About a dozen loaves per blade.
Three years of use, one box
Equipment review
Double-edge razor blades
Derby · double-edge blades · pack of 100 · individually wrapped
By Steven · Updated September 2026
There is no such thing as a special baker's razor blade.
Buy the shaving blades, not the baking ones. They are the same blades, and a hundred of them costs a fraction of what a small pack costs once it has been repackaged for bakers. Flour the loaf before you score it and the cut will be clean.
BakeClass Snapshot
- Cost
- Budget
- Longevity
- Replaceable
- Learning curve
- Takes practice
- Best for
- Anyone who wants their loaf to open where intended
Buy the shaving blades, not the baking ones. They are the same blades.
Do I actually need one?
Yes.You need something genuinely sharp to score with, and a kitchen knife is not it - or at least mine weren't. Scoring is a single clean cut through the skin of a proven loaf. A knife blade is thick enough to drag the dough rather than part it, which tears the surface and deflates what you have spent hours building. A razor blade cuts before the dough knows it has been touched. You do not need to buy a blade from a baking brand, a razor blade is a razor blade.
What it does, and why this one
Cuts the surface of the loaf just before it goes in the oven, giving the expanding dough a controlled place to open. Without it the loaf bursts along whatever seam is weakest, usually somewhere untidy around the side.
It is the same blade the baking world sells at a considerable markup, bought the way shavers buy it. A hundred double-edge blades cost very little, they fit every lame holder on the market, and they come individually wrapped in a card box with no plastic. There is no such thing as a special baker's razor blade.
Pros and cons
What works
- A hundred blades is effectively a lifetime supply for a home baker
- Individually wrapped, so the box stays tidy and safe
- Fits any standard double-edge lame holder
- Genuinely sharp out of the wrapper
What does not
- Loose razor blades in a kitchen need storing somewhere deliberate
- Loading one into a lame holder is the most dangerous moment of the process
- Sold as shaving blades, so Amazon runs an 18+ age check at checkout
My experience
I have had the same box three years and I've got plenty left. A blade lasts me around a dozen loaves before it starts dragging. I score with a bare blade held in my fingers, carefully, and have never cut myself in three years - but I also printed myself a lame holder, which i also use. Two things I have learned, score dry, and throw a dusting of flour over the top of the loaf first: the blade parts a floured surface cleanly instead of pulling at it. And a baguette needs a fresher blade than a boule does. A 500g loaf pushes back against the blade, so an older edge is fine, but a lighter baguette has so little resistance that a dull blade drags the dough along rather than cutting it.
Steven, BakeClass
Alternatives
A purpose-made lame holder if you would rather not handle a bare blade, and they take these same blades. A lame is also a great inexpensive gift for a baker you know. I 3D printed mine, which is a good option if you have a printer - it costs pennies and works exactly as well as a bought one. Whether you use a holder at all is genuinely personal: if you are confident with a bare blade that is fine, and if you would rather have the safety net that is equally fine.
Will you outgrow it?
No. You will still be using this box of blades for some time to come.