Cutting bagels can be risky. In this video, you’ll learn safe slicing techniques using knives, holders, and bagel slicers/guillotine to avoid “bagel thumb.” See how to sharpen and refurbish your slicer with basic tools—while saving fingers and money!
Bagels are very popular and are available in a wide range of flavors. They range from sweet to savory with a wide range of toppings, including cheese, sliced peppers, onions, cinnamon and sugar, seeds, and so forth.
While available pre-sliced, many have to be cut in half, across the bagel, leaving an approximately equal top and bottom. One way to do that is to use a serrated knife while holding the bagel flat with the palm of one hand while using the knife in the other hand to slice sideways, halfway through from each side. If you’re going to use only a knife to cut your bagels, this is the safest method.
Another less safe method is to turn the bagel on edge and cut down through the bagel while holding the bagel upright. This is unstable and can lead to sudden slips. To overcome this, there are bagel holders (available in wood, plastic and metal) that orient the bagel on edge and allow you to use a bread-slicing knife to cut the bage.
While these methods both work, there is still some danger involved, simply because there is the exposed edge of the knife. - especially if the bagel is stale or frozen. Injuries from the knife slipping or cutting through suddenly to flesh is so common that emergency room personnel have terms for the injury: “bagel hand” or “bagel thumb.”
To avoid this, many use a dedicated tool to cut their bagels: a bagel slicer, sometimes called a bagel guillotine. It’s a great invention, doesn’t take a lot of counter space, comes in a variety of colors, and has a safety cover that shrouds the blade to assure the edge cuts bagel, not flesh.
Depending on the model, you can expect to pay between $15 to $50. Like anything else, you get better quality by paying more - all the models are not the same durability.
But what happens when the blade dulls? This really shows up when cutting very fresh or soft bagels - the blade will tend to squash the bagel instead of slicing through it. You can overcome this a bit by taking short stabbing motions to work the blade through the bagel.
Ultimately, the blade will need to be sharpened or the unit thrown away. I don’t like to trash things that can be refurbished. If you got a cutter that is assembled with screws, it is easy to disassemble the unit, extract the blade, sharpen it, and reassemble.
If your unit is put together using rivets, it is more complex, but still doable. You’ll need to drill out the rivets and replace them with screws. I’ve refurbished a few units, and I use 10-24 stainless steel 1” truss head machine screws (phillips head) along with matching 304 stainless steel acorn nuts to reassemble the unit and make it easy to service.
You can get a nice assortment kit of stainless steel acorn nuts for about $16 here;
To sharpen the blade once it is removed from the safety shroud, use a 5/32” (4 mm) chainsaw sharpening file to touch up the blade. Sharpen the side that has the indents on it. Half of the indents will be on one side of the blade, the other half on the other side. I’ve found trying to use a vise to hold the blade is awkward and doesn’t allow you to hold the file in the correct orientation to sharpen.
Simply hold the blade flat on a surface with the edge to be sharpened extending over the edge. Hold the file at the angle that fits the indents best (about 30°) in each indent and stroke forward 4 or 5 times for each indent. Flip the blade over and repeat the process. DO NOT SHARPEN THE FLAT SIDE. It is not necessary and will prematurely wear down the blade.
Now, wipe down or wash and dry the blade (carefully - it’s sharper than you think!) and reassemble the unit. You’ve just renewed the slicer without buying a new one!
If you do need a new one, I’d suggest getting one with screws instead of rivets.
You can get the files from a farm supply store, and equipment repair or rental facility, or online.
Hey, Dirt Farmer Jay here from
derfarmerj.com. Do you have one of these
bagel slicers, also known as a bagel
guillotine, and it's not doing the job
anymore? It's just mashing and not
really cutting through. Well, I'll show
you how to sharpen one of these. Hey,
stay tuned.
Hey, Der Farmer Jay from dirt
farmerj.com. These bagel slicers are
really handy and they're a much safer
way to slice bagels. So, if you don't
have one of these, uh there's a couple
ways. There's bagel holders out there,
which you drop the bagel in it, it holds
it, and you run a knife through
sideways. Uh if you're going to cut
bagel without one of these, uh it's best
to hold the bagel flat and then cut
sideways to keep your hand out of the
path of the knife. Cutting them
vertically without a guide is a big no
no because it can roll. And there's so
many injuries that the emergency rooms
actually have a term for it known as
bagel thumb. And you don't want to do
that to your hands. Those are much too
valuable. So if you're going to slice a
lot of bagels, I recommend that you get
one of these bagel guillotines, so to
speak. Like anything else, you get what
you pay for. Now, you can find these
cheap for under $10. And I've seen them
up to $40. And what's the difference?
Well, the more expensive ones are more
commercial grade. They stay sharper
longer and they're easier typically to
service. Now, one of the things you're
going to notice right here when this
bagel slicer is that it comes in two
parts and the blade is inside this set
of protective
um covers here that stop your hand from
reaching in here. Unfortunately, that
also stops you from being able to
sharpen this easily. And I'll show you
what I use to sharpen. But you need to
get access to that blade. To get access
to that blade, you need to be able to
remove these two covers which are
embedded in this handle assembly. In
this case, this white assembly. But I
want you to notice something. In this
particular model, this is put together
with rivets. The first thing I'm going
to suggest if you're going to get one of
these and you don't have one already,
look for a model that's put together
with screws. You can see right here one
that's put together with Phillips
screws. You can use a cross type of
screwdriver. Undo that. Slide off the
handle and uh get these guides or these
covers off to give you access to the
blade. But if you have one of these, you
like the bagel slicer, and you don't
want to go out and buy a whole new one,
then you're going to have to drill out
these rivets right here, get them out.
And then I'll show you what I replace
those rivets with. Once you drill out
the rivets, then it's time to remove the
plastic covers, pull out the blade,
sharpen it, and reassemble it. But when
you do, you want to reassemble it with
stainless steel machine screws. These
are, as you can see, 1024x1 stainless
steel. I gave you the source for those
in the description below. To make it
really pretty and really nice, I got a
little set of acorn nuts. Again,
stainless steel. And so, that finishes
that off. So, we'll reassemble this once
we drill that out and after we sharpen
it. Let's get to work.
All right, we have the rivets drilled
out. What I did is use about a 5/16 or
3/8 inch bit to take out the top of
those rivets. It can be a little bit
messy, but then a little punch like this
to drive it through, remove it, and now
we've got this ready to go. Now, getting
it apart may be a little bit uh might be
stuck a little bit. So, you can use a
putty knife like this to pry along the
side or in this case, I have a soft face
mallet. And I'm going to just tap the
top. Don't do something with a regular
hammer. You can see it's starting to
move and let go.
And there we go. We now have the two
sides.
And we have
the blade. Now when you go to sharpen
this, you do not sharpen the flat side.
You sharpen the scallop side. And on
this these kind of cutouts, one half of
the cutter has a scallop on this side
and on the other side the other scallop.
So you can see it's always going to be
halfway one way or another. We're going
to sharpen into those grooves, not on
the flats, using a chainsaw file. And I
get these files at Tractor Supply
Company. You get them at a farm supply.
Many times the big box home improvement
stores have them as well. So, we're
going to go ahead and clamp this down
and then uh sharpen it and then
reassemble. Let's do that. Okay. So,
let's take the blade. What we're going
to do is lay it over the edge of a
table. Use one hand to clamp down. We're
using a 5/32 or 4 mm chainsaw file. And
I'm just laying it in the shape and
taking about three strokes.
And we're just going to work across the
face,
holding about the angle you see.
Let the gullets tell you the angle.
And we'll just work across.
Okay, we have a nice sharp here. Resist
the temptation to test that edge. I'm
telling you, it's razor sharp. If
anything, you can flip it over and use a
piece of sandpaper or a sanding block to
remove the little burr that's right
there. So, what I do is just take a
piece of sandpaper like this and or it
can be a sanding block or whatever and
just very lightly touch up that back
edge
to remove that burr.
All right, one side is done. There we
go. Do not grind across it. And now
we're just going to step and repeat. I'm
going to turn this here again. Now the
gullet side is up. And we're just going
to work across again using our 4 mm or
5/32 file.
Notice that I'm taking the same amount
of strokes on each one. This is to keep
the tooth length or the points the same
length. So, I'm just doing a couple on
each all the way across.
All right. Now, we have this blade.
Again, be real mindful of the sharp
edges there. You might even want to wear
gloves if you like mechanics gloves. Uh,
we're going to go ahead and line this
up. Notice that the point of the cutter
goes align with the flat edge of the
guard, not the V part of it. That's not
how it goes together. It goes together
like this. Now, I can see marks here
where the edge of the blade was up here.
And there's a peg right here, but you
may or may not have those pegs. I'm just
going to line this up. Rotate this one
over on top of it. Line it up over as
well. And now I have sandwiched that.
That isn't really going to hold it.
What's going to hold that blade in is
there are two of these screws that we're
going to install going through and
holding the blade. Now, it's time to
install the handle again. So, we're
going to start on one side and the other
and then slide that forward. And what
you can do is actually put it up on like
this and push down till it's now in
place.
And I'm looking through and I can see
that the screws align. choose what side
you're going to put the nuts on and
whatever. I'm just going to drop these
right through like that.
Going to use our acorn nuts there.
Now, you may need to put a small
stainless steel washer depending on how
much drilling you had to do. if uh you
did have the rivet style. But here we're
going to simply use the stainless steel
on both sides. Let's go ahead and
tighten these up.
All right. Now, we'll just test fit. And
there you have a sharpened and fully
functional
bagel guillotine.
You can slice through. If you have a
stale bagel, they'll slice a lot easier
where they're real not uh they're more
firm. If you do have a soft bagel and
even with a sharp blade, it's tend to
mash it. then kind of do a sign action
like that to get through and you'll end
up with a great new refurbished device
instead of going out and having to buy a
new one. Another kitchen tool that can
drive you crazy is when riveted handles
on your frying pans become loose. Well,
check out this episode where we show you
how to repair that and they're like new
again. And check out the other episode
that YouTube thinks is perfect for you.
Hey, until the next time. This is Dirt
Farmer Jay going to enjoy some nice
bagels.
