I use this cleaver in processing pigs, sheep and goats on the farm. I needed a sharp and heavy cleaver that would crack through bone quickly. This one sure does that job and hasn't failed me yet. I agree with the other reviewer that the handle has a little play to it, but while that is annoying it doesn't affect the knife in use. So why three stars? Its first day on the job we used it to help divide a hog carcass in half. We used the cleaver to knock the skull in two no easy job, and the cleaver did just fine but afterwords the edge of the blade was nicked and pocked and very dull. We sharpened it back up and still use it, but it's a clear sign that this is a low grade steel that won't hold an edge or take any real abuse.
I'll keep using it, and sharpening it, and using it, and sharpening it, since there is plenty of steel there, and we don't need it but 3-4 times a year. If you just need it for specialized jobs, like I do, it's fine. If you're looking for a stout knife for daily abuse, this isn't it.
(December 1, 2011: I just recently added a photo to the Amazon description page.)
This product -Heavy Duty Meat Cleaver 8" Blade -is labeled as model "KC-301" below the name "Winco." A sticker says it's made in China.
There are pluses and minuses to this meat cleaver.
On the plus side, when new the blade is deadly sharp. It literally cuts paper in a stroke. It has no trouble slicing into a tomato. That won't last long, of course, after several minutes of whacking into Beaver pelts and June bugs and Wallaby carcasses and then afterWard often whamping into the presumably hard surface beneath. But it is unreasonable to expect any blade to stand up to such a beating and stay sharp enough to slice a tomato. When it gets too dull you can sharpen it, which means regrinding, and until then you can hone it every so often, which means using a butcher's steel to realign the very edge of the edge.
Here, in case you believe it, is what the Wikipedia article says: "A knife-sharp edge on a [meat] cleaver is undesirable because it would quickly become more blunt than it if were less sharp but sturdier to begin with. The grind of Eastern Asian kitchen knives is 15-18 degrees, and for most Western kitchen knives it is 20-22°. But for a meat cleaver it is even blunter, more like 25°."
Also on the plus side, this meat cleaver weighs 15-7/8 ounces, which I'd pretty much call one pound, which is heavy, which is just what I wanted for hacking through bones. Also also, if you don't own a meat tenderizer you can flip this cleaver over and beat your meat with the totally blunt far upper corner (which you can do with any other cleaver for that matter).
That said, this is by no means a high-quality meat cleaver.
One defect, at least on my exact one, is that at least two of the three rivets are a bit loose. When you hold it by the handle in the usual way and waggle it, you can feel the tang of the blade swing back and forth a tiny bit inside the two grips.
Which leads to my second complaint, which is that there's room between the grips and the tang for food and bacteria and molds and viruses and other ick to slip into and propagate and later end up in your turkey stock or your acorn squash ice cream. (This would be true even if the rivets weren't loose.) Any such crud that gets in there is going to be impossible to scrub away. The only solution (ha) I've thought of is to swoosh the handle around vigorously in a solution of vinegar and water, or maybe even bleach and water, and then pray (ha ha).
There's a total of about 22 inches of linear space where such crud can get into (and, more importantly, out of) the grip. This is simply a design defect, unless it's a gross manufacturing defect. Either way, for this I subtract 1 star.
My third complaint is about the grind. You would expect the top of the grind line of a high-quality cleaver to exactly parallel the sharp edge, but it doesn't. And in two places you can see where there's a third grind line, which is indisputably a mistake. Either this was sharpened on a machine that was adjusted wrong or, much more likely, it was sharpened by a human that was careless.
Because of the cross-contamination problem I rate this product at 4 stars. If it cost $30 or more I'd rate it at 2 stars, but it's only 15 bucks.
So you can buy two.
P.S. Did anyone get the Beaver, June bug, Wallaby, afterWard joke?
Buy Winco Heavy Duty Cleaver with Wooden Handle Now
This cleaver is of best quality. The construction is solid and heavy. The blade is 8 inches long and sharp....so sharp that when I unpacked it I cut my finger open before I knew it but my clumsiness is too blame for that. Dont pay 100 dollars for the "namebrands" when you can get this great cleaver for less than 20 dollars(including shipping).
Read Best Reviews of Winco Heavy Duty Cleaver with Wooden Handle Here
This cleaver is a great balance between heft and value. It goes about its business, in your hand, with clinical precision and power to spare. Cuts are very clean, and the nicely balanced blade makes short work of any bone which might challenge a lesser cleaver. I could barely contain my glee as my prep time was literally 'cut' in half, and in so doing, made a mundane task almost enjoyable. I would recommend this product to any chef worth his/her salt...the price is an added bonus.
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I bought this for cracking coconuts...It does an AWESOME job! Most of all saves the wear on my "Good" knives :) Sturdy handle, sharp blade. The description is what it is.
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It's a really cool little gadget for gadget collectors. It folds up into the handle so it avoids injury and protects the sharpness. Ingenious.
