backpacking weight.

That’s my biggest problem with serrated, I don’t like sending things in for maint, I’m more DIY, I’ve actually ground the serrated part off knives they annoyed me so much when they get dull.


If the wind doesn’t blow, take to the oars.
 

CO-AJ

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Serrated knives don’t really have an advantage unless you are sawing on something. If you are not great at sharpening a knife in the field, they could be useful. A good curved smooth blade is my preference

If you are good a sharpening, then it’s not necessary. People are shocked when they use my non-serrated steak knives and they slice like butter, no sawing.
Can you recommend a sharpener that you use or do you hand sharpen with steel? I want to make sure when I sharpen my expensive knives that I am not ruining the angles on each side. The knife is an ESEE non-serrated.
 

Marbles

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Serrated knives are for people who don't know how to sharpen (or don't want to). I prefer a smooth edge that I have sharpened even for tasks that most people use a serrated blade for. This includes things like slicing tomatoes or bread and I have a $160 serrated bread knife that does not get used.

There is not a single task I can think of where I would prefer a serrated blade. At the point a proper smooth edge will no longer work a true saw is needed.

As for Cutco, it looks like they use 440A steel and are stamped construction. This is about as budget a steel as one can get in a budget construction. For the price they are asking ($230 on Amazon), I would expect much better. Save yourself $200 and get a Mora. Or spend $230 and get a Benchmade, Etc, in a S90V (an amazing steel if you know how to sharpen).
 
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EastMT

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Can you recommend a sharpener that you use or do you hand sharpen with steel? I want to make sure when I sharpen my expensive knives that I am not ruining the angles on each side. The knife is an ESEE non-serrated.

I use a Work Sharp to get the angle I want on a new knife or blade I using to build one, down to the finest belt. Then I use a fine steel to finish it. The belt system is nice, it just doesn’t quite finish the edge. If you do it just practice on a cheap kitchen knife or garage sale knife first, don’t learn on your good blades.


If the wind doesn’t blow, take to the oars.
 

EastMT

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First, there are lots of people who are happy with equipment I would hate. Nothing wrong with that, we all value different things.

Serrated knives are for people who don't know how to sharpen (or don't want to). I prefer a smooth edge that I have sharpened even for tasks that most people use a serrated blade for. This includes things like slicing tomatoes or bread and I have a $160 serrated bread knife that does not get used.

There is not a single task I can think of where I would prefer a serrated blade. At the point a proper smooth edge will no longer work a true saw is needed.

As for Cutco, it looks like they use 440A steel and are stamped construction. This is about as budget a steel as one can get in a budget construction. For the price they are asking ($230 on Amazon), I would expect much better. Save yourself $200 and get a Mora. Or spend $230 and get a Benchmade, Etc, in a S90V (an amazing steel if you know how to sharpen).

440 is the budget steel I bought when learning to build knives, it’s ok, soft enough to touch up without a huge problem. D2 is my favorite for a decent price and decent steel without spending a lot on a build.


If the wind doesn’t blow, take to the oars.
 

Marbles

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440 is the budget steel I bought when learning to build knives, it’s ok, soft enough to touch up without a huge problem. D2 is my favorite for a decent price and decent steel without spending a lot on a build.


If the wind doesn’t blow, take to the oars.

Out of curiosity, do you find 440A comparable to 440C?

I have found 440C to be serviceable, but have never thought much of any 440A knife I have used. I have no experience with 440B.
 

EastMT

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I haven’t tried it either, the blanks I started out with were 440a, a $20 blank is better to learn building with. I haven’t used C, haven’t seen B before.
 
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crich

crich

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Or spend $230 and get a Benchmade, Etc, in a S90V (an amazing steel if you know how to sharpen).

I have a S90v 940-1 Osbourne that I can never get a razor edge on. Itll be a sharp working edge for a long time but never "hair popping"
 

schwaf

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Out of curiosity, do you find 440A comparable to 440C?

I have found 440C to be serviceable, but have never thought much of any 440A knife I have used. I have no experience with 440B.

440A and 440C are vastly different steels. 440C is quite serviceable, and still comparable to many non super steels. 440A is not in the same league.
 
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