Cleaver Knives

A cleaver is not a big chef knife. It is a different tool with a different job: weight does the work, not edge geometry. The blade is heavy and flat so it falls through what you are cutting, and the broad face is genuinely useful for scooping a board of chopped garlic into a pan.Two kinds. A heavy bone cleaver has a thick spine and a stout edge meant to go through joints and small bones. A Chinese vegetable cleaver, which looks similar, is thin and light and is for slicing vegetables at speed. Using the thin one on bone will chip it. Check the spine thickness before you buy.Ours. Hand-forged 1095 and 15n20 Damascus at 58 to 60 HRC with full tang construction and buffalo horn, rose wood or micarta handles. Blades run 6 to 8 inches.Can I cut bone with these? The heavy models yes, with a clean downward strike. Never twist the blade in a joint; that is what breaks edges.How do I care for it? Hand wash and dry immediately. Damascus is reactive steel and a cleaver has a lot of surface area to rust. A wipe of mineral oil after use is enough.What angle should I sharpen to? Coarser than a chef knife, around 22 to 25 degrees. A thin fragile edge is the wrong edge for a chopping tool.

Need a custom meat cleaver? We forge every meat cleaver by hand, and a custom meat cleaver can be built to your spec – pick the weight, the edge and the handle material, and we will make the cleaver to match. Engraving is available for gifts.

Which cleaver knife do you actually need?

Half the people who buy the wrong cleaver do it because two very different tools share one word. Match the spine thickness to the job and the knife lasts a lifetime; get it backwards and you will chip an edge in the first week.

American made cleavers, forged not stamped

Most cleavers sold in the United States are stamped: a sheet of steel is punched into a cleaver shape, given an edge and shipped. It works, and it is why they cost what they cost. Ours are forged, which for a cleaver matters more than for any other kitchen knife, because a cleaver is the one knife you deliberately hit things with. The steel is layered, drawn and shaped under a hammer, then hardened to 58 to 60 HRC and ground by hand in our own American shop.

Full tang, always. A cleaver is a lever with a heavy head on the end of it, so a partial tang in a chopping tool is a handle waiting to come off.

Cleaver knife questions

What is a cleaver knife used for? Chopping through things a chef knife would stall on: joints, small bones, squash, and anything where the weight of the blade should be doing the work instead of your wrist. The broad face doubles as a scoop for moving prep off the board.

What is the difference between a meat cleaver and a chef cleaver? Spine thickness. A meat cleaver is thick and heavy and expects bone. A chef or Chinese vegetable cleaver looks similar but is thin and light, built for fast slicing, and will chip if you take it near a joint.

Are your cleaver knives made in the USA? Yes. Forged, heat treated, ground and handled in our own shop, not stamped out of sheet abroad and finished here.

Is a Damascus cleaver practical in a working kitchen? Yes, with one rule: hand wash and dry it straight away. Damascus is reactive and a cleaver has more surface area than any other kitchen blade, so a wet cleaver left on the board will spot.

How heavy should a cleaver be? For bone work, heavy enough that you are guiding it rather than driving it. For vegetables, light enough to move quickly. If you are buying one cleaver for everything, take the medium spine and accept it is a compromise.

Can I get a custom meat cleaver? Yes. Pick the weight, edge and handle material and we will build it. Engraving is available as a paid option for gifts.

Do cleavers come with a sheath? A leather edge guard is included with the heavy models. Say the word and we will cut one for any cleaver on this page.

More reading

See the full kitchen knives collection, the steak knives, or the 440C stainless knives if the blade will live near a sink.

Just added to this collection: Iron Cleaver Hunter, Resin Buffalo Mirror Shine Blade Cleaver Knife, Black Panther Damascus Chef Cleaver Blade Knife and African Buffalo Damascus Cleaver Knife.