Our Nana passed, and we found this in her kitchen. It appears to be well used. That is an ordinary razor blade it is holding. The screw forces the blade into a curve.
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1 Answer
This appears to be a bread lame - a tool used to score the top of bread (mostly, but not entirely, for aesthetic reasons).
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19It's not mostly aesthetic, cutting the top of the loaf before baking helps it to expand in the oven, without the slash bread can remain tight. Condolences @Bookaholic!– GdDCommented Aug 2, 2021 at 14:16
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13… or you get blowouts. Scoring controls the expansion of the loaf. That it can be done more or less artistically, is secondary. (But it looks super impressive if done well!)– Stephie ♦Commented Aug 2, 2021 at 14:59
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5What does this do that an ordinary knife doesn't? I understand the reason for cutting the top of the loaf, but not sure why a specialized tool is needed when any old knife would work just as well? Commented Aug 3, 2021 at 18:08
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13@DarrelHoffman It's sharper, and easy to keep it sharp by replacing the blade. Many kitchen knives are not particularly sharp, or at least don't stay sharp long, so they tend to drag the surface of the dough instead of scoring it cleanly. Note that the tool is for scoring raw dough, not baked bread.– VaelusCommented Aug 3, 2021 at 18:30
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5Maybe worth noting that lame is a French word meaning 'blade' and is pronounced 'lahm' to rhyme with palm, psalm, etc, as it says here Commented Aug 4, 2021 at 11:12