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Cocobolo Cleaver
The cleaver is unique in a kitchen cutlery set. It's primary purpose is brute force chopping, and as such its design and fabrication implementation differs from that of other kitchen knives. A cleaver wants to be heavy, so that it has the momentum to carry it through sinew, muscle and bone. It also wants to be sharp with a more acute primary bevel. (I set this one at around 4-5 degrees). The cleaver also requires a chunky handle that fills the entire hand when gripped. The last thing you want is this bad boy slipping out of your hand when you're swinging down from head head onto a cut of pork shoulder. I really like the look of the Cocobolo handle on this knife and I think the decision to go with a mirror finish, as apposed to matte, was spot on. The logo Alexa designed for it, emblazoned on the face near the handle, adds the finishing touch that makes this one of my favorite pieces to date.
Required Resources: 8 hours, $50
Size: 10" x 3" x 0.75"
Materials: AEBL Stainless Steel, Cococolo, 2 part, Quick Cure Epoxy, Brass and Copper Decorative Pins.
Finish: Tung Oil
Tools: Band Saw, Belt Sander, Orbital Sander, Hack Saw, Whetting Stone, Water Jet
New Techniques:
See the Cutlery Set break down for the knife making process.
Lessons Learned:
The Over Zealous Sander: As I was extremely excited to get started on this knife, I took it straight the the belt sander. And boy, did I go at; grinding down to a fine, extremely sharp edge. I was pretty proud of it until I was talking with the heat treater at Byington blades, when he told me to leave the blades rough cut so they didn't develop microcracks during the heating and tempering process. Hmmm, "rough cut"... I wonder what that means? Well, after doing some research on knife making forums, I found that "rough cut" means a edge thickness ~0.5 mm. Yeah, I was at about 0.01mm. Back to the belt sander; I had to flatten off the top of the edge to get the thickness back to where it should be. The technique worked, but it did leave the blade edge somewhat mishappen.
