Introduction: Wooden Breakfast Knife

About: Just a German student who loves to build very different things from very different materials, especially those that other people have no use for.

This is a hybrid between a butter knife and a bread knife. It is double edged to include both knife characteristics needed to prepare a breakfast bread roll.

Supplies

I used: beechwood, curved ruler, bandsaw, belt sander, rotary tool, files and sandpaper

This project could also be done using just hand tools, but it will take longer since the wood needs to be hard enough to not break easily.

Step 1: Cut Wood to Size

I used the bandsaw to cut a 1,5cm thick slice out of a bigger piece of firewood. If your firewood wobbles on the sawtable, you can use hot glue to attach small spacers on the underside to stabilize it.

Step 2: Outlines

The template was made with a curved ruler, the knife will be about 19cm long and 3cm wide. I sketched it onto the wood and cut it out with the bandsaw.

Step 3: Thinning the Blade

I marked the middle line using my fingers as a guide for the spacing. I sanded the sides so that the knife thins towards the front.

Step 4: Shaping the Handle

With more help from the belt sander, I sanded away all edges at the handle until it was nice to grip.

Step 5: Adding Teeth

First, I beveled the top edge, then the teeth were shaped with a rotary tool and sanding drum bit. I cut half-circles into the edge, then used a larger sanding drum to flatten them toward the blade, creating the typical knife-tooth shape. For the final shaping I used files and sandpaper.

Looking back, I would have made the blade thinner, and the teeth smaller, so the knife cuts smoother.

Step 6: Apply Finish

It is important to use a food safe finish. I used a mixture of beeswax and lindseed oil, because I like the matt shimmering it gives the wood.

Step 7: Test It

Of course, this knife is not meant to cut through bread with a hard crust, but for white bread or something like these milk breadrolls my brother baked it's quite nice!