Been a while since we had a Cleaver chat.

[Noodle Soup]

Ha! Err... yes... I mostly bought it cos it looks cool.

Having said that - whenever I buy a new cleaver my wife's response goes along the lines of: 'Can I use it to go through bones? If not then it's not a real cleaver is it.' So hopefully it'll keep her happy. And her father is a cattle farmer and we often have cows (or parts thereof) in the freezer, so it might get to see some real work too.

(Not that I'd have the faintest idea about how to butcher a cow!)

Like I said, I brought one home from my first trip to China too. They actually make those in the same dimensions but different weights. Thin ones for slicing meat and heavy ones for chopping through bones. You can't tell the difference without picking them up and looking at the spine thickness.

 

[cotedupy]

Like I said, I brought one home from my first trip to China too. They actually make those in the same dimensions but different weights. Thin ones for slicing meat and heavy ones for chopping through bones. You can't tell the difference without picking them up and looking at the spine thickness.

Aye. This one should go through bones, though perhaps not cow bones.

(I've noticed with a few brands that you can tell also by the handle: With the handles that have four grooves in them being used for slicers, and handles with lots of grooves used for bones/butchery knives.)

 

[natto]

My meat cleaver has got the weight to form dough for dumplings. That ist fun. Even more fun to people watching.

 

[cotedupy]

how high/what angle should the bevel be on a cleaver?

Something I do, which seems to work for me, and is pretty convenient is take the sharpening angle as the width of my thumb at the spine. (For 90 - 100mm tall Caidao.)

If I could remember anything about geometry from school I'd measure my thumb and work the angle out for you. But I can't.

 

[cotedupy]

I’m becoming a bit cleaver-ish myself, in he past month. The first three are the newest kids on the block. View attachment 121111

What do you think of the Daovua?

 

[ian]

Something I do, which seems to work for me, and is pretty convenient is take the sharpening angle as the width of my thumb at the spine. (For 90 - 100mm tall Caidao.)

If I could remember anything about geometry from school I'd measure my thumb and work the angle out for you. But I can't.

That would be around 15 degrees with my thumb.

In general, if you want the angle, type

“arcsin( 25 / 100 ) in degrees” into google search, replacing 25 with the width of your thumb (or generally, the height of the spine when sharpening) in mm and replacing 100 with the height of the cleaver.

If you know the angle you want, say 15 degrees, type

“100 sin(15 degrees)”

into google search, replacing 100 with the height of the cleaver and 15 with your desired angle, and it’ll spit out the height you need the spine

 

[BillHanna]

What do you think of the Daovua?

Not much. I only use it to make big pieces of meat into smaller, irregular pieces of meat. I might attempt to sell it, or throw it in with my next sale. I'm eyeing up a Matsubara shiro 1 cleaver on CKTG, now.

 

[cotedupy]

That would be around 15 degrees with my thumb

That sounds about right. My angle may be a touch bigger; I thought I did them just a little higher angle than most of my knives... but maybe not.

[Edit - yeah just worked mine out - comes out about pretty much 15 degrees too.]

 

[Noodle Soup]

What do you think of the Daovua?

I really like mine. Probably one of my favorite light veg. work Chinese (Viet) cleavers. Kind of replaced the one I bought in Hanoi but then I'm always finding a new favorite. This is a hobby not a profession these days.

 

[captaincaed]

That would be around 15 degrees with my thumb.

In general, if you want the angle, type

“arcsin( 25 / 100 ) in degrees” into google search, replacing 25 with the width of your thumb (or generally, the height of the spine when sharpening) in mm and replacing 100 with the height of the cleaver.

If you know the angle you want, say 15 degrees, type

“100 sin(15 degrees)”

into google search, replacing 100 with the height of the cleaver and 15 with your desired angle, and it’ll spit out the height you need the spine

I think this should get pinned to your knife definitions note. Or maybe we need a new pinned note in the sharpening section. Gangsta.

 

[GorillaGrunt]

I really like mine. Probably one of my favorite light veg. work Chinese (Viet) cleavers. Kind of replaced the one I bought in Hanoi but then I'm always finding a new favorite. This is a hobby not a profession these days.

i like mine too, I’d call it better value than CcK for the comparable price. Mine is definitely not straight, looking at it makes me think there’s no way this thing should cut right — but somehow it does and easily too.

 

[cotedupy]

That would be around 15 degrees with my thumb.

In general, if you want the angle, type

“arcsin( 25 / 100 ) in degrees” into google search, replacing 25 with the width of your thumb (or generally, the height of the spine when sharpening) in mm and replacing 100 with the height of the cleaver.

If you know the angle you want, say 15 degrees, type

“100 sin(15 degrees)”

into google search, replacing 100 with the height of the cleaver and 15 with your desired angle, and it’ll spit out the height you need the spine

Ah yes... trigonometry... It's all coming back to me now. SOH CAH TOA, and smoking behind the bike sheds.

 

[BillHanna]

I just quickly touched up my CCK1303 for the first time(shapton 1500). That first slice into a potato made me cackle. I stopped after 1.5 spuds to share this. That is all.

Bored Person reading this that doesn’t have one. Buy one from action sales. Supply15 is the discount code. Do it.

 

[cotedupy]

Nice sunny day here, so I thought I'd do a lineup of what I currently have.

On top: Shibata Tinker Tank. Then from L to R: Leung Tim Kau Kong, Two Lions #3 (going soon as a present for someone), Leung Tim Sangdao #2, CCK 1302, Leung Tim Slicer (equivalent of 1103), CCK 2204 Rhino.

I do actually have another Leung Tim which I'm going to do a bit of restoring on. And a Two Lions bone cleaver as well, but I've no idea where that is. Seems quite a conspicuous thing to have lost.

As I was composing this picture I used one of them to kill not one, but two, White Tips. It often goes unremarked upon but one of the key features of the design of caidao is the flat of the blade - perfectly engineered for smacking down hard... THWACK!... on poisonous spiders. Or garlic or whatever if you live in a less 'exciting' country.

 

[peterm]

That's a nice looking lineup!

 

[cotedupy]

That's a nice looking lineup!

Ta! They do look pretty cool all together like that. I now need to figure out making some kind of storage / display thing, as they currently just kinda sit on top of each other in a drawer atm.

 

[peterm]

This inspired me to dig out my veggie slicer cleavers. CCK on top; left to right is Sugimoto, Ashi, Pierre Rodrigue w/ Alabama damascus, Hattori forum knife. I need more hands!

 

[boomchakabowwow]

I want to play.

I only have two. but the CCK 1303 gets the nod 90% of the time. I have to consciously make an effort to use another knife. small cuts, big cuts, a cleaver gets it done.

they are so important to me, they ride shotgun. all other blades are in a dark drawer. . they are both shaving sharp. the Taiwan one might be sharper, I am slowly working a blade ding out of it. me being dumb.

 

[BillHanna]

Fredrik Spåre put some up on IG. That might be my first custom.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

Fredrik Spåre put some up on IG. That might be my first custom.

I refuse to go look!! dang.

 

[demcav]

A new cleaver in the house...

Blade is 52100, 203mm x 95mm (8" x 3.75"), 297 grams, with integral bolster, forced patina (vinegar)
Handle and saya pen - stabilized Bog Oak
Saya - Rainbow Poplar

This was a custom order from Steve Grosvenor (Red Rock Tools in South Dakota) that arrived today. A Tall Gyuto that I have from Steve inspired me to request a Chinese cleaver from him, also. Steve is great to work with and produced exactly what I asked for. It's based on my CCK, but with some very *special* upgrades! The balance point is right at the pinch grip.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

damn. that is a fine looking cleaver? how does it cut?

tempted to email the guy and ask if he could make me a 4.5" paring knife..hmmm

 

[demcav]

I used it to make a mushroom soup tonight. Onions and celery are a fine dice and mushrooms are thinly sliced. As you can see, this knife had no problem with either of the cuts, and it is VERY comfortable in the hand. I'd say contact Steve about what you want in a parer, and he will very honestly work with you to give you what you would like to have.

 

[cotedupy]

My wife bought me this in antique/salvage shop at the weekend. Gyuto for scale.

Just in case y'know anyone's got any stray elephants that need chopping up or anything...

 

[xxxclx]

My wife bought me this in antique/salvage shop at the weekend. Gyuto for scale.

Just in case y'know anyone's got any stray elephants that need chopping up or anything...

View attachment 127462

Might come in handy against those pesky emus down under

 

[anko]

Couple new slicing cleavers on Watanabe's website, a bit smaller/lighter than what I've seen. Might make some people here happy!

 

[Pertti]

Very into cleavers now recently. I currently have only this Zwilling 6" meat cleaver in my posession, but just ordered a CCK 1102 large carbon slicer and a Sugimoto CM4030 stainless small cleaver. The Zwilling has served me well when I've needed to hack through something, but its so thick that so far I've found it basically useless for anything else.

Currently having a hard time not ordering more before I get the ones already coming to me lol.

I feel like I want something in between still. So thinking about a cck 1302. Is it of the same thinnes compared to a 1303, but thinner than my 1102? I've understood that the 130x are the lazors.

Then again I'm not sure if I'd actually want a 1912 stainless instead to be the mid size. Is this one much thicker than the 1302? The 130x seem to be the rage though..

Also noticed these Fook Kee cleavers, but not sure I could source these anywhere to EU. These are apparently not as widely known. The mulberry slicer here seems like an interesting option. Havent contacted razorsharp. Noticed that also this Israeli shop is selling them.


https://www.razorsharp.com.sg/chinese-knives-fook-kee.html
https://www.japanese-knives.co.il/product-category/fook-kee/

 

[goatgolfer]

can you specify your question?

you’re asking a very generic question. Steel, grind, F&F.... there’s so much you can or could be talking about.

a CCK is a decent knife, a good one with some tweaking. But you can get one that is similar to it for $15... I think the CCK is overpriced, even though it’s relatively cheap.

performance is a tricky beast. If you’re just looking for a well performing knife, there’s no need to Spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars. A $600 knife often doesn’t perform significantly better than a $150 knife, and a $4000 doesn’t perform significantly better than either one....

i am sure you understand there’s more to buying and collecting knives than performance. I mean, you’ve been around this forum, right?

??? What do you think is a $15 equivalent to a CCK (X)? Or I could buy 3 of the $15 in different sizes.
Any suggestions?

 

[pavhav]

Does anyone have experience with the Matsubara Kiri Cleaver? A bit small and not cheap, but the stainless cladding may make it easier to maintain? Keep rereading the options mentioned here and vacillate between the simple Chinese carbon cleavers, and their pricier Japanese counterparts.

 

[Nagakin]

Might be back on team cleaver after thinning a Sugimoto #7 to like a 6.5.