Been a while since we had a Cleaver chat.

Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
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blokey said:
Plenty of cleaver is 90mm, especially the Sangdao and Xiaopian Dao profile, most if not all home use cleaver in China are 90mm and below
【淘宝】https://m.tb.cn/h.5yhP2p1?tk=akDFWLfhRDa
【淘宝】https://m.tb.cn/h.5B1PyNIduCevjtP?tk=JVupWLf7uNi
【淘宝】https://m.tb.cn/h.5B1OSp7f28yJC3b?tk=SLFeWLfi8Nh
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I know, but when you drop below 90mm it stops cutting like a cleaver. 80mm is definitely just a tall nakiri.

I'm not trying to be confrontational, just mentioning it doesn't look very tall. Hopefully no hard feelings.
 
blokey said:
Plenty of cleaver is 90mm, especially the Sangdao and Xiaopian Dao profile, most if not all home use cleaver in China are 90mm and below
【淘宝】https://m.tb.cn/h.5yhP2p1?tk=akDFWLfhRDa
【淘宝】https://m.tb.cn/h.5B1PyNIduCevjtP?tk=JVupWLf7uNi
【淘宝】https://m.tb.cn/h.5B1OSp7f28yJC3b?tk=SLFeWLfi8Nh
Click to expand...
I agree. 90 mm can definitely be a cleaver. Yes they will handle differently than the taller one more in the 110 mm range, but they definitely can feel differently than even tall nakiris. It has to do with the overall blade whether it’s a cleaver or not. I think they are just different types of cleavers shorter style or taller style. Nakiris are something different.
 
Jville said:
I agree. 90 mm can definitely be a cleaver. Yes they will handle differently than the taller one more in the 110 mm range, but they definitely can feel differently than even tall nakiris. It has to do with the overall blade whether it’s a cleaver or not. I think they are just different types of cleavers shorter style or taller style. Nakiris are something different.
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In that case a lot of chuka bochos are nakiris then as they definitely follow that shape rather than a Chinese chef knife?
 
dtro said:
And you said
"They also vary greatly in size, from just a little smaller than a large slicer to what basically is just a taller nakiri."
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Yeah that’s the point, taller Nakiri and small cleaver can be similar fairly close in dimension, and the definition is not rigid, Chinese would call it cleaver and Japanese might call it Nakiri, however that’s extreme example, the one I posted is no doubt a Chinese cleaver, close to a classic Cantonese 小片刀 than any nakiri
 
dtro said:
In that case a lot of chuka bochos are nakiris then as they definitely follow that shape rather than a Chinese chef knife?
Click to expand...
It’s not just about profile. Profiles can vary on both cleavers and nakiris.
 
First picture of my rectangle from @Knot Handcrafted, 230x115mm. Can't wait to see the finished knife. Its getting a bog oak and brass handle.
 

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stringer said:
Ok I am officially ready to use all my butcher cleavers. Picked up this bad boy from the flea market.

View attachment 313696
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Nice! So which of the two possible directions are you going with it?

1) Belt sander, flatten it, make the world's coolest cutting board
2) Obligated to buy a whole cow (and two sawhorses to support it for the initial division)

I guess there are other possibilities, but these are the ones that stick in my mind when I see it.
 
Rangen said:
Nice! So which of the two possible directions are you going with it?

1) Belt sander, flatten it, make the world's coolest cutting board
2) Obligated to buy a whole cow (and two sawhorses to support it for the initial division)

I guess there are other possibilities, but these are the ones that stick in my mind when I see it.
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I might flatten it a little eventually, but gonna try it out dished to start. It's going to be an island for the kitchen. I won't really use it to chop on unless I'm actually doing butcher cleaver stuff. Too short for me. But the regular counters are much too high for my partner. So she will use it as her station. But she will put a rag down and then another cutting board. We will see how much the dishing bothers her and if it does I have tools to flatten it. But I won't go through the trouble unless she wants me too. I'll mainly just use it set stuff on to have in reach of the stove while I am cooking.

PXL_20240407_230738928.MP.jpg


PXL_20240407_190650625.jpg
 
Rangen said:
Nice! So which of the two possible directions are you going with it?

1) Belt sander, flatten it, make the world's coolest cutting board
2) Obligated to buy a whole cow (and two sawhorses to support it for the initial division)

I guess there are other possibilities, but these are the ones that stick in my mind when I see it.
Click to expand...
35 yrs ago I met an old guy hauling butcher blocks out of Esposito's famous butcher shop on 9th Ave NYC. He was a freelance professional "block leveler" who served several shops--don't know how many. He lined up the blocks, fixed a light leveling framework to their sides, and proceeded w\a 7-1/4" circular saw to make a couple of dozen parallel cuts, 1/4" apart, all the way across, in one direction only. In other words, he cut a bunch of kerfs. Then he took a mallet and smashed the 'uprights,' which resembled the tongues in tongue-and-groove flooring. They broke off cleanly, leaving a semi-smooth surface that was just what Esposito's wanted. Took him about 5 min per block, and the he packed up and left.'
A smart guy like you, Rangen, could figure out how to do the same in a lot less time than it would take to level your block w/a belt sander. Then you'd have a great cutting board that will stay flat a long time. (Pro butcher blocks become hollowed from cleavers, not knives.)
 
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