Pizza Cutter

Choosing a Handmade Pizza Cutter

Pizza cutters come in a few basic designs, and each one cuts differently. A wheel rolls through the pizza. A rocker or ulu-style blade presses down and rocks across the slice. An axe-style cutter combines a familiar handle with a bold, Viking-inspired head. All three can give a clean cut, so the right choice depends on the pizza you make most often, how you like to cut and whether you want a tool that doubles as a kitchen display piece.

Every cutter in this collection is handmade, so steel, handle and finish vary from piece to piece. Each listing gives the details of that cutter.

Viking-Style Pizza Cutter Axes

Pizza cutter axes are the largest group in this collection, and they're the most distinctive way to slice a pizza. Each one has an axe-style head inspired by Norse designs, set on a handle you grip like a small hatchet. They turn cutting pizza into part of the fun of serving it, and they look at home on a kitchen wall or a bar shelf between uses.

The pizza axes here are handmade, most with sharpened blades and several in stainless steel, which resists rust and is easy to clean. Handles include wood, and one version has a stag handle for a more natural, rustic look. They come with a leather sheath that covers the edge for safe storage and makes the axe easy to bring to a cookout or party. When comparing them, look at the shape of the head, the handle material and the overall size, since the head design varies from one axe to the next.

Pizza Wheels: Damascus, Carbon and Stainless

The pizza wheel is the classic cutter: a round blade on a short handle that you roll through the pie. It gives quick, controlled cuts and works well on thin and medium crusts. The handmade wheels in this collection take that familiar tool and add character.

Damascus Pizza Wheels

A Damascus pizza wheel shows its layered, pattern-welded steel all around the blade, so the pattern catches the light as it turns. This collection includes the Damascus steel wheel pizza cutter with a blue resin handle, which pairs that pattern with a bold, colorful grip, and a handmade Damascus steel pizza cutter. Damascus contains carbon steel, so it needs to be dried right after washing and lightly oiled.

Viking and Wood-Handle Wheels

For a rustic look, the Viking pizza wheel pairs a handmade carbon steel or stainless wheel with a full tang handle, and the green wood-handle wheel adds a guard between the wheel and your hand. A guard is worth looking for on any pizza wheel, because it keeps your fingers clear of the blade on thick or deep-dish pizza.

Ulu-Style and Rocker Pizza Cutters

A rocking cutter takes a different approach. Instead of rolling, it presses straight down through the pizza and rocks from one end of the cut to the other. That cuts the whole slice line in one or two motions without dragging toppings across the pie, and it handles thick crusts well. The ulu pizza cutter here is a forged high carbon steel blade with a wood handle, based on the Arctic ulu with its handle set above the curved edge. If you like that cutting style, our ulu knives do the same job and also chop herbs, vegetables and cooked meat.

Other rocker designs include the long, straight-handled rocker blade used in pizzerias and the two-handled mezzaluna. Both cut the same way: a long curved blade, pressed and rocked across the pie. They suit large pizzas, since one rock can cut from edge to edge.

Wheel, Rocker or Axe: Which Suits You?

A wheel is the easiest to control and the most familiar, and it suits thin and medium crusts. A rocker or ulu cuts thick, loaded or deep-dish pizzas cleanly because it presses straight down instead of dragging, and it does double duty for chopping. A pizza axe cuts well and adds personality to the table, so it suits anyone who serves pizza to friends and family or wants a kitchen tool that's also a conversation piece. Many households keep more than one: a wheel for weeknight pizza and an axe or rocker for when guests come over.

Steels and Handles

Stainless steel is the easiest to care for, which is why it suits pizza cutters that get washed often. Carbon steel and Damascus take a keen edge and have more character, but they need to be dried right away and given a light coat of food-safe oil. Handle materials range from wood, which gives a warm grip, to resin, which adds color, and bone and stag, which give a natural, rustic finish. Check each listing for the steel and handle on that cutter.

Caring for a Handmade Pizza Cutter

Hand-wash your pizza cutter in warm, soapy water and dry it immediately. Dishwashers can dull the edge, damage natural handles and cause rust on carbon steel and Damascus. Oil carbon steel and Damascus blades lightly after drying, and give wood handles a little food-safe oil now and then. Store pizza axes in their leather sheath for short periods, but keep both the cutter and the sheath dry. Cut on a wooden or plastic board or pizza peel rather than stone, metal or glass to protect the edge.

More Handmade Kitchen Tools

If you're building a set of handmade kitchen pieces, see our kitchen knives and kitchen knife sets. Browse the pizza cutters above to compare wheels, rockers and pizza axes by style, steel and handle.