Description
Twelve inches of blade under a flat black coating, with a sweeping belly that drops to a point rather than ending in the square nose most cleavers have. It is a chopper that can also skin and break down an animal, which is an unusual pair of jobs for one tool.
| Overall length | 18 inches |
| Blade length | 12 inches |
| Handle length | 6 inches |
| Handle | Wood riveted with steel pins |
| Steel | High carbon steel, black carbon coating |
| Hardness | 58–60 HRC, oil tempered |
| Pattern | Black carbon coating; no forged pattern |
| Included | Hand-stitched leather sheath |
Put to work: heavy butchery and camp processing. This is the knife for jointing, splitting ribs, quartering and cutting through the resistance that would stall a chef knife. The mass sits forward of your hand, so the swing does the cutting and you steer rather than force.
The blade is coated, and that is the point
The finish here is a uniform matte black carbon coating laid over the whole flat, right to the edge bevel. It is not a pattern and it is not an etch — there is no visible layering anywhere on this blade. The coating exists to keep moisture off high-carbon steel in the worst environment a knife can live in, which is a wet game pole or a butcher block. It also kills glare, which matters more than it sounds when you are working outdoors.
Details you only notice in the hand
There is a hole through the blade near the spine, positioned for a lanyard or for hanging on a hook rather than for weight reduction. The wood handle is riveted with steel pins over a tang that runs the full width, and the belly of the blade sweeps far enough that you can use the last three inches like a skinner without changing grip.
The sheath is tooled, not plain
Twelve inches of edge needs real leather around it. This one is stitched, stamped with a decorative border along both edges, and fitted with a belt loop and a snap strap over the handle.
Care: a coating protects the flats and nothing else. The moment you sharpen this knife you expose bare high-carbon steel along the whole edge, and that thin strip is where rust will start. Dry the edge properly after every wash, and put a trace of oil along the bevel specifically before the knife goes away. Do not scour the flats with an abrasive pad — you will thin the coating and the first bare patch will be the one that pits. Store it out of the leather.
Questions about this cleaver
Will the coating wear off? Along the edge, immediately and by design. Across the flats it will scuff where it contacts bone and board, and that scuffing is cosmetic. Removing rust from a knife covers what to do if a bare patch does freckle.
Can I cut through bone with it? Through joints and through rib and poultry bone, yes. Do not use it as a splitting maul on heavy leg bone.
What angle do I sharpen it to? Keep it obtuse, around twenty degrees per side, because a chopper meets bone. Our guide to chef knife bevels explains why thin edges fail on this kind of work. If you would rather see the steel than a coating, the African Buffalo Damascus cleaver leaves the pattern exposed.
Model: BMK-647
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.