Conan Dunlap Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 I just received my first commission for a cleaver. This is for utilitarian purposes for a taco guy. He will be chopping meat and vegetables. His complaint about store bought cleavers is they are too light and not sharp enough. I am thinking 80CRV2 1/4" thick with black micarta scales. Any design critiques are welcome. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Keyes Posted June 8 Share Posted June 8 Aside from the real meat cleaver in my kitchen, which I use for all kinds of heavy chopping, I prefer thin stock for veggie knives 0.100 to 0.0625. The left hand one is a beast. 0.125, it's very forward heavy, even with the copper bolsters. It will chop through the shoulder bone of a pork roast and has never taken any edge damage. The right hand one is 0.0625 thick and is just about right, I think. Sharpness is a matter of geometry, edge holding is a matter of hardness. The commercial veggie cleavers are soft and the geometry is bad. I would take one of the knives he doesn't like and resharpen it and see if that solves part of the problem. IMHO, .250 stock a way too heavy, particularly for a tool that someone is going to be using all day, every day. Geoff 2 "The worst day smithing is better than the best day working for someone else." I said that. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. - - -G. K. Chesterton So, just for the record: the fact that it does work still should not be taken as definitive proof that you are not crazy. Grant Sarver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Dunlap Posted June 8 Author Share Posted June 8 24 minutes ago, Geoff Keyes said: IMHO, .250 stock a way too heavy, particularly for a tool that someone is going to be using all day, every day. Geoff Thanks for the input, I have never really used a cleaver so this is very helpful. I will target the .125 thickness since his main complaint was they weren't heavy enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Longmire Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 You will also want a slight curve to the edge. True straight won't chop well. Look at Geoff's. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joël Mercier Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 I believe what your costumer is asking is more the Chinese cleaver type, which is similar to a Nakiri, but with a wider blade. A traditional western cleaver is made for chopping bones, tendons, etc. Heavy butcher work...not good at all on fine work and vegetables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Dunlap Posted June 9 Author Share Posted June 9 4 hours ago, Alan Longmire said: You will also want a slight curve to the edge. True straight won't chop well. Look at Geoff's. Thanks, I will add that. 4 hours ago, Joël Mercier said: I believe what your costumer is asking is more the Chinese cleaver type, which is similar to a Nakiri, but with a wider blade. A traditional western cleaver is made for chopping bones, tendons, etc. Heavy butcher work...not good at all on fine work and vegetables. I am not familiar with those, but I will look into that, thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Keyes Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 I have one of these, and it's not even in the block, I never use it. It's a bit shorter than what I showed and nearly 3/8ths thick with an ax edge. Not the thing for veggies. 1 "The worst day smithing is better than the best day working for someone else." I said that. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. - - -G. K. Chesterton So, just for the record: the fact that it does work still should not be taken as definitive proof that you are not crazy. Grant Sarver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conan Dunlap Posted June 9 Author Share Posted June 9 I can see that, I will work with the customer on expectations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joël Mercier Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 Here's an interesting read about the Chinese cleaver. Makes me want to try that type on my next one. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/why-i-use-a-chinese-cleaver/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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