Just noticed CKTG have them too, seems like a good deal, you rarely see this outside Taiwan.
Been a while since we had a Cleaver chat.
- Thread starter Danzo
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Is he selling those now? Seems interesting, I remember he used to sell some under Richmond house brand. TBH the old CCK style is not unique tho, most Hongkongese cleaver have the same style, like Fook Kee and Leung Tim.
That's a rehandled Fook Kee, Razorsharp actually sales them, seems like decent knife, Chinese Knives (FOOK KEE).
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Given the price point, I may try one out. In general I feel like a cleaver shouldnt have a "neck" (ie. handle should butt up against the blade). But we'll see.
Looking at Chopper King's video I just realized the both the cladded part and the handle is welded on to the knives, not sure if these thing will affect the longevity of the knife, but I am not really a fan of welded handle.
Here’s my attempt at a review. I’ve had the AUS-10 for almost 2 weeks now and used it for bulk prep a couple times.
Comes super thick out of the handle, about 5 mm, and immediately flattens out so the rest of the cleaver is pretty uniform thickness until you get to the grind. The grind starts about halfway down the sandblasted finish, you can see where it kicks in in the choil shot, and it’s pretty much a wide bevel grind from that point, although the shoulders aren’t too hard. Very thin behind the edge, but it’s basically symmetrically flat ground down from where the grind starts to the edge with some minor low spots all down the knife, although it’s not a hollow grind. The combination of flat grind and sandblasted finish leads to major stiction OOTB, which feels like slight wedging when cutting carrots lengthwise and doing other similar tasks, despite being so thin BTE. I was really surprised at first because of how thin it is BTE, until I realized it was more of a stiction issue than wedging. I’ve only done a minor thinning to get rid of the sandblasted finish and convexed the right side slightly and it has helped a lot, way smoother cutting and better food release. On my particular example, the thinness is uniform all down the edge, but the shoulders are a little more pronounced at the tip than the heel. I suspect this is more of a sign of mass production than a design feature, and it probably varies slightly from cleaver to cleaver.
I haven’t used other stainless clad AUS-10 knives, but the steel on this one, I would describe as serviceable. The steels on my Sugimoto stainless and Tojiro VG-10 cleavers are both nicer, although you would expect this at 3-4 times the price. OOTB, the Chopper King AUS-10 takes a bit of extra effort to raise a burr and clean it up, but this improves after thinning. I got an edge that cleanly cuts paper towel at 1k, 2k, 3k and 4k and it definitely takes a bit more effort at 1-2k, at 3-4k, the stone does most of the work deburring. But I feel the sweet spot for the edge is 1-2k for heavy use. It’ll lose its fresh off the stone sharpness pretty quickly, but hold an edge with lasting bite for peppers, tomatoes, apples, etc. 3k is good too, but at 4k, it feels very sharp, but starts to get slick pretty quick after some board contact. And although I can get clean edges at all these grits, when you feel the edge on your fingertips with very light pressure, the AUS-10 edge doesn’t quite get as “bite into your fingerpads” sharp as Sugimoto stainless or Tojiro (Tojiro VG-10 can actually get surprisingly sharp) and definitely not as sharp feeling as a nice carbon steel. The overall edge retention isn’t as good either, but better than stainless CCK, Shibazi and cheap supermarket Chinese cleavers. Hopefully, someone who picks up the white 2 version can report back on how it holds up.
In my opinion, the best feature of this cleaver is the overall construction. Feels very nice and well weighted in hand with proper forward balance and the thick spine at the handle is nice to grip. Handle is finished as opposed to the unfinished CCK barrel handle and very comfortable. While fit and finish are nothing to write home about and there’s a bit of a gap where the tang enters the handle, the spine and choil aren’t sharp OOTB. Also, some CCKs seem to be slightly “wavy” or bent when you look down the spine and/or edge while the Chopper King doesn’t have this problem. Just a very well put together knife at this price point.
The profile on the White 2 version looks more curved than the AUS-10, but both are definitely suited more for push cutting or a nice guillotine and glide motion. Ironically, the Chopper King isn’t the best for straight up down chopping and definitely isn’t as flat at the CCK profile so many people love. There’s more curve towards the back half, so you end up mostly using the front half and it rolls nicely towards the heel without coming to a hard stop.
These seem to be designed for professional Chinese cooks, most of whom usually like a more curved profile and while stiction is a big issue OOTB, it’s easily solved with stones or sandpaper. An excellent cleaver to practice thinning and reprofiling on if you want. The steel seems to be an upgrade from CCK/Shibazi stainless, but I don’t think it’ll be anybody’s favorite to work with. The super thick spine out of the handle is nice and makes the Chopper King feel very substantial and at about 350 grams, it’s a nice middle ground between a super thin CCK and a Japanese made #6 cleaver which is going to be a lot more convex and usually thicker behind the edge. CCK has a more user friendly profile and is a better cutter OOTB with some slight convexity, but with current CCK prices, I think the Chopper King is a better value with better construction. All in all, despite some of the problems I pointed out, these are a screaming deal for $60 plus shipping. I feel like CKTG probably ordered these in bulk and I can see the prices taking a bit of a bump in the future if these catch on.
P.S.
The sticker on the left side leaves a bunch of crappy residue
Last edited:
Thanks for the review. Looks interestingHere’s my attempt at a review. I’ve had the AUS-10 for almost 2 weeks now and used it for bulk prep a couple times.
View attachment 173200
View attachment 173201
View attachment 173199
View attachment 173204
View attachment 173208
Comes super thick out of the handle, about 5 mm, and immediately flattens out so the rest of the cleaver is pretty uniform thickness until you get to the grind. The grind starts about halfway down the sandblasted finish, you can see where it kicks in in the choil shot, and it’s pretty much a wide bevel grind from that point, although the shoulders aren’t too hard. Very thin behind the edge, but it’s basically symmetrically flat ground down from where the grind starts to the edge with some minor low spots all down the knife, although it’s not a hollow grind. The combination of flat grind and sandblasted finish leads to major stiction OOTB, which feels like slight wedging when cutting carrots lengthwise and doing other similar tasks, despite being so thin BTE. I was really surprised at first because of how thin it is BTE, until I realized it was more of a stiction issue than wedging. I’ve only done a minor thinning to get rid of the sandblasted finish and convexed the right side slightly and it has helped a lot, way smoother cutting and better food release. On my particular example, the thinness is uniform all down the edge, but the shoulders are a little more pronounced at the tip than the heel. I suspect this is more of a sign of mass production than a design feature, and it probably varies slightly from cleaver to cleaver.
I haven’t used other stainless clad AUS-10 knives, but the steel on this one, I would describe as serviceable. The steels on my Sugimoto stainless and Tojiro VG-10 cleavers are both nicer, although you would expect this at 3-4 times the price. OOTB, the Chopper King AUS-10 takes a bit of extra effort to raise a burr and clean it up, but this improves after thinning. I got an edge that cleanly cuts paper towel at 1k, 2k, 3k and 4k and it definitely takes a bit more effort at 1-2k, at 3-4k, the stone does most of the work deburring. But I feel the sweet spot for the edge is 1-2k for heavy use. It’ll lose its fresh off the stone sharpness pretty quickly, but hold an edge with lasting bite for peppers, tomatoes, apples, etc. 3k is good too, but at 4k, it feels very sharp, but starts to get slick pretty quick after some board contact. And although I can get clean edges at all these grits, when you feel the edge on your fingertips with very light pressure, the AUS-10 edge doesn’t quite get as “bite into your fingerpads” sharp as Sugimoto stainless or Tojiro (Tojiro VG-10 can actually get surprisingly sharp) and definitely not as sharp feeling as a nice carbon steel. The overall edge retention isn’t as good either, but better than stainless CCK, Shibazi and cheap supermarket Chinese cleavers. Hopefully, someone who picks up the white 2 version can report back on how it holds up.
In my opinion, the best feature of this cleaver is the overall construction. Feels very nice and well weighted in hand with proper forward balance and the thick spine at the handle is nice to grip. Handle is finished as opposed to the unfinished CCK barrel handle and very comfortable. While fit and finish are nothing to write home about and there’s a bit of a gap where the tang enters the handle, the spine and choil aren’t sharp OOTB. Also, some CCKs seem to be slightly “wavy” or bent when you look down the spine and/or edge while the Chopper King doesn’t have this problem. Just a very well put together knife at this price point.
The profile on the White 2 version looks more curved than the AUS-10, but both are definitely suited more for push cutting or a nice guillotine and glide motion. Ironically, the Chopper King isn’t the best for straight up down chopping and definitely isn’t as flat at the CCK profile so many people love. There’s more curve towards the back half, so you end up mostly using the front half and it rolls nicely towards the heel without coming to a hard stop.
These seem to be designed for professional Chinese cooks, most of whom usually like a more curved profile and while stiction is a big issue OOTB, it’s easily solved with stones or sandpaper. An excellent cleaver to practice thinning and reprofiling on if you want. The steel seems to be an upgrade from CCK/Shibazi stainless, but I don’t think it’ll be anybody’s favorite to work with. The super thick spine out of the handle is nice and makes the Chopper King feel very substantial and at about 350 grams, it’s a nice middle ground between a super thin CCK and a Japanese made #6 cleaver which is going to be a lot more convex and usually thicker behind the edge. CCK has a more user friendly profile and is a better cutter OOTB with some slight convexity, but with current CCK prices, I think the Chopper King is a better value with better construction. All in all, despite some of the problems I pointed out, these are a screaming deal for $60 plus shipping. I feel like CKTG probably ordered these in bulk and I can see the prices taking a bit of a bump in the future if these catch on.
P.S.
The sticker on the left side leaves a bunch of crappy residue
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Does it have the "rat tail" style tang that comes out the backside of the handle?Here’s my attempt at a review. I’ve had the AUS-10 for almost 2 weeks now and used it for bulk prep a couple times.
View attachment 173200
View attachment 173201
View attachment 173199
View attachment 173204
View attachment 173309
Comes super thick out of the handle, about 5 mm, and immediately flattens out so the rest of the cleaver is pretty uniform thickness until you get to the grind. The grind starts about halfway down the sandblasted finish, you can see where it kicks in in the choil shot, and it’s pretty much a wide bevel grind from that point, although the shoulders aren’t too hard. Very thin behind the edge, but it’s basically symmetrically flat ground down from where the grind starts to the edge with some minor low spots all down the knife, although it’s not a hollow grind. The combination of flat grind and sandblasted finish leads to major stiction OOTB, which feels like slight wedging when cutting carrots lengthwise and doing other similar tasks, despite being so thin BTE. I was really surprised at first because of how thin it is BTE, until I realized it was more of a stiction issue than wedging. I’ve only done a minor thinning to get rid of the sandblasted finish and convexed the right side slightly and it has helped a lot, way smoother cutting and better food release. On my particular example, the thinness is uniform all down the edge, but the shoulders are a little more pronounced at the tip than the heel. I suspect this is more of a sign of mass production than a design feature, and it probably varies slightly from cleaver to cleaver.
I haven’t used other stainless clad AUS-10 knives, but the steel on this one, I would describe as serviceable. The steels on my Sugimoto stainless and Tojiro VG-10 cleavers are both nicer, although you would expect this at 3-4 times the price. OOTB, the Chopper King AUS-10 takes a bit of extra effort to raise a burr and clean it up, but this improves after thinning. I got an edge that cleanly cuts paper towel at 1k, 2k, 3k and 4k and it definitely takes a bit more effort at 1-2k, at 3-4k, the stone does most of the work deburring. But I feel the sweet spot for the edge is 1-2k for heavy use. It’ll lose its fresh off the stone sharpness pretty quickly, but hold an edge with lasting bite for peppers, tomatoes, apples, etc. 3k is good too, but at 4k, it feels very sharp, but starts to get slick pretty quick after some board contact. And although I can get clean edges at all these grits, when you feel the edge on your fingertips with very light pressure, the AUS-10 edge doesn’t quite get as “bite into your fingerpads” sharp as Sugimoto stainless or Tojiro (Tojiro VG-10 can actually get surprisingly sharp) and definitely not as sharp feeling as a nice carbon steel. The overall edge retention isn’t as good either, but better than stainless CCK, Shibazi and cheap supermarket Chinese cleavers. Hopefully, someone who picks up the white 2 version can report back on how it holds up.
In my opinion, the best feature of this cleaver is the overall construction. Feels very nice and well weighted in hand with proper forward balance and the thick spine at the handle is nice to grip. Handle is finished as opposed to the unfinished CCK barrel handle and very comfortable. While fit and finish are nothing to write home about and there’s a bit of a gap where the tang enters the handle, the spine and choil aren’t sharp OOTB. Also, some CCKs seem to be slightly “wavy” or bent when you look down the spine and/or edge while the Chopper King doesn’t have this problem. Just a very well put together knife at this price point.
The profile on the White 2 version looks more curved than the AUS-10, but both are definitely suited more for push cutting or a nice guillotine and glide motion. Ironically, the Chopper King isn’t the best for straight up down chopping and definitely isn’t as flat at the CCK profile so many people love. There’s more curve towards the back half, so you end up mostly using the front half and it rolls nicely towards the heel without coming to a hard stop.
These seem to be designed for professional Chinese cooks, most of whom usually like a more curved profile and while stiction is a big issue OOTB, it’s easily solved with stones or sandpaper. An excellent cleaver to practice thinning and reprofiling on if you want. The steel seems to be an upgrade from CCK/Shibazi stainless, but I don’t think it’ll be anybody’s favorite to work with. The super thick spine out of the handle is nice and makes the Chopper King feel very substantial and at about 350 grams, it’s a nice middle ground between a super thin CCK and a Japanese made #6 cleaver which is going to be a lot more convex and usually thicker behind the edge. CCK has a more user friendly profile and is a better cutter OOTB with some slight convexity, but with current CCK prices, I think the Chopper King is a better value with better construction. All in all, despite some of the problems I pointed out, these are a screaming deal for $60 plus shipping. I feel like CKTG probably ordered these in bulk and I can see the prices taking a bit of a bump in the future if these catch on.
P.S.
The sticker on the left side leaves a bunch of crappy residue
Yup. Feels very secure.
I've been looking at a few cleavers for a while.. This thread is great
Maybe of limited interest, but I got the cleaver saya from CKTG and it fits my CCK slicer quite well. I had been using a felt lined edge guard, but the CCK was so thin that it would slip off in my knife bag, so I had to keep it elsewhere. And it doesn't fit in my roll well, being a cleaver. Cleaver storage is kind of a drag, but this saya is just the ticket. It ain't especially pretty, and it had some finish issues (nothing some sandpaper and a small knife can't fix) but it was $35 and fits real good so I'm not complaining.
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Received my carbon steel Chopper King today. Maybe not up to CCK but it has reasonably good fit and finish for the price. Nice mid size slicing cleaver, I'm not a supper fan of the little ones like the CCk 1303. A fair amount of rocker to the edge which can be a good thing or bad depending on your personal taste in cleavers. Hope to put it to full use sometime soon.
BillHanna
Gotta get ready for ARM
Just purchased an 1103 from another member. Here’s hoping the size suits me. Then, I’ll replace it with another Spåre.
Williamchan87
專業豆漿品評師
Chopper King is the largest Cleaver maker in Taiwan, and is like the CCK of Taiwan. However their older cleavers 30+ years ago or of better quality in general before they somewhat automated the whole system. It's a 3 person manufacturing team that produces millions of knives a year.
On a side note the new CCK's are not as good as the older versions.
On a side note the new CCK's are not as good as the older versions.
Yeah I also heard the older CCK carbon steels are treated to a harder degree.
Tler
Senior Member
waited on more reviews of the chopper king white #2 to buy as a gift and now they're all sold out...
Would anyone advise for or against the CCK stainless handle that's still in stock?
Would anyone advise for or against the CCK stainless handle that's still in stock?
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
Stainless handle knives can get slippery. They have no gaps between the blade and handle, so I guess that's a plus for cleaning. But I prefer the wood handles for grip, and just use some epoxy to seal up any gaps.
You can buy wooden handle ccks at action sales.
https://www.actionsales.com/en/catalogsearch/result/?q=chan+chi+kee
Williamchan87
專業豆漿品評師
That and they are like made in china now in a manufacturing plant, and not crafted in house in HongKong
I'm looking for that and can't seem to find it. Could you possibly link it?
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
They haven't arrived yet. He talked about them in the cktg forums
BillHanna
Gotta get ready for ARM
i think you can search Fook Kee on the site to find it.
boomchakabowwow
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i sharpened "trusty" yesterday. it has been a very enjoyable journey learning how to use a cleaver. i call it my 90% blade. i use it that often. pancaking a pork chop by slapping it silly with the side of the blade is FUN! i smash garlic like i am swatting a fly.
hopefully Taiwan opens up to travel soon. if so, we will be there Oct. my MIL knows i love kitchen knives and she is gonna send me to an island where they make a very competitive cleaver. i have one, but it's giant and i have gravitated towards the smaller cleavers like the CCK1303. my Taiwan version has a more rounded blade profile, and i would argue it sharpens up sharper.
i need another cleaver like i need a hole in the head, but it couldnt hurt to find a Taiwan one of similar weight and size, it might make me get rid of the CCK haha.
hopefully Taiwan opens up to travel soon. if so, we will be there Oct. my MIL knows i love kitchen knives and she is gonna send me to an island where they make a very competitive cleaver. i have one, but it's giant and i have gravitated towards the smaller cleavers like the CCK1303. my Taiwan version has a more rounded blade profile, and i would argue it sharpens up sharper.
i need another cleaver like i need a hole in the head, but it couldnt hurt to find a Taiwan one of similar weight and size, it might make me get rid of the CCK haha.
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Taiwan, Japan, you name it. I have my passport renewed and I'm ready for a lot of places to open back up!
boomchakabowwow
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Wow. Prices went up there. I walked into their store and bought mine. Great store!
I ask RazorSharp about the steel, they said it is SK4 at 61 HRC, if that's the case it is actually better than CCK.
