What's the benefit to spending more on a meat cleaver?

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curlycues

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Is there any benefit to spending more on a meat cleaver from a performance standpoint? For example I was considering getting this:
https://www.aframestokyo.com/tesshu-meat-cleaver-210mm-high-carbon-steel-blade-kn210.html
But would it perform better than a $40 Dexter or Victorinox meat cleaver?
I do think the Tesshu one looks nicer, but just was wondering whether that would be the only thing I'd be paying extra for.

This would mainly be used for breaking down birds to make stock or bone broth for home use.

I am also open to other suggestions for meat cleavers.
 
Yes I'd like to be able to cut into some chicken bones. When I make chicken stock or bone broth I'm usually using a 3 qt instant pot (it's all we have space for) so it would be nice to be able to cut down some of the bones to make it fit more comfortably and also try to extract as much out of the bones as possible without overfilling.
 
This is probably too much information, but a few things to consider.

1-Generally speaking, the heavier a cleaver the better, since meat cleavers are historically designed to chop through the spines of animals (think pork/lamb chops/bone-in steaks, etc). This is obviously less important with chicken, but the heavier a cleaver the less of a 'swing' or extra force the user needs to apply to make a clean cut, ultimately making it easier to cut cleanly in one stroke, rather than having to take several.

2-A cleaver is only as a good as the surface on which you're using it. If the cutting board or table it's being used on are not sufficiently heavy or dense and thus able to absorb the shock, it's not going to be a pleasant experience.

3-Breaking non-spinal bones with a cleaver can result in splinters and shards, especially with chicken bones, which are already prone to splintering. It's safer to part out a bird by separating it at the various joints and then use the bones once they've been stripped of meat.

4-A very flat profile on a cleaver is less forgiving of bad aim or a bad angle in cutting. A little bit of curve to the edge profile can be more forgiving for inexperienced users.

Essentially, if you joint a chicken into parts, the bones should already be a good size for a pot. The chicken frame (spine, ribs, etc) can be put in whole, or if desired, cut apart using kitchen shears or, yes, broken with a cleaver (although a cleaver wouldnt be my first choice). Honestly, if the chicken frame is too large for your pot, you should probably just invest in a bigger pot, because why bother making a small amount of stock since it takes the same degree of time/effort as a large amount.
 
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I will break chicken drum and thigh bones with the back of my garasuki once I have made a cut to the bone and moved the meat aside. The spine is a solid 5mm at least, maybe wider, though. Those cuts are better done with a confident smack, rather than trying to put the spine of the knife through the bone and to the board.

The spine of a Chinese meat cleaver will also work. In fact, if you look at the spines of Chinese meat cleavers that have been used, they are usually really wonky and beat up for that exact reason.

At work I regularly cut chicken backs out and split breasts with a sh***y semi-flex breaker that's maximum 6 inches.

I second @tgfencer on the cleaver will only be as good as the board. That is a necessary consideration for any heavy cleaver use.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I'm leaning towards getting one of the cheaper ones... And good point about the cutting board. I have a smaller plastic cutting board that I'd probably use for these cases... wouldn't want to use a cleaver on my wooden boards.
 
Chicken bones aren't super hard to chop up but they do require something heavier than the average Chinese style vegetable cleaver. My favorite chicken stock cleaver is a kind of small but reasonably heavy one I bought in Chiang Mai Thailand a few years ago.
 
I like my $40 Thai cleaver (615 grams/carbon steel). I don't use it very often, but I like knowing it's there.

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curlycues said:
Thanks for all the responses. I'm leaning towards getting one of the cheaper ones... And good point about the cutting board. I have a smaller plastic cutting board that I'd probably use for these cases... wouldn't want to use a cleaver on my wooden boards.
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Heavy cleaver use will take divots out of plastic boards. Wood is better. End grain is best. Really, a tree stump is best. It's end grain and dense and after you take a bunch of divots out you sand it down and start again.
 
To be fair, save 25 bucks on the price of the cleaver and buy a 9L pot or something. I have a 19L (yes nineteen) pot for soups and stocks and massive doses of pasta and it's perhaps the best 30 euros (shipped, Prime, ordered a Friday afternoon, received it Saturday) I spent in my kitchen.

3Q is just too small for these things.
 
0032DE3A-0BB3-4F1C-A8BB-0081E8CAA3F4.jpeg
Chan Chi Kee is what I use to turn chicken into chopstick friendly bite sized morsels on a weekly basis.
Goes through bone handily, iron and easy to maintain.
I think to your original point, it’s aesthetics and heft of the cleaver. CCK is a fair bit cheaper when I got it while travelling to HK. Your linked cleaver should do the business no problem.
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
Do you have a six or eight quart pot?
Click to expand...
I do have an 8qt pot but the issue is that I usually end up wanting to use my instant pot (which is 3 qt) to make bone broth since it can pressure cook the bones/is so much faster, etc.
 
stringer said:
[Heavy cleaver use will take divots out of plastic boards. Wood is better. End grain is best. Really, a tree stump is best. It's end grain and dense and after you take a bunch of divots out you sand it down and start again.
Click to expand...

I was using my cleaver to split some dog treats and the damn jerkified tendons were so tough I wacked a little too enthusiastically and split my plastic chopping board clean in half.

So yeah, I have a badass cleaver that can split chopping boards in half! 🤣 It’s a Chicago Cutlery like this except uglier. I can’t believe they’re only $15.
https://www.chicagoknifeworks.com/chicago-cutlery-precision-cut-cleaver/
 
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big_adventure said:
To be fair, save 25 bucks on the price of the cleaver and buy a 9L pot or something. I have a 19L (yes nineteen) pot for soups and stocks and massive doses of pasta and it's perhaps the best 30 euros (shipped, Prime, ordered a Friday afternoon, received it Saturday) I spent in my kitchen.

3Q is just too small for these things.
Click to expand...
In a NYC apartment too. I have stovetop pressure cookers don’t have to waste counterspace. A six quart seems a practical minimum for stock.
 
A meat cleaver is a really coarse tool. Nothing fancy: a typically quite wide-angle edge, to the point of being blunt. (Given that the job of the cleaver is to whack clean through bones and into a board, any sharp edge would be history in three whacks flat, anyway…)

Heft matters. Something in the 400-500 g range is nice, 165-180 in length. Pretty much anything that fits that description will work. I really don't think it matters whether it cost twenty bucks or a hundred. If you spend on a cleaver, do it because you fall in love with the shape, handle, or looks, not because you expect an expensive one to work better than a cheap one.
 
Michi said:
A meat cleaver is a really coarse tool. Nothing fancy: a typically quite wide-angle edge, to the point of being blunt. (Given that the job of the cleaver is to whack clean through bones and into a board, any sharp edge would be history in three whacks flat, anyway…)

Heft matters. Something in the 400-500 g range is nice, 165-180 in length. Pretty much anything that fits that description will work. I really don't think it matters whether it cost twenty bucks or a hundred. If you spend on a cleaver, do it because you fall in love with the shape, handle, or looks, not because you expect an expensive one to work better than a cheap one.
Click to expand...
Traditionally, butchers in Europe use cleavers with a overly rounded edge — if one may call it an edge — to avoid splintering.
 
Benuser said:
Traditionally, butchers in Europe use cleavers with a overly rounded edge — if one may call it an edge — to avoid splintering.
Click to expand...
When you say rounded edge do you mean something like this:
 
Michi said:
I really don't think it matters whether it cost twenty bucks or a hundred. If you spend on a cleaver, do it because you fall in love with the shape, handle, or looks, not because you expect an expensive one to work better than a cheap one.
Click to expand...
I like that... I think what I'm realizing is that I do care about what my tools like like, including handles and shape.
 
curlycues said:
When you say rounded edge do you mean something like this:
Click to expand...

Certainly not. Profile is rectangular. I was speeking about its geometry. Imagine a yo-deba
IMG-20180511-215023-BURST004-5.jpg

but symmetric, where the edge is equally convexed but doesn't end at some 30° per side, but far over 60° per side. It simply does not cut, and is not meant to.
 
Honestly I would probably never buy a meat cleaver new. I'm waiting until I find something gnarly looking and cheap at a garage sale or something. A little rust/pitting looks nice on an old foster bros in my opinion.
For time being a hammer gets the job done for breaking up beef bones for stock.
 
Wow seeing this Munetoshi cleaver for the first time! TESSHU Meat Cleaver 185mm High Carbon Steel Gabon Ebony

Anyway, a higher price is not a necessary condition to get better performance, but it will usually mean better fit and finish. So will likely be staying in your kitchen for longer.

One thing to note is that smaller lengths are more precise imho, so around 165-185mm. I either use a cheap Kiwi for quick tasks, or this very good and great value cleaver by F. Dick

https://www.aframestokyo.com/f-dick-meat-cleaver-6-inch-stainless-steel-blade-1lb-612.html
 
I think meat cleaver falls in with bread knife, where unless you're really digging the aesthetic, not much point spending money. I have a dexter russell carbon steel cleaver. It only comes out when I need to smash something.

For chickens I feel a honesuki with finesse and a pair of good poultry shears for going through heavier things work best. I did once use my cleaver like a machete to spatch **** a twenty pound turkey through the rib cage. Probably not the safest thing with a knife I've done.
 
nwshull said:
I think meat cleaver falls in with bread knife, where unless you're really digging the aesthetic, not much point spending money.
Click to expand...
There are things where spending just a little extra can get something that ends up a lot better, like a few bucks extra for a more durable handle (more durable compared with poor quality wood on the $10 model) is almost always worth it. But "serious money" on a cleaver sounds like for collectors only.
 
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