Can you straighten chinese cleaver blades?

[JWK1]

I'm talking about CCK, Ho Ching Kee Lee, Shibazi, and cleavers of that type with high carbon blades with mono steel construction. They are generally considered to have about R58 or so. This is all about the cutting edge, I don't care about the spine. I've got a few Ho Ching Kee Lee I got off the bay and a Shibazi I bought off Ali Ex a couple of years ago. They all have various amounts of wave in the blade. One of my vintage HCKL cleavers has a weird bend right at the front of the cutting edge. It's enough to interfere with sharpening and is the one I am most interesting in "fixing up".

I'm trying to find out if they can be further worked with a bit of bending or tapping with wood, rubber mallet, etc; or if the heat tempering just makes the metal too hard/brittle. Thanks for any info.

 

[deltaplex]

The short answer is yes.

 

[bsfsu]

I've used a wooden mallet and wooden anvil to straighten cupped (it was almost like a bowl) caidao before.

 

[JWK1]

The short answer is yes.

Could you outline your method for truing up the blade? I say your post on the "...cleave chat" thread with that impressive HCKL vintage cleaver you have.

I've used a wooden mallet and wooden anvil to straighten cupped (it was almost like a bowl) caidao before.

Thank you, that's good news for me. This might make a good winter project after the holiday chaos dies down.

 

[dtro]

Depends how bent it is, small bends can be fixed with weight on top of a chopping board with tour knit between the bench and the board. Pull upwards for greater control.

 

[deltaplex]

Could you outline your method for truing up the blade? I say your post on the "...cleave chat" thread with that impressive HCKL vintage cleaver you have.

Thank you, that's good news for me. This might make a good winter project after the holiday chaos dies down.

Yeah, that's actually been the main reason why I've delayed posting the after the dunk pics, because I want to document out where it's at from an out of alignment standpoint (QUITE A BIT!), and then where I can get it using my normal progression of methods. Before I get to all of that I would like to point to what @bsfsu said above. The steel doesn't feel crazy hard in the short time I've been messing with it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it could be trued up with a wooden mallet and a stump. I will be surprised if I can get it straight with only bending, when it's all said and done.

 

[bsfsu]

Yeah, that's actually been the main reason why I've delayed posting the after the dunk pics, because I want to document out where it's at from an out of alignment standpoint (QUITE A BIT!), and then where I can get it using my normal progression of methods. Before I get to all of that I would like to point to what @bsfsu said above. The steel doesn't feel crazy hard in the short time I've been messing with it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it could be trued up with a wooden mallet and a stump. I will be surprised if I can get it straight with only bending, when it's all said and done.

Be prepared for it to crack .

 

[deltaplex]

So I sometimes just grab two things and start messing with them in an idle moment and I ended up working out most of, or at least enough of, the warping to feel decent about being able to put an edge on it and run it through it's paces before I strip the handle off and get it all spiffed up. The steel is able to be moved using just a straightening stick, but as @MSicardCutlery has discussed with his experience making cleavers: it's a big thin plate of sheet metal and it has a bunch of multi-axes warps in it, so you move one out and then have to check where else it moved, go to move another out, check it, repeat, repeat, repeat. I'm going to have to continue to check as I fix the profile and ease the uncomfortable spots, I might end up using a hammer at some point, but I haven't needed to yet.
This is where it was at last night:

 

[MSicardCutlery]

San mai isn't usually much trouble.....but monosteel is not a great time.

 

[deltaplex]

San mai isn't usually much trouble.....but monosteel is not a great time.

Yeah, working out warps on clad construction vs this is far easier, all the effects are more localized, where here it felt like 6 steps forward 5.5 back for a long while, and then it probably only improved to 3 forward 2 back once I got a better understanding for how it has been reacting. The good news is that I'm 100% certain it'll lose the "who's harder" test against against a mill b.astard file, so it's going to take about 5 minutes to clean up the profile and get an edge on it.

 

[Dull_Apex]

Does a normal size straightening stick work for cleavers or is this a job for a notch cut into retaining wall timber?

 

[deltaplex]

Does a normal size straightening stick work for cleavers or is this a job for a notch cut into retaining wall timber?

Standard is what I used, there was leverage to spare for what was needed.

 

[sanmateo]

Why is san mai easier? Because the
cladding is softer?

 

[deltaplex]

Why is san mai easier? Because the
cladding is softer?

Very quickly: yes, the unhardened cladding allows the hardened core steel to deflect without failing (to a point), so for the most part it's like bending the cladding when you work out warps on clad construction.