In my kitchen knife collection I use about 15 knives often (at least
once a month usage rates "common", once a week rates "often",
"specialty" knives) might only be used 2-4 times a year). Three of
these knives have serrated edges.

One is a long, skinny-bladed bread knife that is ultra-stiff. It has
the tiny little points/teeth with scalloped spaces between the teeth
that are about 1/4 inch width. This is a pretty common type of
serration. It's easy for me to sharpen, and it cuts even the softest
bread or turnover style pasty without any compression.

The second is a beautiful West Bend knife with the same shape and
stiffness as the first knife I mentioned above but instead of teeth
the edge has a very slightly "chewed" edge. The edge doesn't have tiny
regular serrations like Ginzu trash, but the edge serrating repeats
the pattern the full length of the blade. I have 2 of these knives and
have never seen a similar "grainy" serration on any other knife. When
cutting up corned beef with lots of gristle before it's fully cooked
this knife goesn through the gristle and bone/tendons/ligaments like
butter while producing a cut surface that looks like it was cut with a
flat edged knife. This knife sharpens up with a ceramic stick, just
perfectly. But I cannot find a reference to the name of this type of
serrated edge. If anyone knows the name for this type of serrated edge
please post. I can probably put up a photo link soon.

The third type of knife I commonly use with a serrated edge is the
size of a utility knife and I got it in Japan. I can't read the
characters so I don't know what brand it is. The blade is ultra-stiff
though thin. It cuts rubbery stuff like cooked octopus or steamed
clams easily with no rolling around under the edge. It also cuts food
with husks where you can eat the husk. It will also cut a super-over-
ripe banana that's going into a banana bread. Cutting a banana like
that is easier than peeling it. Cut the banana in half and then
squeeze out the banana like toothpaste. The serration on this utility
knife is like the opposite of the bread knife, there are 3/16 inch
wide semi-circle scallops along the blade and the points go upward
into the blade. This knife also sharpens up pretty easily although
sharpening the inverted points is something I've only done once or
twice in my lifetime. Once to test a Dremel tool that claimed it was
exactly designed for that kind of sharpening (I'd rate it's sharpening
as C-, or barely acceptable). The other other type of sharpener was a
diamond impregated steel tube about 10 inches long with the shaped
(end-view) of an oval with pointed tips like so (). It did a great job
sharpening but it was hard to guage how much metal was coming off and
so the scallopped edge looked a little uneven when I got done. But it
rated an A for sharpness.

If anyone knows what the small granulated serrations on the West Bend
knife are really called please post. I have other serrated knives for
cutting frozen foods that are like small saw blades but I don't count
those as kitchen knives. I also don't count steak knives in the
"kitchen knife" group, so the kinves I've described above are the only
ones I think are serious food prep knives with serrated edges. If I
there are any others out there, maybe someone can post with a photo.
My photo post of serrated edges will follow within a day.

It will be interesting to see the photos -

How do you sharpen your various types of serrated blades?

I have a horizontal grinder with various widths of diamond wheels. I
can even sharpen ceramics with it although I don't care for them now
that I've dropped 2 and both shattered.

I flat plane the flat side of the blade and then individually cut the
center scallops with a narow diamond wheel on knives with pointed
serrations and scallops between the serrated points. The points are
then lifted and sharpened by hand with a diamond stick. I never
sharpen the serrated blades with the tiny cut ridges in them like the
Ginzu knife because I never use them. Reverse scallop blades are easy.
Plane the flat side flat (as above) and then sharpen the centers of
the reverse scallops with a diamond handsaw tooth sharpener. I have
the photos of the random serrated knife edge and when I get it
uploaded to photobucket I'll post the link. I think I'll just sharpen
that blade in a Chef's Choice sharpener for serrated edges.

On Mar 2, 9:31 pm, "anon" > wrote:
> It will be interesting to see the photos -
>
> How do you sharpen your various types of serrated blades?

Thanks for the sharpening info! I have generally avoided most serrated
edges because they look pretty impossible to sharpen decently. My only
effort at it was with a dremel - and it is very easy to overheat the steel
or get the wrong shape.





> wrote in message
ups.com...
>I have a horizontal grinder with various widths of diamond wheels. I
> can even sharpen ceramics with it although I don't care for them now
> that I've dropped 2 and both shattered.
>
> I flat plane the flat side of the blade and then individually cut the
> center scallops with a narow diamond wheel on knives with pointed
> serrations and scallops between the serrated points. The points are
> then lifted and sharpened by hand with a diamond stick. I never
> sharpen the serrated blades with the tiny cut ridges in them like the
> Ginzu knife because I never use them. Reverse scallop blades are easy.
> Plane the flat side flat (as above) and then sharpen the centers of
> the reverse scallops with a diamond handsaw tooth sharpener. I have
> the photos of the random serrated knife edge and when I get it
> uploaded to photobucket I'll post the link. I think I'll just sharpen
> that blade in a Chef's Choice sharpener for serrated edges.
>
> On Mar 2, 9:31 pm, "anon" > wrote:
>> It will be interesting to see the photos -
>>
>> How do you sharpen your various types of serrated blades?
>
>

I sharpen serrated knives with a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Use the point to
go into the serrations and the flat to do the back.

Steve B.