foster bros vintage cleaver

scott.livesey

Dealer - Purveyor
hi,
got me a chopper for ebay. foster brothers 2190 cleaver, 15" oal, 8 1/2" blade. blade is 1/4" at thickest, 2 1/2" wide at handle, 3 1/4" at tip. weighs about 3lbs. foster bros was a cutlery factory in New York that closed in 1958. i think my cleaver is one of 300,000+ cleavers that foster made for the military in WW2. not sure of the steel, this site about factory says the number is the steel [www.sotherden.net]. 2190 is an obsolete steel that would be 0.90%carbon and 1.5%nickel which is similar to 15N20. knife is used, a lot of corrosion, was batoned a bunch, edge has several chips. trying to clean it up gently, using 4x1 norton india stone with 36SiC grit and Rapid-Tap oil. will post photos when i can get camera to work.
if anyone knows about these blades, all info welcome.
 
Just a quick google search, “foster brothers cleaver”, cameup with several pages of information. Here are a few of the articles and the information that you may wish tolook at the most. All of the articlestended to have pictures that may help you out. Take a look.
DeMo

http://www.thatswhatshefed.com/2011/11/foster-bros-meat-cleaver.html

According to this old article youcan determine the timeline of the company name that would have been marked onthe blade. I have confirmed this with some knife collector online discussionboards:

1878ish-1890 FOSTER BROS. (founding name of company)
1891-1904 FOSTER BROS. COMPANY (incorporated under new name)
1904-1953 FOSTER BROS. & CHATILLON CO. (acquired by Chatillon)
1953-1956 FOSTER BROS.
1957+ COLUMBIA CUTLERY CORP uses FOSTER BRO. LOGO, original plant closes


http://lumberjocks.com/projects/77664
Its a “Foster Bros. 2190” and it was in bad shape. It wasmanufactured between 1953 and 1956. The blade measures 8 1/2’’ x 4’’ and thewhole thing is 15 1/2’’ long. It’s quite the kitchen tool!

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/875374
The larger one is marked FosterBrothers / Solid Steel / 2190 , has 3 rivets and is about 15 inches long.
 
I have a military model, it came into my family via "uncle Frank" who was a chef in the military stationed in Germany. How many rivets does it have? 3 demarcate it as a military version.
 
thanks for the info. the one i have has 3 brass rivets. as i said, i am thinking it might be the military version as they made over 250,000. here are some pictures. i removed rust and dirt but i am being as gentle as possible. shiny spots on top of blade is where i filed smooth scars left from hammers.
fosterbroscleaver1.jpg
fosterbroscleaver2.jpg
 
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