Cleaver Style Folders

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c7m2p3

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Wondering what the utility is to some of these "cleaver style" folding knives like the Gerber Flatiron or the Kizer sheepdog is. If it is really that "they look cool" that's totally fine, owning knives doesn't just have to be about functionality.

It has been my understanding though, that cleaver blades are useful for chopping motions that would require clearance between your hand and the board or counter top that you are cutting material off of. Given that none of these folding cleaver blades allow for that clearance, the only benefit in my mind is the relatively straight edge it offers but that could similarly be achieved with a sheepsfoot or a wharncliffe.
 
Very brief excerpt from article about this style of knife:

"...these knives excel at cutting, slicing, and chopping. Compared to a thin utility knife, cleaver-style blades are more solidly built. Their size can help you tackle larger tasks, but ... still fit in your pocket."
 
rje58 said:
Very brief excerpt from article about this style of knife:

"...these knives excel at cutting, slicing, and chopping. Compared to a thin utility knife, cleaver-style blades are more solidly built. Their size can help you tackle larger tasks, but ... still fit in your pocket."
Click to expand...

That could very well be true, but "cutting" and "slicing" are far less about blade shape than they are about edge geometry. A thickly ground cleaver style is not going to cut or slice better than a thin hollow ground drop-point.

With regards to chopping I totally get that. My point above though was that unless your knuckles have clearance with the surface you are cutting on, chopping really isnt going to work.
 
Your assumption is correct. The vast, vast majority of folding cleaver style knives are just pointed designs with the end cut off. They don't do anything better than a pointed blade shape.
 
That's fine. As I noted in the message I posted, I was NOT presenting an original opinion, I was quoting an article, the subject of which was "Cleaver Style Pocket Knives". I do have an Artisan cleaver-style pocket knife where the blade size and shape and handle angle are such that it would probably lend itself to chopping more than most cleaver-style pocket knives. I believe it's the Osprey model...?

I have more drop point, spear point and clip point blade knives that I do sheepsfoot or cleaver, but for me, one of the advantages for my sheepsfoot and cleaver style knives is that I don't have to be QUITE as concerned about poking a hole in something accidentally. I do understand and practice SAFETY FIRST, but we have all had things happen in our lives, that we didn't intend to happen, and not every one of those was a result of significant negligence.

c7m2p3 said:
That could very well be true, but "cutting" and "slicing" are far less about blade shape than they are about edge geometry. A thickly ground cleaver style is not going to cut or slice better than a thin hollow ground drop-point.

With regards to chopping I totally get that. My point above though was that unless your knuckles have clearance with the surface you are cutting on, chopping really isnt going to work.
Click to expand...
 
c7m2p3 said:
With regards to chopping I totally get that. My point above though was that unless your knuckles have clearance with the surface you are cutting on, chopping really isnt going to work.
Click to expand...

I dont. You don't chop with a folder knuckle clearance or no knuckle clearance.

True you got things like rope knives and elephants toes used to, in effect, baton through things like rope, but not chop.
 
Did somebody say "cleaver"??
jmYy_kv7VG-G3jiVJapTr30eCD3TClxRTTeQyET-JQRSsfBT4APxgJwYtSc_zkFK2Mm1_PoXGip8CCK_1b4xSOhneB13E_sSHb3qStG3MTPw-w_m3hA5K_6C9jkDMf2dt9oqZII-N08SZdSVD2d8Qhrsi3-io8c5vK-am4A28qFJ6ngizXE3LaWTkcfNMU_bv1UikCh4YKXgSYTl0ful1nLIhis1TVrK2Gd86qEVTFid_QNKlR0DK2p-S0xMa12twLSC08iEj1NuhG1YkYrDYcwfSQA1QpqvdBhNHRKGCHOtQaBKGijxCenoGtWrIBB-h9AAeL_Uv0unje23Wnxe1iM280Jm6P5hyRESCT7cUenxHt6KwmDmhpgJYskF0-GXTMUpzaZ9hhrr68qofLxpu_zEljRI7BG03jsuXwb0WOGAzT6l07tSCFIUPQoAx0ILx2Vsi9JUXH_Ra3CgIdKxVcI3LBZH16lyNOHYDqCvdgRPzXC9n6CXD17se8rGVCNsebT5Y0R1hS3Vg1kQhZuLLQ3nWnkYvZCW_CoTaZ69cGwnnanxd93TLU4nsYN-5YhPIhjidgQQjheCF1ehEonFDN8YQTUglkN_D2W-hHMg5vY5aoNDBlOfRxEnOIRXUqgiUDbHJsmxrwt64kOcB9JAxUtrhAL82gdUIVrlIf1PtZTge47QaxyLXclIQ19EET4=w703-h937-no
 
IMO , a true cleaver needs to have some substantial weight . Like a hatchet .

These folders are more for style than chopping .

Nothing wrong with that ! ;)
 
Hey Chuck, just FYI: If you haven't done any REAL CHOPPING with it, you either 1. should have bought a pocket knife with a different style blade -or- 2. you bought it for "looks", not because you actually wanted to do real "knife stuff" with it.

That seems to be the implication, here...

marcinek said:
We did. Done much chopping with it?
Click to expand...
 
rje58 said:
Hey Chuck, just FYI: If you haven't done any REAL CHOPPING with it, you either 1. should have bought a pocket knife with a different style blade -or- 2. you bought it for "looks", not because you actually wanted to do real "knife stuff" with it.

That seems to be the implication, here...
Click to expand...

2) Is not an implication at all. It is exactly what I am saying.

But since the OP is asking about the actual chopping functionality of these "folding choppers", it seems like we should address his question.
 
marcinek said:
2) Is not an implication at all. It is exactly what I am saying.

But since the OP is asking about the actual chopping functionality of these "folding choppers", it seems like we should address his question.
Click to expand...

Actually, although he did mention chopping later in his OP, the primary question he raised seems to be FUNCTIONALITY in general, not -only- chopping:

c7m2p3 said:
Wondering what the utility is to some of these "cleaver style" folding knives like the Gerber Flatiron or the Kizer sheepdog is. If it is really that "they look cool" that's totally fine, owning knives doesn't just have to be about functionality.
Click to expand...
emphasis mine

I am not convinced that there are no potential advantages, be they utilitarian, functional or otherwise, beyond mere aesthetics, to cleaver-style blades. I not only used our friend 'Certs Injun', and quoted an article about cleaver-style pocket knives, but gave my personal rationale that sometimes I'll pull out one of my sheepsfoot or cleaver-style pocket knives with the intent purpose of not puncturing something with a pointy, sharp tip when I am working in close quarters, especially around items that scratch or puncture easily. Granted, a sheepsfoot or cleaver-style blade will still puncture and/or scratch, but probably not to same extent or level of damage that say, a clip point or spear point blade would.

I feel relatively sure that there are other knife users, enthusiasts or collectors out there somewhere in our great, wide world that might have some logical, or functional or utilitarian reason for selecting a cleaver-style (or perhaps a sheepsfoot) blade, other than "gee, that looks cool to me, man!"

If it does look cool to them, man, well - so much the better!
 
rje58 said:
Hey Chuck, just FYI: If you haven't done any REAL CHOPPING with it, you either 1. should have bought a pocket knife with a different style blade -or- 2. you bought it for "looks", not because you actually wanted to do real "knife stuff" with it.

That seems to be the implication, here...
Click to expand...

OOOHHH - look at you doing only real knife stuff. What do you care what I got it for?
 
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