The picks
Serrations are the most misunderstood feature on a pocket knife. People buy them because they look aggressive, then discover they tear bread and cannot be sharpened on the stone they already own. Other people avoid them entirely and spend years fighting through rope with a plain edge that went dull in the first ten feet.
Both mistakes come from the same gap: nobody explains what serrations are actually for. Every pick on this page is partially serrated, a plain section near the tip and teeth toward the handle, which is the configuration that makes sense for the vast majority of buyers. Eight picks from $28.76 to $95.36, drawn from the serrated folders on our Virginia shelves.
A serrated edge is a series of points with curved gullets between them. When you draw it across something fibrous, the points concentrate all your force on tiny contact areas and break through the surface, then the curved gullets do the cutting with a sawing action rather than a slicing one.
That matters for three specific materials: rope and cordage, woven webbing like seatbelts and pack straps, and thick corrugated cardboard. All three defeat a plain edge quickly, because they are abrasive and they grab. A serrated edge keeps working through them long after a plain edge has stopped biting.
The second advantage is subtler and more useful. The points sit slightly proud, so they protect the cutting surfaces in the gullets from contact with whatever the blade is dragged across. A serrated edge does not stay sharp because the steel is better; it stays sharp because most of the edge never touches the cutting board.
Serrations tear rather than slice. Anything where the quality of the cut matters, food, paper, cloth, anything you want a clean edge on, comes out ragged. They also cannot be used for the controlled push cuts a plain edge does well, and they are useless for whittling or any shaping work.
Sharpening is the other honest cost. A flat stone cannot reach into the gullets, so a serrated section needs a tapered rod that fits the curve, worked one gullet at a time from the side the bevel is ground on. It is not difficult, but it is a different tool and a different technique from the stone most people own, and it is why so many serrated knives end up permanently dull.
This is exactly why every pick here is partially serrated. You get a plain section for clean, controlled cuts and a serrated section for the jobs that eat edges, on one blade, and the plain part sharpens on any stone from our sharpener guide.
Three picks come from the rescue and emergency-services tradition, which is where partial serrations were refined, and they share a recognizable feature set. The Gerber Hinderer CLS at $80.99, named for the Combat Life Saver role, is a 5 1/8 inch closed linerlock with a partially serrated 440A clip point and oversized dual thumb studs sized for gloved hands. 440A holds an edge the least well of its family and resists corrosion the best, which for a knife stored in a kit for months is the right way round.
The Böker Plus Savior 2 at $95.36 is the most complete of them: a 3.38 inch partially serrated Sandvik 12C27 blade plus a belt cutter and a glass breaker. 12C27 is a Sandvik cutlery classic with moderate edge retention and very good corrosion resistance, in the same performance class as 420HC.
The Böker Plus Rescom at $71.96 is the compact specialist, only 2.38 inches closed, with a 2 inch partially serrated D2 guthook blade. A guthook here is a hooked cutting notch designed to catch webbing or a strap and cut it without the point ever touching what is underneath.
Two Kershaws at exactly $51.30 give you the mechanism and the teeth together. The Clash has a 3 inch black-oxide-coated 8Cr13MoV blade on an FRN handle, and the Lateral stretches the same steel to 3.25 inches on glass-filled nylon. Both use SpeedSafe assisted opening, which our assisted-opening guide covers in full. 8Cr13MoV is the ubiquitous value stainless, fair to good on edge holding and forgiving to sharpen.
The Gerber Gator at $57.08 is the outdoorsman's version, a 5 inch closed lockback with a partially serrated clip point and the alligator-hide textured rubber handle the line is named for, in a cordura belt sheath. One note in the interest of accuracy: our catalog lists two different steels for this knife in two different fields, so we are not going to name one. What is not in dispute is the grip, which is among the most secure on this page in a wet hand.
Two Böker Magnums cover the low end. The Stealth Tactical at $28.76 is the least expensive pick and the largest blade of the two, 3.75 inches of partially serrated 440 stainless in a modified spear point, with a glass breaker on an aluminum handle. The Hero at $32.36 runs a 3 inch blade in the same steel family and adds a belt cutter alongside the glass breaker.
Both list their blades as 440 stainless without naming the grade, and the grades in that family differ enough in edge retention that we will not put a figure on it. Excellent corrosion resistance is the one thing consistent across all of them, which suits knives built for a vehicle or an emergency bag.
Since this is the reason serrated knives get abandoned, here is the method. You need a tapered round rod, either a dedicated serration sharpener or the tapered section of a sharpening rod. Match the rod's diameter to a gullet so it sits snugly in the curve.
Work from the beveled side only. Look at the blade edge-on and you will see the serrations are ground on one face and flat on the other. Sharpen the ground face, one gullet at a time, with a few strokes each, and let the rod follow the curve rather than forcing it. Then lay the flat side flat on a stone and make one or two very light passes to remove the burr, and no more, because grinding that face reshapes the teeth.
The plain section sharpens conventionally on any stone. In practice most owners sharpen the plain section every month or two and touch the serrations perhaps twice a year, which is the whole point: the teeth are doing the abrasive work and staying sharp while doing it.
Here is the honest test, and it takes ten seconds. Think about the last twenty things you cut. If more than a handful were rope, webbing, strapping, packing bands or heavy corrugated cardboard, a partially serrated blade will make your life easier and your sharpening less frequent. If they were boxes with tape, food, packaging film and the occasional loose thread, a plain edge does all of that better and this page is not for you.
Certain jobs make the decision for you. Anyone working around boats, horses, climbing gear, cargo straps or emergency response wants teeth available, because the material that has to be cut in a hurry is exactly the material serrations are for. Anyone who prepares food with their pocket knife wants a plain edge.
If you land in the middle, a partially serrated blade is genuinely the right answer rather than a compromise, and that is why this page has no fully serrated picks on it. For plain-edge alternatives, the clip point and drop point guides cover the same price range.
Take the Savior 2 at $95.36 if you want the most complete rescue package here, blade, belt cutter and glass breaker in one tool. Take the Hinderer CLS at $80.99 if gloved-hand operation matters and you want the biggest thumb studs on the page.
Take either Kershaw at $51.30 for the best everyday combination of assisted opening and teeth, the Clash for a shorter blade and the Lateral for a longer one. Take the Gator at $57.08 for the most secure wet grip, the Rescom at $71.96 if you want something tiny with a strap-cutting hook, and the Stealth Tactical at $28.76 or the Hero at $32.36 to keep one in a vehicle without much thought about it.
All eight sit in our Woodlawn, Virginia warehouse and typically leave within a day on the business calendar. Nothing on this page reaches our $149 free-shipping line to the contiguous US alone, so it is worth pairing one with a serration rod if you are close to the threshold.
