Curved Chinese cleavers

[Barry]

I have a customer that gave me a Chinese cleaver with a straight edge and want me to resharpen with a curved edge. Does anyone know if there is a stencil or online information. He wants just a slight rocker curve to his cleaver. Not sure if anyone has had the same request. Thanks

[Marc H]

Barry, I did a Google search on “curved chinese cleavers” to get an idea of how much of a curve your looking for.  It isn’t very much. Looks similar to the curve used with many santoku’s.

Gesshin Chinese Cleaver- Small with Round Handle

Marc
(MarcH's Rack-Its)

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Barry, Organic, David, wickededge

[tcmeyer]

Assuming that Barry’s customer does indeed want the sort of curve shown in Marc’s link, that’s going to be a lot of steel to be removed.  I don’t think it’s practical to tackle this entirely with any sort of hand operation.  I would grind the curve on a belt sander – the Harbor Freight 1 X 30 would do the job.  Grind the new profile perpendicular to the blade, then use the belt sander to create the initial bevel(s).  When the bevel is established, switch to diamond stones.

Depending on the width (not the thickness) of the cleaver, it may be too high for the WEPS.  A possible work-around might be to mount a very long 1/4″ rod hinged to a floor plate, with the cleaver mounted in a vise.  Either a machinist’s or woodworker’s vise would work.  Clamp the handle in the vise with the blade cantilevered out where the stones can reach it.  Here’s an example of one man’s creativity:

I bought a Chicago Cutlery cleaver a few years ago, just for the experience.  I sharpened it with a chisel profile (beveled on one side only) and it is an excellent tool for cutting veggies and stuff.  Best part is that it will cut extremely thin slices with ease.

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Brewbear, Barry

[Organic]

TCMeyer, you’ve always got the the most custom DIY tricks in the book. I admire you ingenuity.

I agree, if you wan to change the blade profile (meaning the shape of the blade), you will want to grind perpendicular to the edge much like you would do to repair the tip of a knife. This can be done without power tools, but it will be a lot of work. It might end up being cost prohibitive to the customer considering how much time it will take you (assuming your rates factor hours of labor). Perhaps it would be good to discuss with them the option of just purchasing another knife with a profile more similar to what they are looking for. If they absolutely love this particular cleaver and really want to invest in having the profile changed to their liking, then go for it, but communication can’t hurt.

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Brewbear, Barry, tcmeyer

[tcmeyer]

Thanks, Organic:  The rig in the photo was made by my smarter brother after he saw my WEPS.  He picked up all the parts he needed at a local ReStore.  It’s in a rather industrial area with lots of shops supporting the papermaking and consumer product businesses, so there’s lots of stuff to entertain his busy mind.  If you look at the bottom end of the rod, you’ll see three different slide assemblies he made to hold his stones.  The bottom one has a Spyderco triangle stone held in a dovetail slot on a block of UHMW.  The slides are linear bearings running on a 1/2″ length of TG&P.  He uses it quite successfully.

[Organic]

Is the Spyderco stone for serrated edges? What was the reason for mounting it so that it uses the edge rather than the face when sharpening?

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Barry

[tcmeyer]

Why with the edge exposed?  Simply because it’s a real easy operation to cut the dovetail.  A standard 14 degree, 1/4″ shank dovetail bit cuts the groove in one pass.  I’ve been planning to make a mount with the flat exposed, but it requires that part of lower end of the stone is unusable.  The mounting surface has to hold the flat side.

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Barry, Organic

[Author]

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