Recommendation? Meat cleaver heat treat and geometry.

J

joedhiggins

Joined
May 31, 2016
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485
Howdy all,

My buddy is requesting I forge him a meat cleaver. This will be my first meat cleaver, so I am flying a bit blind here.

I am planning on forging it from 1075, 1055, or 80crv2, depending on what I have in a large enough size. I was planning on a differential temper with the edge somewhere in the low 50s HRC, and the spine in the light blue/grey temper colors. Alternatively could edge quench.

For geometry, I was thinking that I would get the spine to about 3/16" and the edge down to .030 prior to a convex grind.

Thinking a full tank construction.

Let me know if any of my assumptions here are wrong, if anyone has any good tips on this front, I would appreciate it.
 
I would ask what he expects to cut and how. also, how tall. a lot of light duty cleavers are 3" to 4" tall but 1/8" or less at the spine. 5/32" or 3/16" should be plenty heavy, I would do 10* per side till edge is about 0.05" or so, heat treat, then grind 15* to 20* per side to finish the edge. I would use 80CrV2 and temper the whole blade to Rc60. finish grind and sharpen. test it. adjust temper if you need to.
 
I agree with Scotts suggestions.

Cleaver means many things.
A cleaver can be a huge and heavy chopper to sever the spine and separate chops (that's why they are called "chops"). (AKA Butcge;s cleaver)
A very thin 3" tall straight edge blade for dicing veggies ( AKA Chinese ceaver).
A medium size 1/8" to 3/16" blade for chopping cabbage and cleaned meats (BBQ chopper).
A 4-5" long and 2" t 2.5" high blade in 1/8" or thinner steel used for fine slicing and mincing. It has a slightly curved edge. (Sometimes called a veggie cleaver)
 
Apologies for the lack of clarity. I have made a bunch of Nakiri and a couple of knives closer in design to a Chinese cleaver. The knife I am intending to make would be for light butchery (fowl, small game). I was thinking in the 1 lb range, probably 8"x4" blade.

Thanks for the advice.
 
a 8" x 4" x 3/16" will be very heavy and a little bit of over kill for light butchery. that aside, don't skimp on handle length. some of the cheapo cleavers I have handled at oriental markets have very small handles. a 5" handle will give the user many options on how to grip. using a heavy wood like dogwood or locust will help with balance.
 
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