Older-style bread knife?

[DavidPF]

I have an old bread knife I got second hand. I don't see this style being sold now - it does what seems like an OK job to me, but maybe I just don't know what I'm missing. Is this type familiar?

 

[daveb]

If it works for you.....

Looks to flexi for me.

 

[DavidPF]

It hasn't been flexing on me, but I probably haven't tried it on any "challenging" bread since I haven't had it a long time.
(There's a point on the bread spectrum where it causes your teeth to flex in your jaw as well - I tend to just not go there.)

 

[ian]

If it works for you.....

Looks to flexi for me.

What’s your bread knife of choice? I bought and returned a Mac recently... too flexy for my tastes, among other things.

 

[Runner_up]

That looks like a pain if you'd ever want to sharpen it.

I like my tojiro bread knife a lot.

 

[DavidPF]

That looks like a pain if you'd ever want to sharpen it.

I like my tojiro bread knife a lot.

I'm not going to attempt sharpening it; I doubt anyone good would really want to either. I got it for cheap and it's not something I'm attached to.

I was really just wondering if these used to be the usual type (or a usual type) or if they've always been odd.

 

[daveb]

What’s your bread knife of choice? I bought and returned a Mac recently... too flexy for my tastes, among other things.

In order, Gude (both 210 and 320), MAC, Tojiro ITK. I do carry the MAC a lot to catering events cause I can loan it to anyone and it's pretty much bulletproof. (Gude's are too hard to come by to loan)

 

[ian]

In order, Gude (both 210 and 320), MAC, Tojiro ITK. I do carry the MAC a lot to catering events cause I can loan it to anyone and it's pretty much bulletproof. (Gude's are too hard to come by to loan)

Tojiro and Mac have similar flex?

I just started thinking that I should use a gyuto with a 120 grit edge as a bread knife.

 

[daveb]

Mine is the MAC Superior. I don't recall that it has much flex.

My most frequent use of a bread knife while catering is to cut a package of Hawaiian rolls in half laterally (one stroke) then vertically cut the individual rolls. Repeat many times depending on size of event. A "good" knife will stay flat through the lateral cut so they're all cut the same. A flexi will bend up (or down) so by mid package the tops and bottoms get goofy. The MAC will do it with a little care. The Gude will do them all day.

 

[DavidPF]

I do have another (cheap) bread knife, but I don't use it much, because it steers like a drunk who just saw a liquor store.

 

[DavidPF]

What’s your bread knife of choice? I bought and returned a Mac recently... too flexy for my tastes, among other things.

Do you remember which one of their bread knives it was?

 

[ian]

Superior

 

[Ericfg]

That's a Henckels (obviously?) and the 550 model number will date it. I don't know the specifics of that model number range but that particular Friodur line is long extinct. That style of steel and logo makes me think late 60's, and that ......_......_......_..... style serrations moves me to the 70s.

Also, that Zwilling company logo 'button' on the handle wasn't used for too many years. I might give a knuckle off my pinkie finger for a few of those Zwilling 'buttons'.

 

[DavidPF]

That's a Henckels (obviously?) and the 550 model number will date it.

I did successive searches on all the combinations of potentially-useful words and the number 550, but no matter how specific I try to be, those searches seem to catch most Henckels knives in the known universe. I don't have access to any catalogues etc.

 

[DavidPF]

Mine is the MAC Superior. I don't recall that it has much flex.

It sounds like different people have different expectations for what counts as "no flex" in a bread knife. Ian is apparently slicing some very crusty bread, I'm slicing next to nothing (and slowly), and you're somewhere in between.
I picked up the OP knife and tried flexing it between my hands, and you're right it flexes pretty easily. I just haven't noticed that in use.

 

[DavidPF]

That style of steel and logo makes me think late 60's, and that ......_......_......_..... style serrations moves me to the 70s.

I wondered that - my parents got a ......_......_......_..... bread knife in the late 60s or early 70s (not this knife). They were in a small town and definitely not "sophisticated knife shoppers", so I thought this serration pattern would likely be what was on a lot of bread knives of that time.

A few more searches have turned up Henckels knives with the exact same handle and "button", but on a more modern looking blade with wide equal serrations. So either both types were in production together (maybe the wide serrations were said to be for a different purpose), or Henckels switched their bread knife style at some point during those few "button years".

 

[daveb]

The serrations on your knife are usually found on pastry / cake knives. The fine teeth mean less crumbs.

 

[DavidPF]

The serrations on your knife are usually found on pastry / cake knives. The fine teeth mean less crumbs.

Maybe that's what it was meant as. Good point. I wouldn't know a pastry knife if it ... was in my hand.

 

[Ericfg]

... not "sophisticated knife shoppers", so I thought this serration pattern would likely be what was on a lot of bread knives of that time.

A few more searches have turned up Henckels knives with the exact same handle and "button", but on a more modern looking blade with wide equal serrations. So either both types were in production together (maybe the wide serrations were said to be for a different purpose), or Henckels switched their bread knife style at some point during those few "button years".

Henckels was pumping out knives right and left during that time (and before that, and after) so I'm sure they produced multiple styles of bread knife profiles regularly. I've got a Henx catalog from the early 90s and they have at least 5 different bread knives in it.