Sharpen Serrated Knives

Serrated knives tend to hold their edge longer than straight-edged knives, and are more difficult to restore without changing their shape. For these reasons, it's best to sharpen your serrated knives only when you notice them becoming less effective. That said, if you're willing to put in the labor, a cheap handheld tool will do the job.

Steps

Using a Sharpening Rod

1. Purchase a serrated knife sharpening tool. Serrated knives need different sharpeners than straight-edged blades. Most serrated knife sharpeners are rod-shaped, usually with a taper to accommodate different sized serrations.
2. Locate the side of your knife with a beveled edge. Serrated knives generally do not look the same from both sides. On one side, the face of the blade will continue at the same angle until the blade's edge. On the other, the face of the blade will angle down slightly just before the serrated edge; this is called the bevel. Only apply a sharpening tool to the beveled edge.
3. Place the sharpening rod in one of the serrated scallops ("gullets"). Choosing an angle is easier for serrated blades, because you can use the angle of the bevel as a guide. This is typically between 13 and 17 degrees compared to the edge of the blade, which is shallower than you may be used to sharpening knives.
   • If the knife also has a straight edge portion, the bevels are usually ground to the same angle — about 20 to 25 degrees.
   • If you want a better guide, draw on the gullets with permanent marker. You'll know you're hitting them at the right angle if the marker is removed.
4. Move the rod to match the gullet's diameter. If your sharpening rod is tapered, locate the rod in the gullet at the point where the rod's diameter is the same size as the gullet's, or slightly smaller.
5. Sharpen the first gullet. Run the sharpening rod along the first groove in several short strokes. Push in one direction away from the edge of the blade, toward the spine. Rotate the rod as you push it for a more even grind.
   • Push only to the point of the rod with the same diameter as the gullet, to avoid enlarging the gullet.
6. Check for a burr. Run your fingers along the backside of the groove to check for a "burr," or metal shavings. As soon as you can feel a burr, you have sharpened the groove sufficiently. This often only takes a few strokes.
   • Try running your fingernail along the back edge. If you feel it catch, there's a burr.
7. Continue sharpening each groove on the blade. If the knife's serrations are different sizes, adjust the position of the tapered sharpening rod so that the rod just fills the groove.
8. File away all the burrs. The burrs are the metal shavings that you filed off when sharpening the blade. To remove them, rub the back of the knife against a sheet of fine-grit sandpaper. As an alternative, you could lightly run the sharpening rod against the backside of each groove, being careful not to apply more pressure than necessary to remove the shavings.
9. Sharpen any straight-edged portion of the blade. If your knife is only serrated along a part of the blade's length, sharpen the remaining length with a whetstone or other sharpening tool. Don't attempt to use the serrated knife sharpener on the straight portion of the blade.

Using Other Tools

1. Use a triangle-shaped sharpener. Like the rods, these tapered triangles are designed specifically for serrated knives. Due to the shape, they tend to work best on knives with V-shaped gullets. The process is almost identical to the rod-shaped method described above, except that you rock the edge of the tool back and forth along the bevel instead of rotating it.
2. Make your own tool from emery cloth and dowels. If you would rather not buy a single-purpose tool, you can buy a few cheap dowels from a hardware store instead. Find a dowel that sits in the knife's first scallop without wobbling, then wrap a piece of emery cloth most of the way around the dowel. Hold the cloth in place with your finger, and sharpen carefully and slowly. Switch dowels to match the size of the scallops as you move along the knife.
   • Use a round dowel for a knife with round scallops, or a square dowel for V-shaped scallops.
3. Sharpen with a square stone. This is a difficult and unreliable last resort, but it is possible. Hold the knife spine securely against a hard surface and tilt the blade so the beveled edge is on top. Bring the corner of the sharpening stone to the scalloped edge and use it to sharpen the edge, rocking it back and forth to cover the full area of each scallop.

Tips

• Caring properly for your knives will reduce the need to sharpen them. Knives should never be cleaned in a dishwasher or used against a glass cutting board.
• Diamond and carbide make the most aggressive sharpeners: they do the job quickly, but remove a lot of metal. Ceramic sharpeners and Arkansas stones (novaculite) are gentler on your knives, and great for finishing a sharp edge.
• Secure the knife in a vice to make the job easier and safer. This is more important if you are using a homemade emery cloth tool, since your finger will be positioned close to the sharp edge.

Warnings

• Compared to a straight knife, serrated knives are more difficult to return to a factory appearance. If you want a perfect edge, you may need to a hire a professional, or send your knives to the manufacturer for re-sharpening. Fortunately, sharpening services are usually quite cheap.
• Even a high-quality electric sharpener typically has trouble sharpening the full gullets along a serrated knife edge. It's best to stick to manual sharpeners.

Things You'll Need

• Serrated knife
• Serrated knife sharpener
• Fine-grit sandpaper

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Sources and Citations

See also

• Sharpen a Knife
• Chop Food Like a Pro
• Care For Your Kitchen Knives
• Flip a Butterfly Knife
• Use a Sharpening Steel
• Sharpen a Kitchen Knife
• Select Quality Kitchen Knives
• Dispose of Knives Safely
• Clean a Knife
• Use Kitchen Scissors

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• Select Quality Kitchen Knives