Bread knife design

[weo]

I’m with [COLOR=#cc33cc] L [/COLOR] Londinium Armoury on this one. I’ll take a thin sharp knife snd it works perfectly

Thanks for the input. I may have to play around with using a non-serrated blade for bread for a little based on all the comments.
I will question the "perfectly" description however. The top picture looks good, but you are at the end of the loaf where the crust will provide more support to the loaf preventing crushing. The bottom picture looks like the ct was in the middle of the loaf, and one can see that the loaf was crushed a bit during slicing, as evidenced by the not straight cut, which is where serrations would have helped. If thin, even slices are what one is going for, that is....

Thanks for the response, Pinoy Knife . I might have to play with that.

 

[Cushing H.]

I don’t know … with crusty French bread, I find a serrated knife works much better. I’ve tried a non serrated blade (yes, sharp) and it just does not produce as clean a slice, creating more “shards” or crust, and tending to also crush the loaf.

Of course, one could always use a chainsaw… I bet that
, with. Light pressure applied, would go right through the loaf without crushing it at all …

 

[weo]

I don’t know … with crusty French bread, I find a serrated knife works much better.

I will add, that a day or so after the bread is out of the oven, a sharp, non-serrated blade will cut fine as mentioned by H HSC /// and others above.
I think this is because the moisture that's in the inside of the loaf (as evidenced by steam if you cut the bread while really warm) gets into the initially dry, hard crust.

 

[Natlek]

I don’t know … with crusty French bread, I find a serrated knife works much better. I’ve tried a non serrated blade (yes, sharp) and it just does not produce as clean a slice, creating more “shards” or crust, and tending to also crush the loaf.

Of course, one could always use a chainsaw… I bet that
, with. Light pressure applied, would go right through the loaf without crushing it at all …

Depends on what you think is sharp knife........ Edge sharpened with 3000 grit can be scary sharp and will split hair in two but will not slice well .Edge sharpened on 240-400 grit will bite you if you just look in it and will easy cut that bread in same motion as you cut with serrated edge...........

 

[USMCPOP]

Ummm … I don’t think they DID slice their bread … rather just tore off pieces. Hence the expression “the best thing since sliced bread”

I like to tear off pieces. Seems to taste better. Or maybe it's because I don't wash my hands after being in the garden and it adds an earthy smell.

 

[mooniesdl3]

I don’t know … with crusty French bread, I find a serrated knife works much better. I’ve tried a non serrated blade (yes, sharp) and it just does not produce as clean a slice, creating more “shards” or crust, and tending to also crush the loaf.

Of course, one could always use a chainsaw… I bet that
, with. Light pressure applied, would go right through the loaf without crushing it at all …

You would be VERY shocked to discover what the chainsaw was originally designed to cut... It wasn't wood...

 

[Cushing H.]

I will add, that a day or so after the bread is out of the oven, a sharp, non-serrated blade will cut fine as mentioned by H HSC /// and others above.
I think this is because the moisture that's in the inside of the loaf (as evidenced by steam if you cut the bread while really warm) gets into the initially dry, hard crust.

Agreed. But, as Stacy noted in an earlier thread, with French bread, the crust IS the thing, and very few things better than French bread right out of the oven

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Just a note about the phrase "The best thing since sliced bread". Before 1912, you had to slice your bread by hand. Most folks cut it very thick to keep it from falling apart, which meant fewer slices per loaf. Also, fresh bread would get crushed by slicing with dull knives. Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the bread slicing machine in 1912. It was a multiple bandsaw device that could cut slices in any preset size. This revolutionized the bread market and lead to larger bakeries mass producing sliced bread. After that anything that was a revolutionary change was referred to as "The best thing since sliced bread"

 

[HSC ///]

I will add, that a day or so after the bread is out of the oven, a sharp, non-serrated blade will cut fine as mentioned by H HSC /// and others above.
I think this is because the moisture that's in the inside of the loaf (as evidenced by steam if you cut the bread while really warm) gets into the initially dry, hard crust.

I’m in Gruissan France. Traveling from north of Paris so eating at restaurants through the road trip. Eating out much more than normal. We left Carcassone this morning. Headed to argeles sur mer area.

Anyway, I paid attention to the bread cutting in the restaurants. They all use serrated bread knives. They have to. They need bread cut quickly. They are not Knife connoisseurs or into sharpening.

anyway I still maintain that a thin sharp knife cuts bread just fine. But I can understand the need for a serrated knife.

I just took this pic at comme a la maison where I enjoyed the lamb Tian.

 

[Richard338]

I’m in Gruissan France. Traveling from north of Paris so eating at restaurants through the road trip. Eating out much more than normal. We left Carcassone this morning. Headed to argeles sur mer area.

Anyway, I paid attention to the bread cutting in the restaurants. They all use serrated bread knives. They have to. They need bread cut quickly. They are not Knife connoisseurs or into sharpening.

anyway I still maintain that a thin sharp knife cuts bread just fine. But I can understand the need for a serrated knife.

I just took this pic at comme a la maison where I enjoyed the lamb Tian.

I've been hesitating to accept an invitation to France in November, but you might have just tipped it. Yes, I think this trip could be very important for "work"...

 

[HSC ///]

I've been hesitating to accept an invitation to France in November, but you might have just tipped it. Yes, I think this trip could be very important for "work"...

I’ve been here since early May

 

[Lorien]

I’m in Gruissan France. Traveling from north of Paris so eating at restaurants through the road trip. Eating out much more than normal. We left Carcassone this morning. Headed to argeles sur mer area.

Anyway, I paid attention to the bread cutting in the restaurants. They all use serrated bread knives. They have to. They need bread cut quickly. They are not Knife connoisseurs or into sharpening.

anyway I still maintain that a thin sharp knife cuts bread just fine. But I can understand the need for a serrated knife.

I just took this pic at comme a la maison where I enjoyed the lamb Tian.

finished up a chef prototype a little while ago and it's currently with the local butcher for a little hands on feedback from someone who knows a small amount about knives and a lot about cutting food with them. His two most used knives are almost identical to what you've taken a photo of.

It's funny, I've had some feedback from a few armchair critics questioning this detail and that detail- aspects of the knife I've already gone over with a fine tooth comb- but meanwhile, someone who REALLY knows how to use the knife for the things it was designed to do is probably still going to prefer the production knife for work.

Besides, when you get really good at something, whatever it is that you use for that thing, (within reason) is going to work because you know what you're doing. If that kind of person has no feedback, other than it works or doesn't, it's because they didn't notice anything. I feel like a successful knife design should end with a knife that ends up being largely invisible- there is nothing you should notice, other than whether or not the knife works.

Knives aren't rocket science, there are very few unknowns generally speaking, for anyone who wants to learn. But we do enjoy elevating them regardless, and I think that's cool and a big reason I'm into it. I want to make stuff that works better than the mass produced tools, but I think I will instead content myself with the pursuit of making stuff that feels better. Maybe looks better, too.

 

[imill3567]

I always thought a sharp knife worked fine for bread until I started baking crusty bread with soft interior and now definitely see the advantage of a serrated bread knife.