Meat cleaver scales

jwood

Member
Working on a meat cleaver and wanted to know what handle material would be best for the kitchen. This is my first "kitchen knife" so I was leaning towards a micarta handle that would be less maintenance than any wood handle. Also would corby bolts work better so the handle could be removed for cleaning or epoxy the handle so it doesn't risk failing when hacking though thick bone?
 
Oak is a plain jane staple Im used to seeing in the kitchen. You could use a white poly cutting board for scales and epoxy them on and have some stainless pins in it. Easy to clean and sanitize and wont warp or check and yet fairly easy to work.
 
Rosewood or Cocobolo. Or Ironwood. All 3 are very durable and natural stable. Work well in kitchen environment.

G-10 or Macarta would also be a good choice. yet not as desirable IMO.
 
A lot also depends on the look you're going for, when going custom looks can make a big difference. No point in going through all the trouble to make a knife to put a plain Jane handle on it (IMO)
that sad: I agree with HHH wood picks, G10 and Macarta do hold up well in a kitchen but many chefs really like the " Classic look of wood, and many would see G10 or Macarta as " cheep" or "plastic looking"
the corby bolts would give a very old world " Birdseye look" to the handle ( that's a good thing also in my opinion ), functionally of course they are a good choice. That sad they would look more appropriate on a wood handle rather than synthetic .
 
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'And as another option, I love the very old style ones, and prefer them over newer cleavers. I look at the meat cleaver as kind of a lost art. Once the bandsaw replaced the cleaver in the butchering industry things just have not been the same.
 
I'm working on a set of kitchen knives for a Christmas gift. I've used stabilized wood for previous projects, but this time I decided on Micarta for the scales since it is water resistant and no maintenance required. I suggest using epoxy whether or not you use corbys or pins. The epoxy will seal water out and keep cooking scraps from getting under the handle and causing corrosion and giving bacteria a place to colonize. That's just my thoughts. Here's a peek at the first knife in the set I'm working on for reference.

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'And as another option, I love the very old style ones, and prefer them over newer cleavers. I look at the meat cleaver as kind of a lost art. Once the bandsaw replaced the cleaver in the butchering industry things just have not been the same.
good looking cleavers. mybig one is a Foster Bros from WW2. i did a 8"x4"custom for a client earlier this fall
for handles i like to use real wood. if the cleaver is thin and i want a neutral balance, i use heavy wood like dogwood, locust or canarywood. most any wood will do. i avoid plastics, stabilized wood, and composites.
 
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