Can You Sharpen Serrated Knives?

Yes. Serrated knives can be sharpened, and if you use one regularly, it's worth doing. The process is different from sharpening a straight-edge knife, and the tools are different too, but the result is similar: a knife that cuts the way it's intended to cut.

Here's what's actually happening when a serrated knife goes dull, what sharpening involves, and when it makes sense to do it yourself versus sending it out.

Why Serrated Knives Dull Differently

A straight-edge knife has one continuous bevel that makes contact with food. A serrated knife has a series of individual points and/or curved scallops between them. The points do most of the initial cutting work, and the scallops follow through. Because the contact is distributed across many small peaks rather than one continuous edge, serrated knives tend to stay usable longer than straight-edge knives before sharpening is needed. But they can also really slice up a cutting board.

When a serrated knife does go dull, it's usually the individual points that have rounded off, and the inner curves (called gullets) that have lost their edge. The knife starts tearing rather than slicing, requires more pressure, and leaves a ragged cut instead of a clean one. That's the sign it needs sharpening, not just honing.

How Serrated Knives Are Sharpened

A flat whetstone won't necessarily work on a serrated blade the way it works on a straight-edge knife, because the flat stone won't reach into the gullets. Sharpening a serrated knife requires a tapered or round rod or wheel, sized to match the diameter of the serrations.

The process, done by hand, works like this: you work each gullet individually, placing the rod or wheel into the curve and making consistent strokes at the angle of the bevel. Most single-sided serrated knives (like a typical bread knife) are only beveled on one side, which simplifies the angle work. Once each gullet has been sharpened, you remove the burr (the little curl of metal that forms from removing metal from the otherside) from the back side of the blade with a few light passes on a deburring tool of your choice.

It's time-consuming but once you understand the geometry and the process it's achievable. The main variable is matching the rod diameter to the size of the gullets. Too large and it won't reach the edge; too small and it won't contact the bevel properly.

What You Can't Sharpen at Home

Most single-sided serrated knives, including bread knives, steak knives, and tomato knives, can be tuned up with a rod at home by pushing the bent portions of the serrations back straight. A few types are more difficult:

Double-sided serrated blades have serrations ground on both sides and are significantly harder to sharpen by hand. Many sharpeners won't touch them.

Knives with worn and/or rounded serrated points where the points have flattened significantly may need re-serration before sharpening. Re-serration means recreating the individual gullets, which requires professional equipment.

Very fine serrations found on some utility knives and fillet knives can be tricky to match exactly with a standard rod. However, skilled sharpeners can often get very close and craft a sharper edge in the process. Diamond-coated tapered rods are usually the right tool for these.

When to Sharpen vs. When to Replace

A serrated knife that's gone dull is worth sharpening if the blade is still in good shape. The geometry of a serrated edge is durable, and a good bread knife or steak knife can last decades with occasional sharpening.

If the tips of the serrations have worn completely flat from heavy use or improper sharpening (usually via pull-through), the economics can change. At that point you're looking at re-serration, which can cost more than a standard sharpening. For an inexpensive steak knife, replacement may make more sense.  For a quality bread knife you've had for years, re-serration is usually worth it. In both cases, keeping them out of the landfill and in working condition is nearly always achievable.

Sharpening at Home vs. Sending It Out

Home sharpening with a tapered rod is a reasonable option for a bread knife you use everyday and want to maintain yourself. It takes practice to find the right rod diameter and maintain a consistent angle across each gullet, but once you have it, the process is straightforward.

Sending it out makes sense when the knife is valuable, when the serrations are worn significantly, or when you'd rather not buy a set of tapered rods for a knife you sharpen once a year. Or, you'd like to have a pro who practices this kind of thing assist you. 

Vivront sharpens serrated knives as part of the standard mail-in kit as well as our local service. Pack your serrated knives alongside any straight-edge knives in the same kit, and we'll sharpen everything together. The mail-in sharpening kit includes pre-paid packaging and return postage.

A note on what some services won't do: Shun's free lifetime sharpening program hones serrated knives but does not sharpen them. If you have a Shun bread knife that has genuinely gone dull, their program won't restore it. That's true of several manufacturer programs. If you need serrated knives actually sharpened rather than honed, confirm that with whoever you're sending them to.

Related: How to sharpen kitchen knives · Shun lifetime sharpening: what it covers and what it doesn't · Mail-in knife sharpening kit