Optimal placement of serrations on 50/50 blades.

[Carlos]

I'd guess that most of us here dislike 50/50 plain/serrated blades, but they are quite popular and thus everpresent in the market. One thing I and others have always wondered about is what is the optimal placement of serrations on such a blade? One thing that always annoyed me back I did have a knife with a 50/50 blade was that the serrations seemed to be in the wrong place for the best slicing performace, and the plain edge in the wrong place for the best push-cut performance. Here is an image showing one idea of better division between plain/serrated for improved performance (cut and paste the url):



http://www.zing.com/picture/p47b2428cefadd149bb03fec403f3c432/feb5fa97.jpg.orig.jpg



Any other ideas? Comments?

[vampyrewolf]

nice idea... I personally like where it is right now...
the serrated are in the right spot to get force on them, the tip is plain, to use for normal cutting.

You're idea might work though, on a larger knife. I would, however, move the serrations to about 1/3 the way up, and only for the 1/3-2/3 section of the knife... (ie 3" would be 1" either side plain).

[vampyrewolf]

Edited by - VampyreWolf on 3/27/2001 8:55:53 PM

[Carlos]

I never finished the drawing for this knife concept, but it was for a 3.5" blade, with .5" plain at the tip, a 1.5" serrated center, and 1.25" plain near the choil, with .25" choil.

[BRAM]

Gee Carlos.. I happen to like partially serrated blades..matter of fact I like 70-30 ( serrated to plain) 50-50...or best yet 60-40..(plain to serrated)...
Gives me options on cutting...
I personally like plain edge up front..since I cut heel to toe, the primary edge is serrated followed by plain edge..if i'm "adhered to the object and "chefcutting" toe to heel, it works as well...
my plain edge sets up the impact on the really agressive surface of the serrations..


So..to your statement..that most of us DISLIKE 50-50 or combo edges...Not so with me..
Have a great weekend!!!

[AncientSOUL]

Well, if you use your knife a lot for utility purposes then a 50/50 edged is great. Looks wise it is ugly.
I carry parr serrated folders a lot because it does help out when cutting fibrous materials. Now is it more effective in the front or back of the blade?? I think there is a reason why every company puts it in the back of the knife edge. You can apply more pressure when you need to use it. Otherwise the plain edge part would be fine.

I do love plainedged knives though. I like to pratice my sharpening skills.

Liong

[AncientSOUL]

Well, if you use your knife a lot for utility purposes then a 50/50 edged is great. Looks wise it is ugly.
I carry parr serrated folders a lot because it does help out when cutting fibrous materials. Now is it more effective in the front or back of the blade?? I think there is a reason why every company puts it in the back of the knife edge. You can apply more pressure when you need to use it. Otherwise the plain edge part would be fine.

I do love plainedged knives though. I like to pratice my sharpening skills.

Liong

[Carlos]

BRAM: You know you aren't in "most." LOL. I based that guess on the various rants against 50/50 in the arhives of the other forum.

Liong,

Since serrations cut better with a sawing/slicing (back and forth) motion, and plain edges cut better with a direct push, my suspicion is that using the forward half of the blade would give better leverage for the slicing motion, while the plain edge near the hilt would allow for better control and direct force when push cutting. This is probably something that could be objectively tested. Sal?

I think that the status quo of half-serrations being near the hilt is due to the fact that it is easier to cut serrations on the straight portion of an edge than a curved part. Just a theory.

[Mancer]

Im no expert but I personally like the serations at the back and the plain blade in the fornt in a 50/50 config, I like having the serated blade at the back so I can get more cutting power on the serations.

Seeya l8tr

MaNcEr

[sal]

Hi Carlos. I guess you can see why it is such a problem. We have had suggestions for a variety of combinations with teeth all over the place, and all for very good reasons.

Since it is not possible to serve all of the requests with 10 different combination edges, we decided to make the Dyad line. They may not be "cool", but they do serve all of the cutting needs quite nicely.

sal

[Carlos]

Hi Sal,

Personally I prefer all serrated or all plain, but I'm wondering if anyone has ever tested different serration placements for 50/50? The contentment with the status quo is obvious, but I remain curious about how things would turn out empirically. :)

[sal]

Hi Carlos. We did some testing of different locations for serrations. All actually worked well for the intended use, but all of the various locations combined, left no plain edge???

sal