Willow Forge Sakimaru Bread Knife Review: A Bespoke 260mm Sourdough Slicer

Introduction

Some knives are bought off a shelf. This one was commissioned. The Willow Forge Sakimaru bread knife is a fully bespoke 260mm serrated knife built by Neil of Willow Forge in the UK, made to a specific set of requests rather than pulled from a catalog. It is the kind of purchase that only makes sense for a very particular kind of buyer, and this review looks at exactly who that buyer is and whether the idea holds up.

Why a Bespoke Bread Knife

A bespoke knife is a custom order made for a specific client, which usually means paying a bit more to get something tailored as closely as possible to what you actually want. In this case, the driving need was simple: oversized sourdough loaves. A 200mm Sabatier bread knife with an olive wood handle had handled most bread duties well, but once larger, wider loaves entered the picture, it could no longer complete a single straight slice without poking at the crust in several places.

The old Sabatier was chosen for good reasons: sleek lines, an attractive olive wood handle, and a French pedigree that suits bread, cheese, and wine. But the loaf outgrew the blade. The fix was not a different off-the-shelf knife. It was a longer blade in a specific style, built to order.

Packaging and Unboxing Experience

Before the knife itself, the packaging deserves attention. The knife arrived in an enormous outer box, inside which sat a sturdy tube packed with multiple layers of protection: recyclable grey and brown paper, gift-style wrapping paper, and a generous amount of bubble wrap.

The extras are what elevate the experience. The blade was wrapped in a tea towel, and the package included a small tin of handle wax to keep the wood in good condition for as long as possible, plus a handwritten note. If you are ordering from Willow Forge, the knife clearly arrives in good hands.

Blade and Steel: The Coffee-Etched V-Toku 2 Core

The specs read like a custom-build sheet because that is exactly what they are: a 260mm Sakimaru profile, which means a reverse k-tip, with a V-Toku 2 core from Takefu etched in coffee so the high-carbon core renders near black. The core is clad in stainless steel with copper layers, in a gosai-style lamination, finished with a two-way satin brush.

That satin finish was a deliberate choice. Because the laminated cladding is the visual star of the blade, a brushed finish keeps it from competing with the coffee-etched dark edge. For the steel-curious, V-Toku 2 is a high-carbon core steel, which is why it takes such a deep, dark etch. Since the blade will only ever cut bread, with no acidic foods to wear the etch away, that dark finish should hold for a very long time.

Handle and Fit

The handle is stabilized black palm with a collar of the same wood, four copper spacers that reduce in height as they approach the blade, and a main handle of figured curly Macassar ebony. It is a striking combination, and in hand the knife feels massive. The balance point sits slightly forward, though for a bread knife held by the handle that matters far less than it would on a chef knife.

Things to Consider Before Buying

This is an expensive, made-to-order knife, and a wait of several months is part of the deal. It is also a knife with a very narrow job: cutting bread. The coffee-etched high-carbon core is best kept away from acidic foods to preserve the finish, which is one more reason the maker’s advice and the owner’s plan both point to bread-only use. If your loaves fit a 200mm blade just fine, a bespoke 260mm commission is hard to justify. If they do not, nothing off the shelf quite replaces it.

Buying Advice

For anyone considering a commission like this, the process matters as much as the product. Being asked about finish preferences, from kurouchi to tsuchime to satin to migaki, and being able to specify length, profile, and cladding is what the bespoke premium buys you. A maker with a fine arts background also shows in the design language: the result looks more considered and more unique than most production knives.

For large sourdough loaves, 260mm of serrated edge is genuinely transformative: one smooth stroke instead of several tentative pokes. The knife serves a single purpose, and it was built precisely for that purpose.

Conclusion

The Willow Forge Sakimaru bread knife is not a practical purchase in the ordinary sense. It is a personal one: a knife designed to its owner’s specification, built by a maker who packages it like something he cares about, and shaped around a real kitchen problem that standard knives could not solve. For serious bread bakers with big loaves and an appreciation for custom craft, it is a compelling, if indulgent, piece of kit.