This Old Cleaver

[priell3]

I don't remember where I got it but I've had it over 40 years. No markings. It seems to have been heavily used. Just look at that spine.

 

[3fifty7]

Unfortunately I’ve seen it too many times, someone placing a cleaver or other knife on a bone or joint then smacking the spine with a honing steel.

 

[Grasshopperglock]

I believe it was the clever being used as a hammer. Hammered against what? I don't know.

 

[RokJok]

That ol' war horse has been through some tough battles by the look of it. But the good news is, there's still plenty of life left in it.

It's not just cleavers that take that sort of beating. Pictured is a nakiri that I removed the majority of spine mushrooming off of it. Some evidence is still there, along with chips (that haven't sharpened out yet) out of the edge where it was likely hammered through frozen food. I'm just like, "WTH!?!?!?!?!" In spite of the abusive treatment, it will take an incredibly sharp edge.

 

[Grizzly3]

That sure looks alot like an old Robinson. Some seemed to have two and some three rivets. But the wood caught my eye and looked familiar. But there were so many back in the day, who knows for sure.

 

[Grasshopperglock]

These all look like the chicken killing knife(clever).

Turkey, duck. Rabbit.

That's the only real world use, I've seen them used for.

 

[Grizzly3]

These all look like the chicken killing knife(clever).

Turkey, duck. Rabbit.

That's the only real world use, I've seen them used for.

You're probably right, but I came across a smaller, shorter one that still is a decent cleaver for the kitchen. I've used it a few times on odd jobs but anymore, once it's good and sharp it makes for a great frozen pizza cutter. Just lean on it a bit and it goes right through. I'd love to come across a nice Robinson cleaver in good shape. They seemed to use really nice wood on theirs. I have a 10" Chef knife of theirs I use all the time as my most used knife and I wouldn't be surprised if that wood isn't the old Brazilian rosewood of years ago.

 

[RokJok]

These all look like the chicken killing knife(clever).

Turkey, duck. Rabbit.

That's the only real world use, I've seen them used for.

Back in the day when I was spry enough to be a meat cutter, if we didn't hand or bandsaw quarters/sections of dead critters into smaller pieces, we used a cleaver to crunch through bones. Knife to cut/separate meat & soft fiber, cleaver for the crunchy stuff like the more porous bones. Really hard bones like cattle femurs were sawed.

Other unauthorized real world uses for cleavers have to do with wood chopping, fencing, engine block scraping & tire replacement, puppy poop scooping, gardening & brush work, paint removal, roofing materials, activities dreamed up by unsupervised ten year old boys, etc.

 

[garry3]

BBQ pork, pulled or chopped? Depends on if you own a good cleaver. Chuck or tri-tip for chili or tacos, I grab a cleaver, sometimes two of them. A couple cuts of meat I can get on sale cheaper than ground and have it chopped faster with a cleaver than I can clean the meat grinder.