They make single bevel carpenters knives called scribing or marking knives. You hold them against a straightedge and the single bevel presses it to the straightedge. You buy a set of left and right bevels:
http://www.leevalley.com/us/hardware/page.aspx?p=32502&cat=1,42936,42949&ap=1
Dennis
Interesting. When would you use a scribing knife v. good sharp pencil?
When you’re going to be using a saw or chisel across the grain - the idea is that the knife cuts the top layer of fibres, helping to keep the saw or chisel on line better.
Ah. In fine woodworking. Makes sense. T/Y.
I do both of these. Electric knife, and flipping, but I go a little farther.
What I do: I have an electric knife with two types of blades, one for meat, one for bread. I take my nice fresh-baked loaf out, put it on a cutting board, and slice. I set the slice aside, rotate the loaf 90 degrees, and cut the next slice. Rotate another 90 degrees (clockwise or counter- doesn’t matter, but keep it revolving in the same direction), and another. Repeat until the whole loaf is cut. That way, I figure, if there’s any smashing or irregularity in the cut, it’ll work its way out in short order as the loaf gets rotated.
That’s a nice trick, though keeping every cut perpendicular to the board (or parallel to the wall, if that idea helps more) should make the cuts turn out pretty regular anyway.