Buying a low cost stainless chinese cleaver - analysis paralysis

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Which cleaver

  • Shibazi $40

    Votes: 15 60.0%

  • CCK Stainless 1912 ~$100

    Votes: 8 32.0%

  • Japanese cleaver at ~$100 Masahiro

    Votes: 2 8.0%

  • Japanese cleaver at ~$100 Sakai Takayuki

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Tojiro VG10 ~$140

    Votes: 2 8.0%

  • Sugimoto CM4030 ~$220 (over budget but worth it?)

    Votes: 2 8.0%
  • Total voters
    25
I'm thinking of getting a Masahiro Cleaver myself so, I'm looking forward to any reviews and updates! Especially, TS vs TX comparisons which seem to be MBS-26 versus MV(MB?)-85 carbon stainless-clad steel.
 
tubaroo said:
Ok, so I was planning on only getting one cleaver. But I've since picked these up:
  • CCK 1912, Small Slicer
  • Shibazi F208-2, another Slicer
Click to expand...

How's the experience with the two by now?
I'm wondering if the almost four times the price of the SBZ für the cck is worth it, given that it's only markup and they're similarly priced in China...
 
I didn't find CCK cleavers to be that much cheaper in Hong Kong than the U.S. As for Shibazi, their line is so large you can find them at practically all price ranges. Their pro models were about the same as CCK's of the same grade.
 
mokk said:
How's the experience with the two by now?
I'm wondering if the almost four times the price of the SBZ für the cck is worth it, given that it's only markup and they're similarly priced in China...
Click to expand...
Thinness and weight are very different. The cck is about 260g while the shibazi is about 330g. And thickness are about 1.6mm and 2.3mm respectively. The cck is a very thin and light slicer while id consider the shibazi to be more on the midweight side. Also the handle on the shibazi is much wider. I did a mini review of the shibazi and also documented my thinning project where I made a number of modifications to mine. Both are good values for the price. But out of the box performance are very different.

https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/cleaver-thinning-project.50753/
 
Noodle Soup said:
I didn't find CCK cleavers to be that much cheaper in Hong Kong than the U.S. As for Shibazi, their line is so large you can find them at practically all price ranges. Their pro models were about the same as CCK's of the same grade.
Click to expand...

I'm Euro-based. Any CCK sources over here? apart from that I'm just finding them on eBay from a HK seller at around 100$.
Local prices from what I'm reading are more in the 350-400HKD, which is a third to half max.

The Shibazi are available on AliExpress for 20-25$ (taking about the F208) which is much closer to the domestic price

So if I'm comparing the domestic prices, they're both pretty close - does that account for similar quality?
 
You are probably right on the CCK's. They were around $60 US tops in Hong Kong a couple of years ago. I didn't see any Shibazi there at all but I've found them in main land China shops. They were usually the lower end home user models though. The pro level Shibazi I own all came from various web sources here.
 
mokk said:
Am I missing any pro level stainless SBZ that's superior to the F208? I thought that was already pretty much their top of the line.
Click to expand...
The F208 has the best steel that I was able to find of their different models.
 
Shibazi's I was talking about are the big plain looking ones similar to what CCK offers. They might actually be coming off the same line from their looks. I bought a thin slicer and a heavier all-purpose, both stainless, from "he who's name must not be spoken" several years ago. Also have a couple of plain carbon steel models ordered straight from Chef's Mall in China. The big stainless models take some getting used to but I like the carbon Shibazi's just as well as the CCK 13xx line.
 
I should probably add I don't know what the steel is in my big stainless Shibazi. Never worried much about that. How well they cut on their intended food products is all that is really important to me.
 
He who's name must not be spoken no longer carries them. Looking at AliExpress I would say they are probably the S-D1 and S-D2 models or something very similar in the line. I did pay more here in the US for the knives I have than what AliExpress is charging now.
 
Rehandled CCK 1912 stainless:

20201203_132338b.jpg
 
The SD-1 and SD-2 are thinner and lighter than the F208-1 and F208-2. They feel closer to the CCK knives in weight and grind, but still not quite as thin. The handles are much more similar to the CCK slicer handles. Steel for the SD-x knives are listed as 4cr13, while the F208-x are 8cr13. Not sure how much of a difference there would be. I only held the SD-2 knife in the store, but did not use it.
 
I scored a Sugimoto CM-4030 out of Japan for a ~$130USD at my door a few months ago. To me, that was the best option available and was cost competitive, though not the cheapest, of my options.
 
Noodle Soup said:
Looking at AliExpress I would say they are probably the S-D1 and S-D2 models or something very similar in the line. I did pay more here in the US for the knives I have than what AliExpress is charging now.
Click to expand...

According to Panko, the F208 is the superior quality knife while the S-D1/D2 are more of a cheap beater
 
None. Except for maybe the Shibazi, I don’t consider any of the options in the poll to be ‘low cost.’ Low cost stainless cleavers aplenty in some of the Chinatown restaurant supply outlets—circa $20. My stainless Dexter-Russell Chinese cleaver ($35), was a formidable kitchen workhorse for years—perhaps unfashionable in these parts, but still have it, still great IMO.
 
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mokk said:
According to Panko, the F208 is the superior quality knife while the S-D1/D2 are more of a cheap beater
Click to expand...

A highly technical and nuanced comparison 🙄 It sounded like he was responding more to the handle than the blade itself. I would take this with a grain of salt
 
For the record, I have a F208 too. I tended to find it too heavy for purely vegetable knife and too fragile for an all purpose (light bone cutting) cleaver. I don't keep track of the model numbers on Shi Ba Zi cleavers very well but I also have a metal handle model with the little sticker saying "cut bone behind this arrow and slice in front" that makes a much better all purpose blade. I noticed this same reviewer did a video on a fancy handle home user grade Shi Ba Zi. He couldn't understand why the blade was ground thicker at the base of the edge than on the front 2/3's of the edge. I kind of lost confidence in his cleaver expertise at that point.
 
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