Discourse on why I love Chinese Cleavers re-post

[Southpaw]

It's true. Restaurant supply olive oil often comes in an aluminum can. If you don't add a ventilation hole then it won't pour smoothly. It will glug, glug, glug, as it alternates letting out air and oil. It's honestly about the only thing that I use the heel of any knife for.

This… my Kiri Cleaver by Dauvua is my go to for these tasks

 

[kpham12]

Any info about this mac cleaver? Seems like they are out of production for a few years. Trying to realise if its worth getting for 100$View attachment 165888

These are a pretty good stainless option for a bit more than $100. Sakai Takayuki INOX Chinese cleaver. They come in 195 mm and a more expensive 210/225 mm version and they have a version with a bolster that looks a little more fancy (and heavier). I think they’re pretty popular for professional use in restaurants in Japan. I believe the INOX in these is molybdenum stainless steel, maybe AUS-8A, at around 59-60 HRC. Good toughness and decent edge retention, easy to sharpen/hone on a rod. Looks a bit thinner behind the edge than the MAC/tsubazo OOTB.

https://www.ebay.com/b/Sakai-Takayuki-Cleavers-Knives/177005/bn_115225134
Chinese Cleaver - Sakai Takayuki - stainless steel - Size:19.5/21cm This version has a bolster and 10% off coupon

Tojiro VG10 cleaver is also a good option, but needs a little thinning out of the box and you need to get rid of the horrible sandblasted finish and they’re pretty heavy.

 

[daniel_il]

These are a pretty good stainless option for a bit more than $100. Sakai Takayuki INOX Chinese cleaver. They come in 195 mm and a more expensive 210/225 mm version and they have a version with a bolster that looks a little more fancy (and heavier). I think they’re pretty popular for professional use in restaurants in Japan. I believe the INOX in these is molybdenum stainless steel, maybe AUS-8A, at around 59-60 HRC. Good toughness and decent edge retention, easy to sharpen/hone on a rod. Looks a bit thinner behind the edge than the MAC/tsubazo OOTB.

https://www.ebay.com/b/Sakai-Takayuki-Cleavers-Knives/177005/bn_115225134
Chinese Cleaver - Sakai Takayuki - stainless steel - Size:19.5/21cm This version has a bolster and 10% off coupon

Tojiro VG10 cleaver is also a good option, but needs a little thinning out of the box and you need to get rid of the horrible sandblasted finish and they’re pretty heavy.

thanks the Takayuki look nice for the money, I’m eyeing this one for a long time. the 195 could be a little short but the 210 is significantly heavier and I prefer staying under 400 grams. This takes out the nicer tojiro as well. My current stainless cleaver is the shibazi f208, I would go for the Takayuki or sugimoto stainless. Both are nice upgrades.

i also have the cck 2# and sugimoto 1# but recently I’m going for stainless

 

[cdhumiston]

The Vegetable Cleaver I made for my wife has become her favorite knife. Now she wants to replace all her Henkels with knives I make...

I didn't even know what a Vegetable Cleaver was until she asked for one. Prior to this I was making hunting knives.

 

[stringer]

The Vegetable Cleaver I made for my wife has become her favorite knife. Now she wants to replace all her Henkels with knives I make...

I didn't even know what a Vegetable Cleaver was until she asked for one. Prior to this I was making hunting knives.

View attachment 165980

Welcome aboard. It looks very interesting. It's hard to get a sense of the scale. How long is it from heel to tip?

 

[kpham12]

thanks the Takayuki look nice for the money, I’m eyeing this one for a long time. the 195 could be a little short but the 210 is significantly heavier and I prefer staying under 400 grams. This takes out the nicer tojiro as well. My current stainless cleaver is the shibazi f208, I would go for the Takayuki or sugimoto stainless. Both are nice upgrades.

i also have the cck 2# and sugimoto 1# but recently I’m going for stainless

Got a Sugimoto stainless recently, but it might be a little to short if you’re doing mass prep, about 195 mm. The steel is nice though, feels like it holds an edge longer than other entry level molybdenum stainless steels and it has nice taper for a shorter knife. The problem is most of the 195 mm cleavers weigh around 320-330 ish grams and the ones over 200 mm are going to be 430 or more grams. But you might look for a stainless CCK#2 if you like the carbon one. Edge retention should be comparable to the Shibazi or only a little less while being a lot thinner, over 200 mm and around 300 grams.

 

[daniel_il]

Got a Sugimoto stainless recently, but it might be a little to short if you’re doing mass prep, about 195 mm. The steel is nice though, feels like it holds an edge longer than other entry level molybdenum stainless steels and it has nice taper for a shorter knife. The problem is most of the 195 mm cleavers weigh around 320-330 ish grams and the ones over 200 mm are going to be 430 or more grams. But you might look for a stainless CCK#2 if you like the carbon one. Edge retention should be comparable to the Shibazi or only a little less while being a lot thinner, over 200 mm and around 300 grams.

the cck is my least favour out of my squad, feels too thin and light when i want to crush garlic or ginger.
I need to try one of those 195mm, should be enough for most tasks. And i got the bigger sugimoto if needed.
Shibazi steel isn’t bad, quite soft but gets fairly sharp.

i guess I’ll buy them all eventually

 

[cdhumiston]

Welcome aboard. It looks very interesting. It's hard to get a sense of the scale. How long is it from heel to tip?

Thanks!

It's 6 3/4" heel to tip and right at 4" tall at the heel.

 

[Bensonhai]

What's a good website to buy cleavers?