I have this Japanese Tojiro bread knife:

www.amazon.com/dp/B001TPA816/r..._api_i_65zYDb7HGP6Z8

It’s very sharp, and less prone to scattering crumbs than my old Chicago Cutlery bread knife – perhaps because its serrations are more finely pitched.

Tojiro also offers this considerably more expensive bread knife:

www.amazon.com/dp/B004LVIO3O/r..._api_i_k8zYDbD7256QF

But I’m thinking that my knife is the better of the two. Why? Because its blade is narrower. Part of the drag when cutting bread comes from the knife edge of course. But additional drag comes from the friction of the blade surface against the bread, and a narrower blade has less surface. Comments?

BTW – I also prefer the less pointy end of my knife.

Gud cut bread make gud sammich. Me hungry

My favorite knife for bread and many, many other things has been this one for 20+ years now:

Victorinox Fibrox:

I've got one that came with Henckel set 20 years ago. Every time I'm tempted to replace I touch up the edge and it's good to go again!

It is pretty thin. I can't find the one that I'd see reviewed a few years ago and had saved to my wishlist. I looked a lot like the Vict. above tho, in profile and width.

I have a couple of Henckels kitchen knives that are magically thin. One was made 35 years ago, assuredly before automation made products more uniform. It is thinner than other knives I've seen of the same model, and is also more delicate. It is the most used knife in a rack of choices, much due to the way the thin blade glides through cuts.

I'm in agreement that thin blades cut better.

An observation about bread knives, they often are single ground or ground only on one side to create the edge. This is a less expensive way to form a cutting edge, but makes the knife tend to slice at an angle instead of straight through bread.

I don’t know much about Tojiro bread knives. But their other knives are awesome for the price. The DP Series is really good. I get them at chefknivestogo.com

Here is the best bread knife ever for good homemade Italian bread. Sharpe, thin blade and offset, so you don't hit your knuckles

https://www.cutleryandmore.com...t-bread-knife-p18600

https://www.guede-messer.com/g...messer-32cm/a-32080/

It‘s what men cut their bread with.
12.5 inch blade length

Theoretically, how broad the knife is has little to do with friction. The actual friction comes from the bevel as it’s spreading the bread apart after the cutting edge.

I would think you want a thin knife (to minimize the spreading. A narrow bevel to minimize the friction and a rounded bevel rather than a flat bevel. All other things being the same of course including the sharpness of the cutting edge.

Mine is the Wusthof Gourmet Crust Buster Model 4517-26 which is a standard at Culinary schools in the US.

quote:

Originally posted by chessiedog1:
Here is the best bread knife ever for good homemade Italian bread. Sharpe, thin blade and offset, so you don't hit your knuckles

https://www.cutleryandmore.com...t-bread-knife-p18600

I kind of like the offset blade. OTOH, I always cut bread on a fairly thick cutting board, so the handle of my knife is above my counter even though its blade isn’t offset. Also, I see no reason for a sharp point on a bread knife.

I have a Wusthoff Classic bread knife and it is sharper than hell and works great. It's the only knife I cut myself with and MAN did it hurt and I didn't even feel it until after the fact.

I use a Zwilling Henckels, similar in blade profile to the first Tojiro shown above. My wife will not use it, she's scared of it. I love it, nice clean cuts, even on soft bread without crushing it or creating a bunch of crumbs.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
My favorite knife for bread and many, many other things has been this one for 20+ years now:

Victorinox Fibrox:

Same here. A professional chef recommended it a long time ago when I was looking at some pricier offerings and I’m glad I took his advice.

Well, heck! I still use my 40+ year old Chicago Cutlery (like Pine Smoker mentioned in the OP) and it is sharp, cuts bread without making a mess and I am pretty sure it was a lot cheaper than the knives you guys are using.

Serrated blade cuts are always, IME, more painful than a regular blade, Jimmy. I expect it's the serrations that tear or cut more than a regular blade.

Bob

Like straightshooter I have had a Chicago bread knife for about 35 years. Any suggestions how to sharpen it? Seems the Princess misused it to cut something else.

quote:

Originally posted by P210:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
My favorite knife for bread and many, many other things has been this one for 20+ years now:

Victorinox Fibrox:

Same here. A professional chef recommended it a long time ago when I was looking at some pricier offerings and I’m glad I took his advice.

I have the same but with the offset handle....it works better IMHO

https://www.amazon.com/Victori...id=1573566349&sr=8-8

quote:

Originally posted by bushpilot:
Like straightshooter I have had a Chicago bread knife for about 35 years. Any suggestions how to sharpen it? Seems the Princess misused it to cut something else.

I use my sharpening sticks to sharpen the individual serrations like you wold for a spyderco

quote:

Originally posted by P210:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
My favorite knife for bread and many, many other things has been this one for 20+ years now:

Victorinox Fibrox:

Same here. A professional chef recommended it a long time ago when I was looking at some pricier offerings and I’m glad I took his advice.

Me too. Extremely versatile beyond bread as well. It was $22 on Amazon 10 years ago.
Amazon

quote:

Originally posted by bushpilot:
Like straightshooter I have had a Chicago bread knife for about 35 years. Any suggestions how to sharpen it? Seems the Princess misused it to cut something else.

Sorry for your misfortune! If my Tojiro had suffered that, I don’t think that I’d be able to restore it to a sharp-as-new condition.

I don’t think that bread will dull a properly-used bread knife in any reasonable time period. It can be dulled if you let its serrated edge touch the cutting board, but I don’t let that happen. After cutting most of the way through a loaf of bread, I use only the non-serrated end of the knife to complete the cut. I never let the serrated portion of the knife edge touch the cutting board.