Serrated Knives vs. Flat Blade Knives

In recent years, there has been a leap in the popularity of Serrated Knives, and people often compare Serrated Knives and flat-bladed knives and debate the performance uses of Serrated Knives and flat-bladed knives. The author has also made a brief comparison between the two, and this article will describe the author's views on both.

Here is the list of contents

1. Uses of knives

2. Comparison of Serrated Knives and Flat Blade Knives

Uses of knives

The discussion of Serrated Knives and flat-bladed knives stems from the use and performance of both knives. So let's start by talking about what knives can be used for. Think about what you can do with a knife. You can scrape, slice, chop, saw, hack, slash, etc. To make it more intuitive to read, we'll divide all knife uses into two main categories, push-cutting and slice-cutting.

Let's talk about push-cutting first. Push-cutting means that the cutting work of the blade is done by pushing the edge over what is to be cut. For example, when you shave, you push the edge of the knife through your beard. When peeling an apple, you push the edge under the skin of the apple. When chopping wood, you try to push the edge in and through the wood.

Next is slicing and cutting. This is where the cutting action is essentially done by dragging the edge across what you are cutting. When you slice meat or a tomato, you drag the edge across the tomato as you slice it. Slicing and sawing are examples of slicing and cutting.

Comparison of Serrated Knives and Flat Blade Knives

In general, a flat edge is superior to a serrated when it comes to push cuts. In addition, when extreme control, accuracy and clean cuts are required, the flat edge is excellent when it comes to both push cutting and slicing. And serrated edges are better for cutting than plain edges, especially on hard or tough surfaces, where serrations tend to grip and cut the surface more easily. Some of the cutting power of serrated edges is due to their style alone. As a result, even a dull serrated edge knife is usually capable of slicing.

The cutting power of a serrated edge comes from many factors. The high points on the serrated edge will contact the material first, which gives these points a higher pressure per unit area than if the same pressure were applied to a regular blade; this makes the serrated edge easier to pierce. In addition, the serrations are usually chiseled into the blade, which means they are thinner (and therefore cut better) than the equivalent regular blade.

Flat edges are better suited for applications such as shaving, apple skinning, and deer skinning. All of these applications either involve primarily push cutting or require extreme control. The serrated edge works well on things such as hard rope or wood, items that can be quickly bitten through by the serrated edge.

An interesting case in point is slicing tomatoes. In theory, you simply push the blade through the tomato, so the flat edge of the razor polish is all that is needed. However, tomatoes are soft and unless your flat-edged knife is very sharp, the tomato will just get squashed when you start pushing. You can use your regular blade for the slicing action, but if it's a little dull, it won't cut very well and may not even hurt the skin of the tomatoes. Use a Serrated Knife for the sawing action, even if your Serrated Knife is dull, and your tomatoes will slice fine. To sum up, when choosing a knife, you need to weigh the combination of whether you should buy a Serrated Knife or a flat-bladed knife.