Zatoba American Black Walnut Bread Lame

This was a great gift for my baker friends - impressively boxed and the tool itself is beautiful. Was greatly appreciated by my baker friend; maybe not something she would have purchased for herself which makes it an extra luxurious gift imho. She loved it, and it works beautifully!

The quality of this looks identical to the lame sold by Williams-Sonoma but for a fraction of the price. The cuts are clean and accurate every single time. I switched to this after years of using a curved lane and will never look back. This makes scoring loaves a million times easier and doesn’t cause dough to drag. The blades it comes with are sharp and easy to install, but you just have to be careful not to cut yourself given that. It was absolutely worth the price for how functional it is and the quality of the product.

At first I thought I can just use a knife to vent my bread but no this is key to making the perfect slits and I love it!!! Totally worth the investment! And it’s absolutely well designed and made w quality materials.

It's my first baker's lame and I bought it because it's made in the USA and handmade, plus it's beautiful. However, I did expect a little better finishing of the wood. There are rough edges where the hole is drilled into the bottom of the handle, which I don't think I can fix unless I sand and re-stain it. I took it all apart and used brass polish on the decorative piece and thumb screws because they were so tarnished, they hardly looked like brass. They did polish up beautifully, though and now look like shiny gold. I must say that the paper label on the box was hard to remove and I finally had to slit it, whereas I first thought I could slide it off. What if I needed to return it? I couldn't put the paper label back on, so I would be stuck. It had some sticker under it which is why it wouldn't slide off and back on again. The instructions are odd and I actually removed the thumb screws completely and then inserted the blade. Kind of an odd angle, but it works and stays in. It fits for storage into the wooden box if you put it on an angle, then you can slide the wooden cover back on, which is nice. I like it for the design and the fact that it's not made in China, but I really expected better finish work from the handsome gentleman in the photo. Still glad I bought it and although it cost four times the price of others of similar design, it was worth it.

Not needed but much appreciated. A combo of my favorite wood, WALNUT, and the ergonomically designed handle for the razor blade to do the lancing of bread crust prior to baking. Great workmanship, finish and retro look with the delicate gold metalwork.

I don't know how I ever slashed bread without this Lame. This lame is simply the best! The hand crafted handle is exquisite, and definitely worth every single penny. If you buy a 100-pack of Dorco Razor Blades to go with, it should last a lifetime! It is a little hard to store with the blade-in, so I stuck a small nail in the wall above my oven for it to hang from which keeps it out of harms way, ready for use at a moments notice, and saves me from having to remove the blade after being used (and great if you are baking multiple loaves of bread in a row). It is also extremely aesthetically pleasing, so having it out in the open at all times is a pleasure. I wasn't sure about having a straight blade as opposed to a curved one, but not anymore.Suggestion: If you really want to extend the life of this wooden lame, rub some mineral oil on the entire thing (same stuff you put on your wooden cutting boards) when it arrives since the wood seemed to be a little dried out when I got it. I would also re-apply every once in a while to keep the wood hydrated and healthy.Tip: if you want an easy, cheap curved blade, you can use a Popsicle stick, and a dorco razor blade (which I now have plenty of). Just put the stick through the middle of the blade on one side, and snap it through the hole on the other side, and voila! Perfectly curved blade (and unlimited refills)!

Beautiful wood! So So design. The cut is marginal. I use a different one.

This is beautiful and makes a very nice score in my sourdough!