Sharpening a cleaver

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Mar 17, 2009
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I have a cleaver, it's a nice one. I don't have it with me to know the maker but it was a gift from my wealthy aunt to my grandfather, who then left it to me. It was never maintained properly and I was curious as to what the best angles or processes to use on it?

Would you guys need more info than the above? or is there a generic formula? Sorry, I'm new to this...
 
you can either put on a v edge or a convex edge but i would go with a convex edge. send me an email and i'll send you some pictures showing how you can sharpen it. if its old, you might just want to hang it on a wall instead of using it.
 
This is not really a cleaver in the American and European tradition. Western cleavers are intended to chop through bone. They are used sort of like thin broad hatchets. You hone one of those to a somewhat obtuse angle. A Chinese style cleaver like yours is intended for chopping and slicing like a chef's knife. It is used on meats and vegetables mostly. I would sharpen it much like a chef's knife with a fairly low honing angle. It does not need to be a convex edge. You can use an ordinary bench hone if you have one. If you don't own a hone it could be economical to start by using a variety pack of Wet or Dry sandpaper. You lay a sheet of around 80 grit sandpaper on something like a pad of writing paper. You strop the blade edge on the sandpaper with the spine of the blade about 3/4 inch off the paper. Do this on alternate sides of the blade until you can cut paper with the blade. Then repeat the process with finer grits until you reach 600 or so. If this works pretty well for you you might go on to find some 1000 and 1500 grit sandpaper at a store that sells car polishing supplies.
 
Your cleaver is an Asian chef’s knife (aka vegetable cleaver) and should be sharpened like any other knife. Mine are of a different brand, but I have one with a thin, carbon blade and another with a thicker stainless steel blade. They’re too much for me to hold a consistent angle, sharpening them as I can with smaller knives. Instead of holding & moving the knife against the stone, I hold the knife stationary, on top of a piece of wood, phonebook, etc. with the edge facing me and move the stone (held upside down in my hand). Sandpaper wraped around a wood paint stick or rubber palm sandpaper holders works well also.

The thicker one is more akin to western butcher knife and has a wedge shape. I use it for breaking chicken bones when making soup stock. It’s a bear to sharpen, so I use my old electric sharpener that I don’t use on any other knife. I figure the edge is already compromised after going through a bunch of bones, so the extra grinding of the electric sharpener removes it and still leaves more than enough blade to last me a lifetime.
 
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