Forgive me if I missed the distinction between a ‘Cleaver’ and what Wusthof terms a ‘Chinese Chef’s Knife?
Most of what I saw Posted would be termed Chinese ChefKnives,
i.e thin blades made for cutting or chopping soft products such at meat, fish or vegetables.
Cleavers to my mind are used for bone cutting and other hard food.
Chinese Chef Knives are thinner than Cleavers and the edge is not as robust as on a Cleaver.
While many Chinese Chef Knives will do a good job on fish and chicken bones, it’s the large animal bones and carcasses where a Cleaver is of use.
Indeed, the Wusthof Chinese Chef Knife says right on the blade, “Do Not Use On Bones’!
Pictured is my large Takeda along with a Wusthof Chinese Chef Knives.
The Takeda is for my use only as one slip and you will have a serious cut.
The knife pictured is a 13” Wusthof ‘Bone-Splitter’, the front edge is for cutting and the rear edge for splitting, indeed a formidable weapon if called upon!
I didn’t break out my Wusthof Cleavers but present a typical picture.
These certainly will cut but the blade is thick enough to cut/split bone, any bone.
I usually use a Chinese Chef Knife when I want long thin cuts of meat for Chinese/Asian recipes.
I partially freeze the meat so it holds up to thin slicing.
The Takeda works best but the Wusthof is more accessible in the 24 knife rack I have on the counter.
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