A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!
Guidelines:
Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!
Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.
Videos links are not allowed as post titles, but you may use them in a text post.
A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:
I guess pretty much any bread knife is a bifl one, but in the twenty odd years i've had this, i keep thinking to myself that this knife is awesome basically any time i use it. That's why i want to recommend it. When I bought it it was quite cheap too, does not seem to be the case anymore. Is a Victorinox 5.2930.26
I found a nice bread knife in a "free box" on the side of the road about 15 years ago. I still use it all the time. Works great.
This person eats toast with a murder weapon
Don't bring toast to a bread discussion smh my head
That bread looks fucking delicious. What kind of bread is it?
It is delicious, it's a 100% wholegrain rye bread from a very good bakery.
Damn, that's 100% rye? It holds up really well, impressive gluten structure for a rye bread.
I really really hate to admit it, but the Germans can bread.
I always asked myself how you’d sharpen these things, but I guess maybe you don’t need to.
Scalloped edges are done with a file, twice for each scallop - leading and trailing edges separately.
Fortunately, bread knives are typically only sharpened on one side, and don't dull very quickly.
Which is also why most slices end up as wedges if your aren’t paying attention.
For some reason, unclear even to myself, I have a serious dislike for Victorinox.
There are a few of those in the kitchen (didn't bought a single one) and I can't feel comfortable using it; it's as if it doesn't quite fit into my hand properly.
But if it that knife does the job for you, good!
The bread on the background, is it homemade or store bought? Looks nice.
I remember being a bit turned off when they recommended it to me in the shop, because of it being a Victorinox, but they told me it's the standard bread knife for all the restaurants etc, so i thought why not, it was also only around 20€ or something. I bought it for my parents too, they somehow lost their old bread knife (how can you lose a bread knife?), they also like it a lot.
The bread is from a bakery.
The ones with the Fibrox handles I find very uncomfortable, they do not fit my hand at all. Not so much of an issue with a bread knife, but I really don't like sharpening their blend of steel.
I was once told their knives are not supposed to be sharpened. Or at least at a home setting. I was in a store, so I automatically take every word told to me with an extra grain of salt.
Never done it, but sharpening a serrated blade is not an easy task. Most will just wear down such a blade until rendered unusable and discard it afterwards.
I meant their regular knives, not serrated ones. I sharpen all my knives and straight razors as well. I find Victorinox difficult.
Serrated bread knives are usually only sharpened on one side, the other side is flat. You can do what is called 'back sharpening' where you lightly sharpen the flat side.
In any case when someone wants an inexpensive knife recommendation I say the Thai Zebra brand, much cheaper and better quality.
i know many ppl like to use fancy diamond sharpeners. but for all my kitchen knives i use the same stone sharpening tool. you know, the one that looks like a lense (another buy for life btw). with a bit of exercise you get really quick at sharpening anything to a razors edge. my victorinox paring knifes also comply with that tool very well - might be worth a try.
maybe just don't use your 10'000$ japanese chefs knife on the stone ;-) anything else 'good quality but affordable' i have a great experience.
I don't know what kind of sharpener you are talking about. I use regular whetstones. I have some diamond stones that were a gift, they only get used on cold chisels and knives from the flea market to re profile them.
I had a partner who loved Victorinox, we are not together any longer so I don't have to sharpen them. As I said, they are uncomfortable in my hands, and I find the steel sub par. A Zebra is usually 1/4 the price and better quality.
not mine, but a you get the idea. i prefer natural stone. when you have the movement in muscle memory, you are really fast - and you don't need to keep track of strokes per side.
looks like you have a setup, which you like already. so just disregard this comment 😉
Interesting, I have never seen those before. Thanks
I understood you were referring to regular blades.
My respect for caring for your knives as you do. It's something I find challenging, to say the least.
I have to look up for those Thai Zebra. Never heard of it before. I usually buy domestic knives (IVO); we still have a few good manufacturers but I don't know if they export enough to be widespread.
Zebra brand can often be found in Asian markets.
I am unfamiliar with IVO, they look similar, though I could not find what type of steel they use.
No stain x55 CR Mo V14
Have that information stamped on a blade.
That should sharpen quite easily. It is towards the softer side of stainless (inox) steels, I very much like them. They are easy to work with, durable, don't discolor vegetables.
I'll have that information in mind the next time I try to sharpen the knives. Last time I tried, I think I made the blades even more blunt then it already were.
Very nice looking knife.
Mostly I use a regular kitchen knife (ie non serrated) for bread too, just have to keep it very sharp. It's carbon steel so it's easy to hone and strop.
I just saw this post over at Mastodon, and it seems to be a solid reminder why Victorinox deserves to be represented in this community:
A few weeks ago, I sent my 1985 Swiss Army Knife back to Victorinox for a broken blade replacement.
It came back today, fully repaired, cleaned, polished, lubricated and in a new box.
Total cost: £10 + return postage.
They sent the knife back with an invoice. I didn't have to pay a penny before the job was done.
A product that's been out of production for almost 40 years, repaired at very little cost by the original manufacturer.
I'm stunned. Happy, impressed, grateful and stunned.
— @woodpunk@mastodon.online
I've only had my Swiss army knife for around half a decade, but I can confirm that they are still amazing.
Thanks, I've been looking for a new bread knife!
Now I just have to persuade me other half that €45 is a reasonable price lol
they have been making these knives for so long that you can probably find it second hand (pawn shop? thrift store?) for a couple of … your local money units
French person advice : idk how widespread they are internationally, but Nogent*** (also called "Nogent trois étoiles") has a good one for half the price. My dad has been using one since before I was born, and the guy literally can't live without bread.
Ah, devinez où j'habite lol 😂
Incroyable ! Je ne m'attendais certainement pas à ce qu'un anglais soit installé là-bas, parce que si je me souviens bien, économiquement c'est une des pires régions du pays. Mais la nature y est magnifique.
Je sortirai demain pour acheter un couteau à pain et je l'utiliserai pour vous poignarder si vous appelez encore cet Écossais un Anglais 😂
Mais merci pour la recommandation, toi le Belge
Hahaha sorry about that, the .uk domain threw me off. For what it's worth I like the Scottish accent more than the British one 😅
I got an opinel one for 30€, it's a another great bifl brand.
https://www.opinel.com/en/kitchen-knives/bread
Nice. My pocket knives are Opinel, love those too.
It's spelled "knife."
Holy shit. I should know. What did i do, haha. But it is knives, right?
Yes it is. One knife, two knives. (Red knife, blue knife :)
I have the same, a little over 8 years now. Always happy. Reminds me I should oil the handle soon.
Haha, yeah I guess me too.
How do you even break a bread knife?
I don't know, maybe by crudely cutting some real old bread, haha.
But yeah, that's why i said that probably any bread knife is a bifl item, just this knife is hands down the best bread knife i have ever used, so i thought i'd recommend it.
I make my own bread. A good bread knife is worth it. I also have an electric one that's a couple decades old with a bread maker another couple of decades old.
In your experience, is making your own bread cheaper than just buying bread? Or do you do it for the love of making your own bread?
I like the idea of it, but if it ends up being more expensive anyway, I don't really wanna do it. It's just so easy to buy a loaf of bread at the store.
But I also like the idea of making some tasty bread and mixing in some protein powder so I could have protein bread. lol
It is likely to be similar or somewhat lower price, give or take, but it will take you some effort and time to make (think at least 2 hours for a regular single-stage yeast bread, longer for sourdough)
If you want to save on your groceries, this probably isn't the optimal way unless bread is heavily overpriced in your area.
Also, mixing in proteins might necessitate changes in recipe/process depending on what you add - just a heads up if you're gonna do it anyway :)
In terms of ingredients it's super cheap. I make sourdough, so it's just the cost of flour and salt. Back of envelope math tells me the electricity is probably less than C$1 even if I preheat a stone for an hour and bake a single loaf.
It takes enough time that it all depends on how you value your time. It's probably something like 30m of work spread out over a couple of days in a bunch of steps. I find it (mostly) relaxing, and it fits into my routine, so I don't really worry about the time. If I wanted to save time that badly I could drink instant coffee, get rid of all my houseplants, etc.
Good to know. I may have to revisit this idea.
I bought one of these for half price, so about €90, a year or so ago. It just fucking cuts. I've never known anything like it and I still get comments on it all the time. https://www.deksels.amsterdam/en/wusthof-epicure-slate-bread-knife-23cm.html
I've got a Victorinox bread knife at home as well but it's one of the more basic-looking ones with a plastic handle. Still a good knife!
