Yaxell Hana 9" Bread Knife

I thought all bread knives were about the same so I never gave them much thought. I assumed that paying good money for one would get you a nicer knife that sawed through bread just like all the other ones I've had over the years from basic knife block sets. I bought this knife as part of a set of japanese knives I'm putting together, and I didn't expect much of an improvement other than the look and feel of it. First impression was that it was an attractive knife, the finish is nicer looking than in the pictures, and it felt good in my hand. I cut through a big loaf of crusty sourdough and thought there was something wrong with the bread at first.. I've never seen anything like it. It sliced through easily, and the last cut was a tip drag through the last inch or so with no teeth digging in to my cutting board. Just enough flat blade at the tip..There were no crumbs, there was not a single fiber of the bread disturbed. My mind was blown. So I went and got a couple big fluffy bakery croissants to really test it. Wow. Scary good. I'll try to upload pics to show how impressive the performance of this knife is, paper thin croissant slices perfectly intact, and almost no crumbs. This knife completely changed everything I thought I knew about bread knives, and my old one is in the donations pile. 5 stars for looks, 20 stars for performance. Maybe there are even better bread knives, but I can't imagine them doing anything this one can't. I tried to find a test it would fail, but it…

Beautiful handle, great finish on the knife. It’s mostly comfortable in slicing. The whole knife is also certainly light. But you will still get wrist fatigue from very little knuckle clearance. Also the teeth are very shallow. It cuts pretty well but it still makes crumbs and you do have to try to hold your hand off the board for better clearance. Ok value but needs some work in comfort or sharpness to be a great value