Serrated knives are the only piece of kitchen cutlery that will still work adequately when the blades are dull. The serrated edge of the knife owes its slicing ability to more than just sharpness. And when your serrated knife needs to sharpen or, the question may have arisen in your mind, how do you sharpen a serrated knife? Because this knife has different edges.
There are several methods to sharp serrated knives easily at home. We have discussed here 7 different methods. So according to your facilitation, you can sharpen the knife easily.
how to sharpen serrated knives | Seven Easy Ways
Method#1
Now let’s dive in to know how to sharpen a serrated knife with a steel(ceramic rod) and how to sharpen a serrated knife with cardboard…
So how you do it easily I will explain to you. But in this video, you can also see how to sharpen a half serrated knife. Watch the video
How to sharpen a serrated kitchen knife
After spending a lot of time researching through different methods of sharpening a serrated knife, the dependable and trusted process is by using a high grit, at least 1500 grit ceramic rod.
What is a grit ceramic rod?
It is a Sharpening Steel for Stainless Steel. Ceramic rod falls somewhere between honing and sharpening depending on their grit. A ceramic grit around 400-800 is sharpening your knife. “Main use for them is the touchup work, which is an edge maintenance type of work”. A grit around 1800+ is honing your knife. The main difference between all honing rods is how hard each is, and how much metal they remove from your knife serrated knife.
The method is simple, and this will allow your serrated knife to last much longer than usual.
Related>>> BEST SHARPENING STONE FOR KITCHEN KNIVES TO USE IN 2021
Our recommendation:
- 1500 grit ceramic rod
The Ceramic Knife Sharpening Rod should be at least 1500 grit,
- 1800+ grit ceramic rod
but 1800+ grit ceramic rod is best to sharpen hard steel, it can be used to sharpen Japanese knives as well. There are more options available until 3000 grit. It doesn’t matter if your serrated knife has wider scallops or short or narrow scallops; this method will work evenly for both.
Sizes of grit ceramic rod:
*Length(in inches):
- 4”
- 5”
- 7”
- 10”
- 10.5”
- 11”
- 11.5”
- 12”
How to sharpen a serrated knife with a rod?
It is not a difficult job just follow these steps if you already know about it then you will revise it. ..
The Easy Method
Step-1
1st hold your ceramic rod in your hand, Carefully check the tip of the rod touching the kitchen countertop.
Step-2
On the flat side of the serration, lay your knife perfectly flat.
*Be careful*
It is a careless way If you run the knife on the rod in this same position, it will scratch up the surface.
Step-3
So to avoid that to happen, we raise the knife just a hair and start running the blade backward. There will be a sound like a telephone ring to hear because it is serrated. But for it you should do right and hit the right angle, that is the sound you will hear.
Step-4
This is the key, Please do not put much pressure on the knife, because ceramic has a very minute amount of metal and harder than steel, it is so trivial that you won’t notice The part of ceramic which is trying to sharpen your knife will be going gray, by observing that you will decide how much strokes should apply, It depends on your knife condition. The same methods apply to smaller serrated knives with smaller narrow serrations, and the sound will be like a stack of cards.
Step-5
After doing this, it is creating a bit of a burr and a bit of a wire edge, and it is rolling the knife mettle over. You should repeat it for 30 or 40 times but depend upon the condition of the knife, you will notice that a thin wire edge is developing inside the scallops, but that’s perfectly fine.
Step-6
Check the other side, the side which was actually being rubbed on the rod,
- There will be much of the metal taken off after this process,
And you won’t see any scratch marks along the flat side, because as I have described that the ceramic is harder than the steel, so it is also polishing the knife steel.
Please keep in mind:
The knife strokes backward when you are moving the metal down towards the primary cutting edge, and it will form a burr, which you can feel if you run down your fingers flat over the scallops. Because the steel side of the knife has moved towards the main cutting edge. So now we need to move the burr back for the serrations to be straight.
Step-7
For that purpose, we need corrugated cardboard
Related>>> HOW DO YOU SHARPEN CERAMIC KNIVES
Why cardboard?
Cardboard has a silicate’s surface, and silicate is a natural sharpener. The corrugated surface of the cardboard grips the serrated scallops of the knife, and we use it to remove the burr or the wire edge and will bring the knife forward.
Last Step-8
Place the cardboard on the flat surface and make a little hump on the cardboard. Because the crease on the cardboard goes inside each scallop and removes the burr. Lay your knife perfectly straight on the cardboard, If you do it right, you will notice that the cardboard will latterly lift itself into the scallops.
So just like on the ceramic rod, lift the knife a bit, and gently stroke backward. It’s minimal polish.
So what is this is going to do is that it is going to polish off the burr? Do this for 1.5-3.5 mins on both sides, it also depends on the condition of the knife.
Method#2
How to Sharpen a Serrated Knife with A Whetstone?
A serrated knife can stay sharp for a long period as compared to some of the other knives that you may have in your kitchen. The main reason for this is that the edges of the knife don’t touch the cutting board whenever you are working. Hence they stay on top and they stay sharp. Thus this way your serrated knife can stay sharp for many years. However, there will come a time when the serrated knife will eventually not perform like it has been performing and this is where you will need to sharpen your serrated knife. Watch the video
Serrated Knives Stay Sharp
There are different ways through which you can sharpen a serrated knife and one such way is to do it through a whetstone. This might not be an easy task as it has been in some other cases. You can sharpen your serrated knife through whetstone but not before you end up sharpening a lot of metal. If you are fine with cutting down on the metal side, then you can go for a whetstone as well for your serrated knife. However, things are not that easy as they may look like when you are looking to sharpen your serrated knife with the help of a whetstone.
When it comes to sharpening the knife, you can sharpen your knife through whetstone for two or three times only, not more than that. It is not advisable to sharpen your serrated knife through whetstone as it is an uphill task. Even on Quora, it is recommended that one shouldn’t go for sharpening a serrated knife with a whetstone and one should look out for different alternatives in order to sharpen a serrated knife rather than going for a whetstone only.
Method#3
How to Sharpen a Serrated Knife with a Manual Sharpener?
There are different ways through which one can learn how to sharpen a serrated knife with a sharpener. There are electric as well as manual sharpeners that can help you to sharpen your knife and bring it to full use. One of the most important things that everyone looks for is how to sharpen a serrated knife quickly. There are different sharpeners available that will help you to sharpen your serrated knife so that you don’t end up having any problem in order to use it. There are different manual sharpeners available which also includes the DMT Dia fold sharpener. Watch the video
How to Sharpen a Serrated Knife Quickly?
This particular sharpener is perfect when it comes to use as it is portable and lightweight with a convenient fold option. The best thing about this sharpener is that you don’t have to use conventional stones and it is faster than those stones as well hence making it a perfect option to go for this particular sharpener. It can be used for fast sharpening action and is not for smaller tools as well. This sharpener can be used at home or in your garden or woodworking or anything else as well. You can use this particular sharpener dry or with water as well as there are both options available.
How to Sharpen a Serrated Bread Knife?
Whether you want to know how to sharpen a serrated bread knife or how to sharpen a serrated pocket knife, this sharpener is the answer to your problems. The best thing is that it works for all shapes and sizes and will also work for your steak as well if you want them to be cut nicely. Apart from this, you can also use different other manual sharpeners as well in order to sharpen a serrated knife like Brod and Taylor and Sunrise Pro Supreme.
Brod and Taylor
Sunrise Pro Supreme
Method#4
How to Sharpen a Serrated Knife with an Electric Sharpener?
If you think your serrated knives don’t need sharpening, then you are wrong. Just like any other knives, your serrated knife will need sharpening too. And for that purpose, you may end up getting an electric sharpener because that’s the best option that you have got. When you are using a manual sharpener there is a lot of energy and effort being put in, but when it comes to an electric sharpener then it might not be the case. The overall feeling of sharpening your serrated knife with technologically advanced sharpeners sounds amazing. And the overall effort is minimal and the results are just brilliant.
Steps and Precautions:
The serrated knives are some of the most used knives when it comes to use. It is the choice of the chefs as well who use this particular knife to make different things specifically sandwiches. Apart from this, you can easily cut different vegetables with the help of this particular type of knife. But there comes a time when you need to make these knives sharp so that the overall work becomes easy for you. This can happen when you are using an electric sharpener because technology is making our lives easy and electric sharpeners are here to do just that for us. Watch the video
There are different electric sharpeners that you can find around which will help you to get a better serrated knife. You can look out for different electric sharpeners that will provide you the best experience that you might have not got yet. The Work Sharp Knife and Tool Sharpener is one of the best electric sharpeners that you will find around which doesn’t require any angle guide. In order to sharpen the serrated knives you need to put the sharpener on a flat surface so that it is stable while operating it. Then you need to place the flat side of the knife on the belt and run the motor to start the sharpening process.
Example:
How to Sharpen Serrated Knives with Chef’s Choice?
The overall sharpening process doesn’t take a lot of time. It is done within minutes and unlike all the other manual work, this one is pretty handy and time saving. Apart from this, there is another electric sharpener called Chef’s Choice Knife Sharpener Model 120 that is all about precision in order to avoid any mishap or wrong angles. This particular knife sharpener makes sure that everything is on pinpoint and there are no angle issues when you are sharpening the knife.
The process to sharpen the knife with this particular sharpener is quite simple and easy as well. All you have to do is to place the sharpener on a firm surface so that there are no chances of the sharpener moving. Then you have to place the knife and turn on the unit in order to sharpen it.
Chef’s Choice Knife Sharpener Model 120
Because if you sharpen your knife a lot through electric sharpeners then you might end up losing serration of your knife. This means that you will be using a simple knife only that is easily available in every household and has no significance. There are different rules that one needs to understand in order to use a sharpener perfectly. One of the most important things that you need to learn before using it is that the sharpening unit needs to be placed on a flat surface only. Watch the video
The power of the sharpener needs to be turned on and you can use warm water to remove any dirt in it. The next step is to analyze what stage your serrated knife is. Because you need to know whether your knife is on the dull stage or the polishing stage or the fine blade. You need to sharpen the knife according to the requirement and your need only. Not more and not less.
You can complete two rounds of the electric sharpener in order to complete the process with the blade running about 4 times. Once you are done with it you can check whether the serrated knife has achieved the sharpness that is needed or not. Everything done and dusted will ensure that your knife is working perfectly fine and that there is no need for anything now. The best thing that you can get from an electric sharpener is that it saves you a lot of time.
While a normal sharpener can take up a lot of time, the electric sharpener can do it in minutes only and you will feel like it is done just so quickly. But the thing to note here is that with an electric sharpener you have to be very careful so that you don’t end up removing a lot of your metal and that the serrated knife becomes a normal knife only.
Sharpening a serrated knife:
While the use and time of an electric sharpener may make it an easy decision for you to go for it, but one has to look at different precautions that you need to take in order to use the electric sharpener. The foremost rule here is that you need to keep your hands dry before you use the sharpener because it is a common rule before using any electric appliances. You also need to ensure that the blades are all clean and there is no damage to them because that will also have an impact as well.;
Method#5
How to Sharpen a Serrated Knife with A Dremel?
There are different tool kits that are available which will help you to sharpen your knife. And just like that, there are different tool kits that will help you to sharpen your serrated knife. One such is the Dremel kit that is focused on high performance and fine-tuning of your knife. The Dremel is a handheld rotary tool that uses different accessories in order to sharpen the knives. This may sound a little different from the normal sharpening method, but it is still the most successful knife that you can get for yourself. The best thing about Dremel is that it can be used on different surfaces like glass, metal, plastic, and others.
REQUIREMENTS:
You will also need help from some Dremel parts in order to make sure that the thing is working properly. This includes vice and aluminum grinding stone. All you need to do is to put the aluminum oxide and put the knife in the vice. Then you can start the Dremel and give a 10-degree angle to get your job done. This may not be the easiest of the ways to do it as you may find other options that are quite easy and get the job done, but despite that, you will always Dremel as your backup plan.
Thus you need to make sure that you have your priorities and know what results you will get once you start using the Dremel for sharpening of your serrated knives.
SAFETY AND PRECAUTIONS about sharpening serrated knives:
Safety is important whenever you are sharpening your knives irrespective of whatever tool that you need. Whenever you are using a Dremel, one thing that you should have for your safety is none other than goggles. Once you have your safety gear ready, you can then take up the overall sharpening process which will mean that you will have to put the aluminum oxide bit in. then you will head up to put the knife in the vise and start the Dremel up. Once all of this is done, you are ready to go and sharpen your knives with the help of your amazing Dremel.
When using the Dremel, there is also an option to use the Buffing feature. Through this, you can buff your knife or in short just clean all the mess of your knife with ease. There are different parts available that come into play when you are planning to buff your knife. So after you are done sharpening, a bit of buffing and cleaning will just be an icing on the cake and towards the end will show that how good your serrated knife is and how well you have managed to clean and sharpen it.
In order to check whether the Dremel sharpening system has worked properly, you can easily cut something in order to see its effectiveness and efficiency. The more you clean and sharpen it, the better results you will get according to your requirement.
Method#6
How to Sharpen a Serrated Electric Fillet Knife?
Over time we have only heard of normal knives or something, but there are electric knives as well. Just like everything over time has evolved drastically, there has been an evolution when it comes to knives as well as they have also evolved over time making everything easy. An electric knife now makes it extremely easy for everyone to get through the cutting process and chop your regular food items. But there is a bit of a problem when it comes to sharpening knives specifically an electric fillet knife.
Everyone gets puzzled on how they can maintain their electric fillet knife and that is a difficult question to answer. There is a thought that electric fillet knives cannot be sharpened and that thought is quite prevalent.
STEPS INVOLVED WITH SHARPENING A KNIFE WITH AN ELECTRIC FILLET KNIFE:
But the thing is that you can easily sharpen your electric fillet knife and end the misconception that an electric fillet knife cannot be sharpened. There are different steps that are involved when it comes to sharpening the electric fillet knife. The first step is to separate the blade so that you can sharpen them individually. Just like other knives, you will need a flat side against each blade and then start pushing pressure. You can shuffle the knives just to be on the safe side. You also need to be sure that you don’t end up harming yourself hence thumb protector is also needed when you are sharpening the electric fillet knife.
Once you have the sharpening rod ready, you can then use it to start the sharpening process and slither the knife blade from top to bottom. However, you will have to ensure that the metal remains consistent throughout. This way you can continue to sharpen the serrated electric fillet knife from both sides according to your needs. The electric fillet knife is designed to fulfill your needs as it makes life easier and helps you in the kitchen as knives are considered to be a cultural tool in your kitchen.
The electric fillet knife is just sharp like the other ones and one has to be extremely careful when they are using it so that they don’t end up hurting themselves or anyone else due to the sharpness of the knife.
Method#7
How to Sharpen a Serrated Knife Without Tools?
While you may need a lot of special tools when you are sharpening a serrated knife, there are options available through which you may not need any special tool in order to sharpen the knife. There are basic commodities that are readily available that can help you to sharpen your knives and they are basic things that can be easily utilized in order to sharpen the serrated knife without tools. One of the things that you can use upfront is to sharpen your knife with a coffee mug.
Yes, you read that right, with a coffee mug. All you have to do is to look for mugs that have space at the bottom, and then make it a flat surface so that you can place the knife on it. You can then place the serrated edges against the rough bottom and move it up down to use it as a sharpening tool.
Apart from this, there are a lot of other things that you can use in order to sharpen your serrated knife without the use of tools. And all these things are easy to find at home because they are readily available. Another thing that can be used to sharpen the knife is none other than the Spidercam Sharpmaker or you can also use other accessories that you may find feasible in order to get your knives sharpened.
Final Verdict
Serrated knives are a need of every household and are found in every kitchen because chefs just love them. Thus it is extremely important that the most used tool in the kitchen is maintained properly and there are no problems with it using it. Thus it is extremely necessary that everyone should have a proper serrated knife so that there are no problems with it and one can easily use the knives without having any problem.
If your knife is properly serrated, then it would also not leave an impact that serrated knives don’t need to be sharpened as this is certainly not the case. Everyone having serrated knives know that they need to sharpen their knives so that they can use it without having any problem.
A sharpened knife ensures that your work gets done quickly and that you are not facing any problem or anything like that. A sharpened knife is something that will make every work easy for you in the kitchen as cutting will become easy and that too without any problem. Hence taking care of your serrated knives is extremely important and you have to ensure that you are using the best serrated knives that are properly sharpened. Because at the end of the day everything will make just your life easier when you are in the kitchen.
Best Automatics and EDC knives are serrated also your kitchen knives, like a bread knife, need sharpening from time to time. Methods of sharpening a serrated knife may require more attention to detail than a plain edge knife, but it’s easy once when you do it carefully. Check the knife consistently until all the burr is gone. When done, your serrated knife is perfectly sharpened and ready to use. And also check the length of the grit ceramic rod according to your need.
So, we have finally discussed our topic which is How To Sharpen a Serrated Knife in Quick and easy steps these are the information All we need to update you, we hope you get a clear understanding about everything in this article, if you want to ask anything please feel free to contact us by commenting down below.
