"Smooth and serrated blades cut in two entirely different fashions."
- The Teeth of the Tyrannosaurs, Scientific American, Sep 1999
As opposed to what one might think, one cannot really compare plain edges to serrated, as they're meant for different jobs.
I used to think a partially serrated edge was quite useful, but over the years I've come to change my opinion. Much of the time, a really sharp plain edge can do just as good a job, because there aren't a whole lot of things serrations does better and it's quite often useful having a longer plain edge.
And the times I find serrations useful, I've noticed I'd rather have them near the tip, both because that's where I want them when slashing and because on a combination edge I'd like the plain part near the handle for push cutting. (I actually had a conversion with a maker once where he considered following my suggestion and put the serrations on the 30% near the tip, but nothing became the result of that.)
So my recommendation for someone who isn't certain what to get is to go for the plain edge. If you notice you need serrations often, get another knife which has a 100% serrated edge for those, probably few, situations.
Document created 2000 Aug 02, content reviewed 2002 Feb 11, by