I got a chance to try my new cleaver today! As we probably all know, a knife with a quarter inch thick spine is not going to excel at slicing vegetables. That being said, it wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination! Splitting the carrot lengthwise prior to slicing proved a challenge. I couldn't turn out the transparent slices with it like I can with my gyuto, but by rocking and chopping I was able to get consistent and practical slices of celery and carrot. The blade's flat belly means lifting the handle further than I'm used to, and the pointed tip scratched my board slightly, but it sliced cleanly and proved to be quite serviceable!
Of course, a cleavers first task is chopping through the tough stuff: a task not unfamiliar to Himalayan Imports' product line. I don't have any bone-in meats (not that I'm convinced cutting bone with anything other than a bandsaw is a good thing), but I did have a frozen chicken breast. As you can see in the photo, it never stood a chance! Vim Bhadur's heat treating is great. Heavy hits through rock-hard chicken resulted in more damage to my crummy, bamboo cutting board than the edge of the knife!
My only complaint in the entire rig is that when it's seated in the sheath, the heel end of the blade sticks out an eighth of an inch. I learned this with my finger, unfortunately. Nothing serious, of course, as I later sustained a slightly more severe papercut on the same finger. Still the sheath is great looking and as secure as any I've seen. All in all, it's a super-solid knife. I think anyone who enjoys HI's big choppers would find this a natural addition to their kitchen cutlery. For giggles, I first tried it against a 2x4. Once again, typically high HI quality meant a typically unhappy length of wood!
Many thanks again to Yangdu!
