They are chiefly used on joints.
A million questions!
How many times have you moved? How many knives have you left behind each time? Did you sell them or give them to friends? And, since you did this more than once, how long before you went back to buying more knives? (Sounds like fun, actually.) For my part, I can’t part: I have don’t-know-how-many stashed in a couple of drawers and I had to add magnets to the sides of my knife block to accommodate newcomers. Hence the WAF* of new acquisitions is bottoming out these days.
As to bread knives–they’re also good for tomatoes, which Big Blade doesn’t want anyone to know, because they make tomato knives. (Yeesh! BB also makes sandwich knives.) On the other hand, in some cultures cutting bread with a knife is bad manners, and we still say “break bread” meaning to eat. But anyone who needs/wants a bread knife should get a long one–12" at least.
*Wife Acceptance Factor
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I had also always thought not seeing any use for a bread knife, but now that I have one I use it quite often. Also just to slice open softer types of bread. Plus it can do a great job carving roast meat.
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A standard cleaver was one of the first knives I bought, 60 years ago when I got my first apartment and decided that learning to cook would enable me to woo on the economy plan (didn’t work, by the way). We have never had one at home but I had seen (and still see) cleavers in butcher shops, so I bought it from a stoop seller on the Lower East Side. I have never used it, not even once, but I’m pretty sure it’s still around somewhere. On the rare occasions a cleaver was called for I used as tiny (7" handle, 3" blade) Gerber camp hatchet (no longer made, I believe). My wife dotes on a collection of Fiskars poultry shears, which are also good for pruning shrubs and cutting pizza.
Yep. That’s what I use my kitchen shears and/or poultry shears for. Didn’t like keeping a pizza wheel in the drawer.
I was not more clear. In a few times I moved, I moved with all my knives (at least most). What I meant is that i often moved to a temporary housing (2-4weeks) before moving to the permanent location. So I would still bring 1-2 of my decent knives with me.
(I just meant 1-2 knives are more than sufficient for most people).
I have bought and gift knives but they are mostly brand new knives.
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Why do people use shears for pizza? Why not just a chef knife?
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I have a bread knife. When i first got the knife, i would go out of my way to buy non-pre-sliced bread. 
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I have a pair of this design, made by Dovo. An excellent tool.
If you don’t want to cut against something, e.g., a pan, countertop, fancy serving board, etc., they make some sense. PITA to disassemble and clean, though.
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Ah. That makes sense. I usually cut fresh/reheated pizza on a cutting board, but i see your point now. If i use a pair of shears, then I don’t need to wash a cutting board
It’s easier and it cuts more cleanly and precisely. I got rid of my pizza cutter. (wheel).
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I use a rocking cutter, a mezzaluna long enough to cut across the diameter of most pizza. It is easy to store, standing up on the side of my drawer for storage containers. It is easy to clean. It is a Bialetti and was not expensive.
I have cut pizza with a chef’s knife, too. It is better than the mezzaluna for irregularly sized slices.
mercy, such complications . . .
essentially all our pizza is homemade - starts with flour, yeast, water . . .
turns out a 16" crust for a 16" baking stone.
when done, the pizza goes on a rack for 5 minutes - the rack lets the crust breathe and not go soggy - as it would on a solid surface.
then onto the cutting board - ten inch chef’s knife.
slice center to out, rotate, slice center to other out.
then slice center to outs for 1/3’s or 1/4’s.
no muss, no fuss . . .
the round disk pizza cutter I use for puff pastry cutting. does a nice job of sealing the edges.
for pizza . . . bit ‘affected’
Every time I go to Costco, I think I want one of these…
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Got me thinking about the famous pizza axe.
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Got me thinking about the Sledge - o - matic
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At the age of Viking… axes and hammers are kings.
… and at the Age of Wagner…
Don’t you go boppin’ me with that skillet!
