Brand
Raadvad and the Danish Guillotine Bread Slicer
The Raadvad bread slicer is a Danish guillotine slicer: a hinged blade on a wooden base comes down through the loaf like a lever, instead of a round blade turned by a crank. According to the brand's own history, Raadvad began making bread machines around 1890. Today the name lives on only in cutlery – the knives went to Fiskars, and we found no new Raadvad bread slicer on sale.
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The short version
Raadvad is a Danish metalworks named after Raadvaddam, a site by the Mølleåen stream north of Copenhagen. Its history page says it began making bread machines around 1890 and that they became a fixture in Danish homes. The design is a guillotine: a hinged iron blade over a wooden trough. Fiskars bought Raadvad in 1994; new Raadvad bread slicers are not offered on the brand sites we checked.
“Raadvad” and “Danish bread slicer” mean the same thing in most searches: the guillotine-style slicer that stood in many Danish kitchens. It is a different design from the rotary hand-crank bread slicer that this site mostly covers, and it is no longer made under the Raadvad name.
Who is behind Raadvad
Raadvad's history page starts in 1758, when King Frederik V handed Raadvaddam – a small disused gunpowder mill by the Mølleåen stream near Dyrehaven, north of Copenhagen – to his chamberlain Nicolaj Jacob Jessen. The works made files, nails, pans and tools; over time the range grew to more than 700 products. The company changed hands several times and went through bankruptcies.
The milestones for bread slicers, as the brand tells them:
| When | What happened (per Raadvad) |
|---|---|
| around 1890 | Raadvad begins producing its first bread machines |
| after World War I | Renamed Raadvad Knivfabrikker; it now makes only knives and bread cutters and holds the exclusive right to produce stainless steel in Denmark |
| 1994 | Bought by the Fiskars group |
| 2015 | Fiskars moves Raadvad's knives and cookware under its own brand |
The history page calls the bread machine a classic and says few Danish homes have been without one. It does not say when production of the bread slicer ended.
How the Danish guillotine slicer works
A Raadvad-type slicer in the Science Museum Group collection in the UK shows the design. The object, catalogued as a 'Raadvad' hand-operated bread slicer from Denmark, dated 1880 to 1900, maker unknown, has:
- a wooden trough and base that holds the loaf,
- an iron blade on a hinge that you bring down through the bread,
- hooks that fix the base to a table.
The museum gives a width of 290 mm, and a height of 460 mm and depth of 300 mm that vary with the position of the blade. There is no crank, no round blade and no motor. Instead of sawing, the blade comes down in one stroke – the same principle as a bagel guillotine, which is covered on bagel slicers. How this design fits next to crank slicers, guides and bow knives is explained on types of bread slicers.
Strengths and weaknesses of the design
Reasons to buy
- No electricity and few parts: base, trough, hinge and blade
- The base can be fixed to a table with hooks (museum example)
- A piece of Danish kitchen history: the brand says few Danish homes were without one
Reasons to skip
- No new Raadvad slicer on the brand sites we checked
- No published fence range or blade data for a current model
- One straight blade instead of a serrated round blade – the edge has to be sharp for crusty bread
Buying one today
Raadvad's current site shows only cutlery series (Erica, Lilje, Royal, Hyacint) and states that the rest of the range – knives, cutting tools, pans and pots – is now called Fiskars. A search for “bread slicer” on Fiskars' US site returned no results on 22 October 2026. So a Raadvad bread slicer today is an antique or secondhand find. What to check on an old slicer before you buy it – the blade, the hinge, rust and loose parts – is covered on antique and vintage bread slicers, and the story of slicing machines in general on who invented the bread slicer.
Alternatives that are made today
If you want a slicer for daily use rather than a collector's piece, the documented choice is a hand-crank slicer.
Zassenhaus Classic
The classic rotary bread slicer: serrated Solingen blade, crank, beechwood base – no motor, no cord.
Why here: A current manual slicer with documented specs: stepless 1–18 mm, serrated blade made in Solingen, four suction feet.
Best for: Households that mostly slice bread and want a brand crank slicer with documented specs and a compact footprint.
Strengths
- Stepless 1–18 mm (about 1/25–0.7 in) – from thin sandwich slices to thick toast
- Die-cast and stainless steel body on a beechwood base, four suction feet
- Smallest footprint of the brand hand-crank slicers in our comparison
Weaknesses
- No carriage and no end-piece holder listed – the last piece of the loaf needs care
- Premium price class, several times the unbranded crank slicers
- Only the blade is documented as made in Solingen; retailers list the Czech Republic as country of origin
- Type
- Hand-crank slicer for bread
- Blade
- Round serrated stainless blade, made in Solingen (diameter not stated)
- Slice thickness
- 1–18 mm stepless (about 1/25–0.7 in)
- Size
- 11.8 × 10 × 7.5 in (30 × 25.5 × 19 cm)
- Weight
- 5.3 lb (2.4 kg)
- Carriage & holder
- Beechwood base, no carriage or end-piece holder listed
Price class: Premium
View on Amazon(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on AmazonLearn more AdThe Zassenhaus Classic cuts steplessly from 1 to 18 mm (about 1/25 to 0.7 in) with a round serrated blade made in Solingen, on a beechwood board with four suction feet; it sits in the premium price class. If you only want the guillotine principle for bagels, the Hoan bagel guillotine* brings a blade down behind a shield (per listing) – it splits bagels and does not slice a loaf. All current manual options are compared on the best manual bread slicers page.
Questions readers ask
What is a Raadvad bread slicer?
A Danish hand-operated bread slicer with a hinged blade that you pull down through the loaf, like a guillotine or a paper cutter. A Raadvad-type slicer in the Science Museum Group collection, dated 1880 to 1900, has a wooden trough and base, an iron blade on a hinge, and hooks that fix the base to a table.
Is Raadvad still making bread slicers?
Not that we could find. Raadvad's own site shows only cutlery series and says the knives, cutting tools and pans are now sold under the Fiskars name. A search for “bread slicer” on Fiskars' US site returned no results on 22 October 2026. A Raadvad slicer today is a secondhand or antique piece.
Is a guillotine bread slicer better than a hand-crank slicer?
They work differently. A guillotine pushes one blade straight down, so the result depends on how you hold the loaf and how sharp the edge is. A hand-crank slicer saws with a round serrated blade while a fence sets the thickness – the Zassenhaus Classic, for example, steplessly from 1 to 18 mm. For crusty bread at an even thickness, the crank design is the documented choice today.
Sources we read
Keep reading
- ExplainerAntique bread slicersAntique bread slicers explained: Danish guillotine slicers from 1880–1900, Rohwedder's 1928 machine, retro crank models and what to check before buying one.
- ExplainerTypes of bread slicersThe types of bread slicers explained: rotary hand-crank, slicing guide, bow knife, guillotine, food slicer and electric knife – how each cuts and what it suits.
- ExplainerBread slicer historyWho invented the bread slicer and when? Otto Rohwedder's whole-loaf machine, the first sliced loaf on July 7, 1928, the 1917 fire and the 1943 sales ban – sourced.
- Buying guideHand-crank slicersHow a hand-crank bread slicer works, what the spec sheets say about thickness, blade and carriage, and which rotary slicer fits your loaf – no motor, no cord.
- Buying guideBagel slicerBagel slicer or knife? How a bagel guillotine keeps your hand out of the cut, what the Hoan listing says, and how to split bagels safely with a bread knife.
Who compares here
manualbreadslicer.com Editorial Team
Bread slicer comparisons & explainers
We are the editorial team at manualbreadslicer.com. We compare hand-crank bread slicers, slicing guides and their electric alternatives using manufacturer spec sheets, manuals, retailer data and primary sources such as Lemelson-MIT – with sources on every page. We do not run lab tests, and we say so openly.
- Spec sheets & manuals compared
- Sources on every page
- No lab tests – stated openly
- Publisher details in the imprint