We get a lot of questions about the differences between plain and serrated blades in Defensive Folding Knife. The short answer is that I prefer plain edge blades simply because they are easier to sharpen, but both have their assets and liabilities.

A serrated blade is a trick to get a longer blade in a shorter package. The cutting edge is pinched into ridges and valleys so we can more cutting edge in same overall length. Because all of the cutting edge doesn’t usually contact the medium that you are cutting serrated blades will stay ‘usefully sharp’ for longer, and as they get dull they tend to tear the medium.

Once the knives are dull enough to begin tearing the medium is providing more resistance and the blade will more prone to getting hung up in the middle of a cut. Things like zippers and seams will frequently cause a serrated blade to hang up.

Plain edge blades on the other hand simply skip over things like seams and zippers. They get dull more quickly because more the cutting edge is contact with the medium. You probably have more than one kind of knife in your kitchen and in a pinch you can carve meat with a bread knife, or bread with a carving knife, but the results aren’t really optimized. We don’t normally need a lot of optimization in our pocket knives (especially as defensive tools). I’ll take a sharp knife over a dull one before I worry about serration or any other blade pattern.