Cleaver Knives

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SuzumiyaHaruhi

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Sep 2, 2016
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Hi I'm in the market for a nice cleaver as a present for my mother.

My mom uses her cleaver for everything, but she bought it like 10 years ago and it's falling apart.

I want to buy her a nice high-end cleaver for her birthday.

Any suggestions?
 
If it's a multiuse cleaver, look into classic Chinese cleavers. It's their one knife kitchen use solution. Shun makes a fantastic one.
 
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the shun is sure pretty. but did you read the fine print about no bones or heavy chopping? how about multiple cleavers? get 2 Old Hickory 7" cleavers(http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Ontario...037672?hash=item2ee40523a8:g:B-AAAOSwd4tUKq-L), one for veg, one for meat. 2 minutes on a good stone, and you can get a shaving sharp edge. then get a Foster Brothers (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-FOS...342430?hash=item1eb74db69e:g:XL8AAOSwMtxXvnWW) that can chop thru most anything. use the $100+ you have left over to take her to dinner.
scott
 
Shun do make very pretty, functional knives. However, I have a hard time calling this Shun knife a "cleaver". Being that the thickest part of the blade is 2.5mm, but MOST of the blade is 1.5-2mm, that's on the thin side for a "cleaver". Add that to the notoriously "chippy" Vg-10 steel and the Shun heat treatment, I can certainly see how it is not recommended for bone or heavy chopping. It's more like a vegetable Nakiri than a cleaver, in my eyes anyway. I like the Old Hickory Scott referenced. 1095 carbon steel at .1" thick....that geometry (and steel) is much better for a "cleaver".

I just saw this one on the Kitchen Knives for sale sub forum, and it is wicked awesome! AEB-L, convex ground. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1427113-AEB-L-Cleaver-in-Rosewood-and-African-Blackwood
 
splitting hairs a bit but a Chinese cleaver is usually thin and used for veg. I have made a couple of 1/16" O1 3"tall that work well for veg and boneless meat. I suggested the Old Hickory as it is 1/8" and easy to keep sharp.
 
Thank you Stuart! I appreciate the shout out!
I intended this to be an all around kitchen blade. It's razor sharp to cut up the veggies and with the convex grind would hold up to de-boning chickens and light chopping. It's not the 1/4" thick butcher shop cleaver that's going to be used to chop large bones etc.
 
I have a Chinese cleaner and honestly it is the best knife I own. I could get by with just that, it was only $20. Sounds crazy. Its very thin, lightweight and durable. I can only imagine what a good quality cleaner would be like!
 
A european type cleaver for things like chicken , fish etc is like my chicken cleaver blade is 6.5"x2.3"x 1/8".
 
It's very true that Chinese cleavers aren't meant for deboning. I perhaps have been more concise with what I said. I always have a specific knife for that task however since it's rough on knives. I've been using the Victorinox cleaver for most of my prep at work lately and it's preformed extremely well. Especially at chopping. I would recommend that for testing out the waters of Chinese cleavers.
 
an old hickory is somewhere in between. it is 1/8", so not made for heavy chopping, do prep pretty well. I have a WW2 Foster Bros. that is 9/16" at the spine, 3 1/2" at the tallest, it will definitely chop most bones
 
For a cleaver, I prefer the actual chinese ones. A cleaver by nature has a wider bevel, and a softer steel is better for chopping bones, etc, as they will not chip. They are pretty cheap, a good one costs about 30 bucks in a chinese market. Very easy to sharpen.
 
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