Buying a new cleaver

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kalaeb

kalaeb

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Andys thread on all his cleavers gets me itching to get another cleaver. Currently I am sporting all lightweights (cck 1303, Fanatic and j.jones custom) and I think I am ready to jump up into the big league. Looking at something sub $200.00 torn between a Suien VC, CCK 1103, Misono stainless, or Sugimoto.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
I just got a CCK 1103 and am really happy with it. I only have like three days of use on it but, it already feels comfortable in my hand. I did sand the handle with 240/600, hot soak in oil/wax, round and polish spine and choil and sharpen before use because fit and finish was no where I would like. The steel seems to be rather non-reactive, I have tried to see if it would react or rust after what I had heard but it only showed a slight patina after I did a batch of apples yesterday.

I have not used any other cleavers, but I know others will probably have experience with those.
 
If you can get a Suein VC for $200 JUMP on it. Great medium-weight Chukabocho. Welcome to the club, and enjoy the added safety, enhanced functionality, and general moral superiority of the Chinese Cleaver. Two warnings-1: Be careful going back to a regular french knife after getting used to the tall blade of a cleaver; there is a risk of cutting yourself and 2: Be prepared to leave the rest of your knifekit in the case!

Hax the Cook CLEAVERS RULE!!! :D
 
Hax you are my king of guy. :headbang:

With a little elbow grease and some patina the Suien is all the knife anyone would ever need. Honestly it's 90% of the cleaver its $300-400 brethren are. I don't know much about all the new ones that have been abounding lately like the Misono, but I'm pretty sure they are small like your other ones. Not bad just not what your OP was asking for. I do like Sugimotos, but I don't think you can find one for sub $200. They do make a cheapo smaller stainless one but I remember hearing mixed reviews on it and again not in line with your OP. Go big or go home I say. :biggrin: When you want to stop by and check out the collection let me know.
 
There is one other option, on the cheap. (and everyone else listen to this) :bat: There is one big cleaver that has never gotten much respect or caught on much. It's the Town Food Service #1 slicer. It is basically a much cheaper version of the CCK 1101 and maybe 5% thicker (still super thin). I had one for a while and kinda miss it. The beast is 240x120 and only costs $30. I can't really comment on the steel other than it is adequate and roughly on par with the CCK's. The steel has never been the strong suite on those knives, with a blade that large and thin they cut like a dream even when dull. Here's the link:

http://www.chefsresource.com/no1.html

With CCK's being more expensive than they used to be the only reason I could see picking up a CCK over one of this is the size issue. It doesn't come in a smaller version. If you wanted a CCK 1101 I'd pick up one of these instead for half the cost every day of the week.
 
My first Moritaka cleaver I ordered back in 2007(?) came in under $200. Don't know if you can still get one made at that cost today. But I was really happy with it and is still one of my go to cleavers.

Price: $177 shipped
Length: 220
Width: 110
Overall length: 355mm
Spine Thickness
Widest: 5.5mm
Narrowest: 2mm
Weight: 380
Blade Material: Blue #2, kurouchi
Handle: Buffalo horn and rosewood, round.
Ordered: 4/25
Received: 6/02
Very light and thin. Balance is about 2/3rds down from the top of the blade.

My second Moritaka cleaver I had made came in over $500, but it was Damascus with a hammer finish.
 
Been looking for the right time/reason to try a cleaver.....this be it!

Andy777 said:
There is one other option, on the cheap. (and everyone else listen to this) :bat: There is one big cleaver that has never gotten much respect or caught on much. It's the Town Food Service #1 slicer. It is basically a much cheaper version of the CCK 1101 and maybe 5% thicker (still super thin). I had one for a while and kinda miss it. The beast is 240x120 and only costs $30. I can't really comment on the steel other than it is adequate and roughly on par with the CCK's. The steel has never been the strong suite on those knives, with a blade that large and thin they cut like a dream even when dull. Here's the link:

http://www.chefsresource.com/no1.html

With CCK's being more expensive than they used to be the only reason I could see picking up a CCK over one of this is the size issue. It doesn't come in a smaller version. If you wanted a CCK 1101 I'd pick up one of these instead for half the cost every day of the week.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, I did not see that one.

Hax the Cook CLEAVERS RULE!!! :D
 
btw, anyone else think it is time for a section dedicated to the REAL all purpose knife, aka cleaver?

Hax the Cook CLEAVERS RULE!!! :D
 
Andy777 said:
There is one other option, on the cheap. (and everyone else listen to this) :bat: There is one big cleaver that has never gotten much respect or caught on much. It's the Town Food Service #1 slicer. It is basically a much cheaper version of the CCK 1101 and maybe 5% thicker (still super thin). I had one for a while and kinda miss it. The beast is 240x120 and only costs $30. I can't really comment on the steel other than it is adequate and roughly on par with the CCK's. The steel has never been the strong suite on those knives, with a blade that large and thin they cut like a dream even when dull. Here's the link:

http://www.chefsresource.com/no1.html
Click to expand...

Do you know if it's carbon steel or stainless? Their web page says stainless in the title but carbon in the description.
 
Unless they changed the item or something it is carbon. It's a big mother at 24x12 but a total steal for $30 IMHO. If you've never used a cleaver before you will get a baptism by fire with that one. :devilburn: There was a random guy that wrote a blog post about this TFS slicer ages ago. I'm going to see if I can track it down, it was pretty funny.
 
for less than 50 bucks can't go wrong. have been wanting to try one out. have to wait until tues tho.
 
I picked this one up at a local chinese market as it looked like the CCK, but has different markings. Is this from a different factory?

IMG_2655.JPG


the logo is a globe with tigers rampant on either side.

IMG_2655.JPG
 
If it is in Australia that would have been Tim Leung Chopper company which also has its branch and factory in HK.
 
I'm in Oregon, butt there is no telling where they get these.
 
I think I found a pick of a similar one on a diff forum, but they had the top part blackened out hard to see the makers mark. But I think he is right.
 
I've come full circle... Chinese cleavers all the way in a local context, we upped the ante to much more expensive german steel, then that turned out to be overpriced crud, so Japanese steel, then full custom dammy, and now everyone gets a $30 cleaver....
 
You guys have me wanting to pick one up again, be strong Andy be strong...

I've come full circle... Chinese cleavers all the way in a local context, we upped the ante to much more expensive german steel, then that turned out to be overpriced crud, so Japanese steel, then full custom dammy, and now everyone gets a $30 cleaver....
Click to expand...

The beauty of these is the pureness of the design. Large, good heft, very thin, so they just cut really well. You guys will have to get together and how a pow-wow thread discussing your likes, disklikes, observations etc. The thought of a bunch of cleaver newbs trying to weild these big mothers makes me chuckle.

I just found my review from back in the day off KF, I updated my score a little as the value is killer and it's has stayed $30 while almost every other cleaver has increased in price quite drastically. It's even bigger than I remember, so badass. :headbang:

townfoodservice5hw.jpg


Price: $30
Length: 245
Width: 130
Spine Thickness: 2.5
Weight: 528
Blade Material: unknown carbon kasumi
G/cm Ratio: 1.66

This cleaver is an absolute monster, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s surprisingly light and thin for it’s size. I’ve done some head to head comparisons with the CCK 1102, and while I feel the CCK came out with a slight lead (probably all in my head,) this knife is still a contender. At the same time I compared to it to a couple other “budget" cleavers and it blew them away.

Score /10:
Usability/Ergonomics: 8
Edge Profile: 9
Steel: 6
Finish: 6
Value: 10
Total: 78
 
SpikeC said:
I picked this one up at a local chinese market as it looked like the CCK, but has different markings. Is this from a different factory?


the logo is a globe with tigers rampant on either side.
Click to expand...

I don't know the brand name but I've seen cleavers with those markings show up quite often on eBay. How's the blade? Is it a thin slicer or an all arounder? It's pretty much a given that these Chinese/Hong Kong cleavers will have passable steel at best, so I either like my no-names very thin like the slicer style, or big mother bone choppers.
 
Tim Leung Chopper is what it is. It seems fairly thin, I'm grinding the bevel above the edge down as it is pretty lumpy, but the steel seems quite hard. Details at 11.
 
Andy777 said:
Unless they changed the item or something it is carbon. It's a big mother at 24x12 but a total steal for $30 IMHO. If you've never used a cleaver before you will get a baptism by fire with that one. :devilburn: There was a random guy that wrote a blog post about this TFS slicer ages ago. I'm going to see if I can track it down, it was pretty funny.
Click to expand...

I think something may have changed, thats what I ordered, but got a stainless one instead, the one I got is 205mm X 100mm. 2.5 mm at the heel and 2mm at the tip. Not much taper, flat grind. Comming in at 403g. The fit and finish is surprisingly good, much better than the CCK and substiantially more than I would expect from a 20 dollar knife.

Here is a poor cell phone pic:

town.jpg


Overall I like it, but I think the Suien I just ordered will work much better.
 
Damn, I was just about to place an order for that cheap cleaver. Too bad it's not the same one anymore.

Does anyone know how reactive the Suien is? Maybe Kalaeb can update us with that info as well. The thing I'm hesitant about with that one (other than reactivity) is how curvy the profile is. I don't know how one would straighten out the belly.
 
Well that's no good. :curse: I think as it isn't the same as the specs on the link you could send it back and maybe make them refund all shipping etc. That's total bunk. Oh well. :(
 
heirkb said:
Damn, I was just about to place an order for that cheap cleaver. Too bad it's not the same one anymore.

Does anyone know how reactive the Suien is? Maybe Kalaeb can update us with that info as well. The thing I'm hesitant about with that one (other than reactivity) is how curvy the profile is. I don't know how one would straighten out the belly.
Click to expand...

Okay, actually ordered it from Jon two days ago and it arrived to work today. I just did not want to post that I got two cleavers in one week. That would be wrong.

I have been cutting onions, jalepeno's and chicken and have not noticed it being any more reactive than any other carbon, probably less so. The curve is not as big of a deal as I thought it would be. It rises approx 5 mm from the center of the curve to the tip and only about 3-4mm to the heel from the center. There is pretty good taper starting at 2.5mm at the heel to approx 1.25mm at the tip. The knife comes in at 420g, but does not feel unwieldly. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
 
Andy777 said:
Well that's no good. :curse: I think as it isn't the same as the specs on the link you could send it back and maybe make them refund all shipping etc. That's total bunk. Oh well. :(
Click to expand...

Its not bad, and not a total bunk, I will still be able to find some use for it, lemon whacker if nothing else. :D
 
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