This lame consists of a shaving razor blade sandwiched between two disks. It’s held together with two 6-32 x 3/8” machine screws and hex nuts.

Use only quality razor blades.

These are some of the blades I have used:

Astra Double Edge Blades

While these blades work OK, they have some sort of glue that holds the paper covering in-place.

To use these blades I recommend removing the residue using alcohol.

Shaving Revolution Double Edge Blades

They are clean from any residue and come ready to use out of the box. These are my new choice for lame blades. At least until something better comes along.

The disks I use are 3mm thick and 1-1/2” in diameter. A little thicker or thinner won’t matter other than affecting the size of the machine screws you use to secure the disks.

Each disk has two 5/32” holes drilled into them. One in the center and the other 1/2” towards the outside edge.

I made the disks shown here, but they can also be purchased online or at most craft centers.

Here are some that would work fine.

3 Ply wood Disks

Solid wood Disks

I start by marking the hole locations.

I then use my drill press to drill the 5/32” holes. Note that this wood is pretty thin so you can easily use a hand drill to drill the holes.

You can use the first completed disk to mark the second for drilling.

You can also tape the two disks together and drill them both at the same time.

This drawing shows how the lame is put together.

Step 1

Insert two #6-32 x 3/8” machine screws into one of the disks.

Step 2

Add the razor blade.

Step 3

Add the second disk.

The Finished Lame

Step 4

Secure with two #6-32 hex nuts.

That is how simple it is.

An even simpler design uses a 1-1/4” disk and a single hole in the middle, as shown here.

Step 1

For the this bread lame, I will be making it out of 3mm PVC.

You can purchase some here:

Expanded Red PVC

Expanded White PVC

I cut them into 2” x 2” coupons.

Step 2

I use Vcarve Pro to generate the drawing …

and the tool paths.

Step 3

The tool paths (gcode) is saved from VcarvePro and loaded into Mach3.

Step 4

A 2” x 2” piece of waster board is added to the CNC. This keeps me from destroying my table when I cut through the stock.

Step 5

The 2” x 2” coupon is clamped over the waster board.

Step 6

The job is started in Mach3 and the part is cut.

This particular piece of PVC had a protective cover that needed to be removed after the milling is complete.

Step 7

Small tabs are used to hold the stock in-place while it is being cut.

I remove these with some flush-cut cutters.

Step 1

Insert two #6-32 x 3/8” machine screws into one of the disks.

Step 2

Add the razor blade.

Step 3

Add the second disk.

Step 4

Secure with two #6-32 hex nuts.

The completed lame.

As an alternative, you can use some #6-32 acorn nuts.

With a CNC, you can take the bred lame to the next level.

Here I machined some pockets into the disks to recess the nuts and screw heads.

Like a dream.

I like to coat my lames with coconut oil.

I melt a small amount of coconut oil and coat the disassembled components with the oil using my finger.

I apply it liberally and and let the disks rest for about 30 minutes.

I then wipe all access oil off the disks and reassemble.

For those of you who don’t want to make the lame, I am offering this bread lame kit.

It includes two laser cut Baltic birch disks with the Bread and Ammo logo burned in. All hardware and a razor blade are also included.

These are made using my various machines over on my Kronos Robotics website. You can find the store here:

Bread Lame Kit

I enjoy trying new lames. These are just some of the lames I have made.

This is one of my favorites. The blade can be fully concealed.

I use my finger nail to pull the blade out.

With the knob locked down it works perfectly.

Here is a video of both the manual and CNC process.