A fun new woods chopper--Friedrich Dick "Italien Messer" cleaver!

FortyTwoBlades

FortyTwoBlades

Baryonyx walkeri
Dealer / Materials Provider
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Mar 8, 2008
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Got a selection of fun knives from Friedrich Dick Cutlery Corp. of Esslingen, Germany in last weekend just in time to head down to my family's camp with 'em. The "Italien Messer" cleaver was especially impressive, and I pretty much immediately made the decision to keep one for myself. :D There was a fair bit of rain that weekend (and this week!) so I spent most of the time just relaxing indoors but I managed to get out and snap some beauty shots and a little chopping with the 2.5 lb brute. Given all of the cleaver mods that I've seen folks do to convert them to a bellied and pointed shape, I figure I'm probably not the only one excited to see something like this actually available on the production market. :p

First, some overall and in-hand shots.
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Now the pretty ones. :cool:

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More in the next post!
 
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It's one heck of a heavy-duty chopper! 7/32" thick at the base of the blade with nice distal taper, soft satin mirror finish, and a convex grind. It's a whopping 4" wide at the base, so it really concentrates a lot of its mass right behind the edge. It would do nicely as a hatchet replacement while doing "big knife" duty. I hope to do a video on it now that I have a camera again--it just needs to stop raining, darn it!
 
Would have come in handy sectioning the ribs on my bison last month. Going to your website right now!
 
baldtaco-II said:
Zero use to me but I like knowing it exists. Ta. Have you seen their double bit cleaver?
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Yes, I have! Interesting piece of work, though I REALLY want to get my hands on some of their other cleavers (and I will, in time. :D)

Wooly Bugger said:
Ohhhh, hello there Mr. Choppy McChopperson. I want one!
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I'm really glad to finally get my paws on 'em. I'd been eyeing them for a long time now because I really tend not to have as much use for a hatchet as I do a large knife, but those on the market right now don't chop "heavy" enough to justify the weight to me. Also, I love blue handles. They're "friendly," high visibility without burning your eyes like orange, and unlike orange they'll still stand out against fall leaves. Honestly I can't believe that they're able to put out a piece this large, stainless, tapered, convexed, and polished for so little money. And from Germany, no less!

I also got a number of other models in, amongst them being their "lamb skinner" model which resembles what would happen if a Mora and George Sears' original nessmuk (not the thicker, heavier, modern interpretations) had a baby. I bet you he probably based his personal knife after this style. The grip is almost stupidly comfortable.

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F Dick makes some great working tools for the meat processing trade. I guess you could use one to beat on wood with as well. I guess. :D
 
LOL yeah their name has definitely hurt their "penetration" of the North American market, but they make great stuff. Personally I find that a lot of food service knives do a fine job in the woods--just ask the old mountain men with their Green River knives. Medieval belt knives commonly resembled small chef's knives, as do many traditional "gaucho" knife styles. And I've beaten a $4.00 Wal*Mart chef's knife through twisted oak before just to prove it can be done without busting it. It just takes intelligent use!
 
I am not much for cleavers, but I can see where and how they'd be useful. Though I have never owned a larger one such as this, I may have to pick a cleaver up just to try it out.
 
You think THAT'S a "larger one"? You ain't seen their beef splitters! :D And yes--I'll be getting them eventually.

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Haha! You won't be disappointed--I can tell you that much! The Pro Dynamic paring knives I got in are a lot like a Vic/Forschner with a better handle. Nice thin blade that's as light as a feather and very good edge retention for an "industrial" knife.
 
The handle on the cleaver looks uncomfortable for chopping wood. Is it?
Beef splitter looks like it should be hanging in the rear window of my car. I'll gave to buy a gun rack for it.
O.P. how are the cold steel kukri machetes from south Africa?
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
... And I've beaten a $4.00 Wal*Mart chef's knife through twisted oak before just to prove it can be done without busting it. It just takes intelligent use!
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Well that counts me out then. :D Nice! I like it, reminds me of some of Pit's knives - on a larger scale of course....


FortyTwoBlades said:
You think THAT'S a "larger one"? You ain't seen their beef splitters! :D And yes--I'll be getting them eventually.

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Wasn't that in the first Blade movie? ;)
 
chaibill said:
The handle on the cleaver looks uncomfortable for chopping wood. Is it?
Beef splitter looks like it should be hanging in the rear window of my car. I'll gave to buy a gun rack for it.
O.P. how are the cold steel kukri machetes from south Africa?
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If you look at the spine pic you can see the rounding of the scales (look towards the butt of the handle) so it actually comes with a pretty decent contour on it already, but the crisp transitional lines could probably use a quick touch from a fine file and sandpaper (for cleanup) just to finish it out. Otherwise it's a very comfortable handle--more so than the comfort level of most machetes out of the box, for sure! The scales are an impact-resistant polymer that looks/feels like Delrin, so shaping it should be a breeze. The cool thing about what little bit of edge they left on the scales is that it's just enough material to give you a little leeway in how you want to shape it. I could easily chop with it for an extended period as-is, though.

The CS Kukri Machetes are quite nice once you put an edge on them, but as they come stock from the factory it's just a coarse, often mangled hollow grind that's intended to shortcut the process of you sharpening it yourself. Makes my job giving them the Special Grade treatment easier, though! The only thing I'd recommend doing with them other than what I do to them already is just hit the handle real quick with some 600 grit sandpaper to take the "ouch" out of the aggressive checkered texturing. It's good if you use gloves, but it's a blister machine if you work barehanded like me.

sodak said:
Well that counts me out then. :D Nice! I like it, reminds me of some of Pit's knives - on a larger scale of course....

Wasn't that in the first Blade movie? ;)
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Not sure! I actually haven't watched the Blade movies. :p
 
I'm seriously going to have to get one of these. I have no use for it, and don't care. I also see on your site that you carry Douk Douk, Ihave been wanting one of these for a while :) I might have missed it somewhere, but what is the rockwell on that beast(if you know it)
 
I'm not sure of the RC on it, to be honest, as the company's information on it is pretty sparing. They don't even have the blade thickness listed in their catalog. However, based on my experiences so far (including the Trimming Knife I kept for myself from the shipment) they're very good at balancing edge retention vs. toughness, and given the intended purpose of a cleaver like this I'd say it's fair to say that it's probably around 53-55. Hard enough to hold a good edge, soft enough not to chip out or crack chopping hard targets.
 
Love the looks of those cleavers & even the little nessie, even though it says d*** on the handle...
 
Bowman1911 said:
Love the looks of those cleavers & even the little nessie, even though it says d*** on the handle...
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One word: sandpaper. :D But the only folks that'll laugh at the name are folks that haven't used the knives. They're seriously excellent and I wish I had gotten some years ago. :thumbup:
 
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