So cotedupy....as a cleaver user, I would welcome any insight you have into cleaver profile and blade geometry. I have read the threads on these topics and there isnt much. It seems that there is a preference for a flatter profile. This blade has a distinct sweep to it. Also, I get that there is a thickness/sharpness tradeoff in a cleaver that is different than that of a gyuto. If you are willing, I would love to hear your thoughts.
Certainly! I'm not an expert, but I do have a few, so here's my 2c...
And you might have seen already, but I did a bit of a comparison of a couple recently here:
Lions vs Tigers. A cleaver review.
From the dimensions and weight of yours I'd guess it's probably a bit thicker than my two; not a full on bone cleaver (I have a chinese bone cleaver it's about 1kg), but perhaps more of an all-rounder. In China I believe the difference can be made between caidao vs piandao or sangdao, the former being thicker, the latter two finer*. Tho it is relatively small for this style of knife in my experience.
I'm kind of on the fence about whether I prefer a full on flat profile or a bit of a curve. I have both and the latter is a bit more versatile, and I wouldn't say the one on yours is over-the-top in terms of curvature, looks pretty good to me.
In terms of the edge itself - obviously with the height of these things you can play around with different grinds and bevels. It would take a bit of work, but you could happily thin yours down quite a lot if you did want it razor-like. TBH tho I quite like the look of the thicker slightly convex grind you have there, and I would have thought you'll still be able to get really quite sharp. The grind on the cheaper of the two in my link above is almost completely flat, and again- there's a lot of metal for food to stick to. The pricier of my two has some convexity, and food release is noticeably better.
Apart from being a bit small, I think there's a lot to like about yours, it's going to make a great all-rounder. Something like that on a camping trip for instance is going to be able to absolutely everything, from food to firewood.
Very much looking forward to seeing the handle you come up with, have you got any links to previous ones you've done? I've re-handled a couple of cleavers, in a slightly amateur fashion, and it's quite a good idea, particularly because the tangs are quite easy to rust with the standard handles.
*I don't speak the language, so happy to be corrected if anyone thinks I'm talking nonsense...