Hand Forged Bread Knife, 9 Inch Serrated with Rosewood Handle

A loaf out of the oven that morning has a crust a smooth edge skates over, flattening the crumb before it ever gets in. Teeth answer that. This blade is 9 inches of 1095 high carbon on a rosewood handle, and the edge is scalloped deep so each point starts its own cut. You saw. You do not press. The loaf keeps its shape.

Specification

The blade

1095 high carbon, spine left dark from the forge and the bevel taken up bright. The blade runs straight from heel to tip with no belly at all, because a sawing stroke wants one line and a curve lifts off it. The serrations are scallops, deep and rounded, ground one after another. Each scallop is its own small curved edge, and the points between them bite first. It works back and forth rather than downward. Carbon steel goes grey with use and spots if left wet, and bread knives get left more than most.

The handle

Rosewood is dense and heavy and polishes straight off the sander, which is part of why it turns up on kitchen handles. The tang runs full length under the scales with three brass pins through the lot, so nothing here relies on glue. The handle is 5 inches, a full hand with room over. That matters more on this knife than on others, since a sawing stroke travels further than a chop and your grip shifts a little as the blade goes down.

The leather blade cover

Vegetable tanned leather, hand stitched, cut around this blade's own outline so the teeth do not sit loose inside it. A welt in the seam gives the stitching a channel of its own, away from the teeth. The face is stamped with a basket weave, worked into damp hide. The cover takes the blade only, handle outside it, ready for a drawer, a knife roll or a box going to a job. Nothing on it for a belt.

Who it suits

Most people ordering this own a serrated knife that has gone dull and cannot be fixed.

• Anyone baking their own bread at home
• People slicing tomatoes and soft fruit
• Buyers who want serrations that can be reground
• Anyone tired of squashing a loaf flat

What comes in the box

• The 9 inch bread knife on rosewood
• The stamped basket weave leather blade cover
• A care card
• Sharpening for life at no charge

Every piece is different

Each scallop is ground by hand, so spacing on one blade is not the spacing on the next, and depth wanders down the row. Rosewood swings from red brown to nearly black, and no two sets of scales match. The forged spine darkens where the fire had it. The photograph shows the model, not your knife.

Looking after it

Hand wash it, dry it before it goes down, and wipe food safe mineral oil over it now and then. Crumbs sit inside the scallops, so a brush along the teeth beats a cloth. Wood or plastic boards. A serrated edge is not touched up on a flat stone the way a plain one is, so leave it alone. When it finally dulls, send it back and it gets reground scallop by scallop, free. Our care and sharpening page explains.

Put a name on it

Lettering on the flat is 20 dollars per blade, added before checkout on this page. Around 30 characters fits comfortably. The edge here is scalloped, so the letters go higher toward the spine, and a proof image shows you where before the laser runs. Add 3 to 5 business days. Free once an order reaches 10 blades. The engraving page covers the rest.

Questions buyers ask

Why does a serrated edge suit crust? The points touch first and put the load on a small area, so they bite a hard surface instead of sliding.

How do I sharpen it? Rarely, and not on a flat stone in the usual way. Each scallop is its own edge and wants a round file. Send it to us.

Why is the blade dead straight? A saw stroke runs long and level. A curve would lift part of the edge out of the cut halfway down.

Will it rust? It can. Dry it after washing and keep a film of oil on it. It is never put in a dishwasher.

Does it do anything besides bread? Tomato skin, soft fruit and cake.

How long does shipping take? Most US orders arrive in 5 to 7 business days.

For long smooth work there is the 11 inch Damascus slicing knife on olive wood, and small daily jobs go to the kitchen utility knife on green micarta. It sits with the board knives in kitchen knives, plain steel in 1095 high carbon steel, the full list under every knife we make.