A few more ready to ship off

Von Gruff

Von Gruff

KNIFE MAKER
Have this lot ready go to off to new homes except for the cleaver that is mine
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On top by the cleaver is a pair of knives exclusive to and logo'd on the sheath for the African Hunting forum
Under that is two sets of Hunter/butcher and boner knife sets and on the right is a pig sticker.

The cleaver is an old monster that I have had for some years but never really used as it is cumbersome in both wieght and design with a distinctivly unusabe handle shape and size.
Whe I cut it down I lost over a lb in weight and with the new handle length and shape it is now a usable tool that will get used
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LOVE the cleaver. My Brother tells me hes got an old beat up one he' gonna give me. Maybe a make over will be in order!!
 
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Fantastic work, Von Gruff! So many cleavers are practically impossible to use and probably one of the reasons so many people have them for decades and have never used them regularly. Your redesign is excellent. You took a brutish club and transformed it into an elegant tool.

I have five cleavers for various uses, both meat cleavers and Chinese cleavers (which are essentially rectangular chef knives). Every one of them required some rework to become enjoyable to use.
 
John Wilson said:
Fantastic work, Von Gruff! So many cleavers are practically impossible to use and probably one of the reasons so many people have them for decades and have never used them regularly. Your redesign is excellent. You took a brutish club and transformed it into an elegant tool.

I have five cleavers for various uses, both meat cleavers and Chinese cleavers (which are essentially rectangular chef knives). Every one of them required some rework to become enjoyable to use.
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John, the Chinese kitchen cleaver is one I would like to try as the design intirgues me as to how usefu they might be in the kitchen. The only steel I can get in the width needed is 2.4mm thick (.1 in) but I have never seen one except on the tv so wondered if that would be a good thickness to make for a light weight but directable kitchen cleaver.
 
.100 would be an ideal thickness for a Chinese cleaver, in my opinion. I have one that is thinner than that which causes it to be quite flexible, as you would imagine. Great for herbs and scooping them off the board, but a bit dodgy cutting anything like proteins where you are holding the food with the one hand and hoping the cleaver doesn't take a left turn...

I don't like heavy knives, as I am more inclined to slicing versus chopping. A good chinese cleaver with a little bit of rise to the tip gives you the best of both worlds, just like a good chef knife. Even at .100 at the spine, the extra width of the blade gives you a little more weight than the chef knife for breaking down cabbage, lettuce, and the like but isn't so heavy that it's no fun to use for anything else. If anyone was to doubt the effectiveness of a Chinese cleaver, an YouTube search for Martin Yan videos should dispel any such notion.
 
John Wilson said:
.100 would be an ideal thickness for a Chinese cleaver, in my opinion. I have one that is thinner than that which causes it to be quite flexible, as you would imagine. Great for herbs and scooping them off the board, but a bit dodgy cutting anything like proteins where you are holding the food with the one hand and hoping the cleaver doesn't take a left turn...

I don't like heavy knives, as I am more inclined to slicing versus chopping. A good chinese cleaver with a little bit of rise to the tip gives you the best of both worlds, just like a good chef knife. Even at .100 at the spine, the extra width of the blade gives you a little more weight than the chef knife for breaking down cabbage, lettuce, and the like but isn't so heavy that it's no fun to use for anything else. If anyone was to doubt the effectiveness of a Chinese cleaver, an YouTube search for Martin Yan videos should dispel any such notion.
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Sumpin' tells me the food is tasty at the Wilson home...LOL!!

Von Gruff...I have a brother that collects old F. Dick cleavers (among other things....) We have discussed how bad the weight is balanced....as if they are only designed to whack through a bone. Your redesign looks to me to have enough weight in the right place to really deliver energy and still be very useful for other things (as John has described). If you send it to me I will make a video showing how sweet it works on dicing Cilantro...my favorite herb....and then I will place it on my kitchen mag holder....lol.

Nice job on that! A cleaver should do more than just cleave....

The other knives are very nice...well done as usual.
 
I made a kitchen ulu many years ago that is (imho) the perfect herb knife and has other uses as well with its shape allowing for the rocking movment that facilitates its unique ability. It is the best knife I have used for dicing rhubarb as well. With a half dozen stalks laid together the rocking motion of the ulu cuts through far more efficiently than any slicing or choping motion by any other knife design I have tried.
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This video is part of a series I did on making my salami and sausage and shows how effective it is in use and quicker than any other design might be.
 
That is very impressive! It makes perfect sense to me- the knife is working in both directions instead of only on the down stroke of a single heel.
 
Excellent! The reason I commented on the cleaver for herbs is it had enough belly to work nice! That Ulu is unbeatable though...
 
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