i'm gonna try my first Chinese Cleaver.

[boomchakabowwow]

my mom and i found my Stepdad (RIP) old stash of random knives. this bad boy was the obvious stand-out. there was some small rush spots from living in a box in the garage, but it is unused. my mom asked if i wanted it, and i snatched it and ran away giggling before i could answer politely and say "thanks".

i just got home and unpacked it. i ran it over some diamond sharpener and stropped it on leather. holy kamolee..it is now a big rectangular straight razor. it feels huge. bigger than what i imagined my first cleaver to be..here it is in all it's glory. it is from Taiwan. 99% sure.

 

[ynot1985]

yep, it does say from Taipei west gate

 

[foody518]

Neat find, enjoy using it!

 

[Lazarus]

Nice! I love mine, much to the angst of my poor retired naks

 

[WingKKF]

Is the cleaver supposed to be a bone chopper or a slicer? If it's a slicer then it looks like you haven't put an acute enough bevel on the cleaver. Go ahead and make it real thin behind the edge. It will be fun, trust me .

 

[Fedusa]

Honestly, my CCK came with an approx 45° angle on it and though its no laser, I find even when dull, that edge still performs decently for many tasks. The blade is thin enough to still put that 45° to effective use and since the metal isn't very hard wearing it dulls fairly quickly so in essence, the blade lasts longer and it has a longer useful life per sharpening.

 

[WingKKF]

You simply have to experience a cleaver falling through produce with a little push. This is the positive part of the tradeoff for having all that extra height and weight compared to regular knives. The way to make this happen is by thinning the heck out of it. Besides, the cleaver is free and you have a lot of height to play with. If the edge gets too unstable you can always but a micro bevel on it.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

it's friggen sharp. it just glides thru a persimmon using "the force".

i'll play with it. even not free, they are the bargains of the blade world.

 

[XKFC]

It looks very nice!! Need some cleaver skill then

 

[boomchakabowwow]

i havent put it away. i just leave it on the cutting board. i am going to use it exclusively for december..

(except carving a turkey or standing rib roast).

it is a garlic smashing animal. i'm slow and my skills are suspect, but i think i am gonna like it.

 

[XooMG]

Yeah, cleavers are pretty fun, and some of my favorites come out of Taiwan. Ximen shops like the one your knife is from (Yong Xing Long 永興&#38534 are pretty classic. Mine got thinned down to impossibly thin and the edge rolled a little since it wasn't super hard like the Yongli (永&#21033 ones I use. Made the edge slighly less acute and got a microbevel on it and it was pretty sweet. Moving easily through food with a stupid-sharp cleaver still makes me giggle.

 

[boomchakabowwow]

update:

i've pretty much used this thing exclusively for the month of DEC. i still have a week to go. it is sharp as eff..and seems to get sharper with simple stropping. it falls thru a tomato.

i've found one thing that a regular chef knife blows it out of the water. an avocado pit. it will open it up perfect, go around the avocado and the big deep blade of the cleaver pretty much orbits the fruit perfectly. you will meet the cut on the other side for sure. it chops into the pit and twist it out by sheer weight. BUT..pulling the pit off of a chef knife is way safer than the cleaver. you cant do that pinch-push to get the pit off. you have to get more creative to be safe.

 

[XooMG]

I have only ever tried an avocado pit with a cleaver once (not a big part of my cooking here), and used the heel to take out the pit. Not hard to pull off from the choil side. I am no expert though.