ZHEN "3 Layers Forged Series Cleaver Blade Length: 6.5""", silver (A11O)

This is a very large, very heavy cleaver. It goes through chicken bones like they are not there. It is so great for slicing partially frozen chuck roasts and such. Has a bit of a round to the blade front to back, so you can rock it through tough cuts. The blade has absolutely no nicks after nearly a year of some tough usage. I smushed a cheaper vegetable cleaver within days. Okay, so I did not know there were two kinds. I do know. I just hone this occasionally on a ceramic honer. Sharp enough to slice veggies, but way to heavy and shaped wrong. If you want a big, tough cleaver to hand down to your grandchildren, this is the one. For slicing\chopping veggies, the zhen chopping knife is just awesome.

Mine came with a maple handle, which I think is a better choice than oak, due to its porosity. The edge was very sharp, but you could the see grinder marks on the edge of the blade. I put it on my fine diamond stone then on my 12000 grit water stone and it's razor sharp. The butt of the handle has a bit of a sharp edge and could use a filing. I put some butcher block finish on the handle for sealing, although because it's hard maple its not absolutely neccessary. Overall it's a nice tool, but needs a little work to make it really nice.

I have wanted one these a for a long time. They are not always in production. This is a heavy knife. I expected this. It was not heavy enough for a turkey wing first time I tried it. The wood was unfinished as expected. I filled it with once oil and beeswax over two or three days. Despite this the wood had dried out and shank enough to leave sharp metal edges at both ends of the handle. These will need dressing down with a diamond file. The knife is very sharp. Don't know if this will be a favorite or if I would buy it again.

Very Nice general purpose cleaver. I put a razor edge on my Zhen with my Wicked Edge Sharpener. Glides through meats and vegetables with no effort. Fairly thin blade, does fine thin cuts, yet nice and tough. The VG-10 center steel is very tough and tempered perfectly. Slices right through chicken bones with little effort. Chopping poultry bones has not dulled the edge at all, very tough steel. Not heavy enough for real thick cuts or bones, but that is not what it is designed for. Very Impressed with this cleaver so far.

It is not VG-10 steel at all, and the hardness of the steel is wrong. Normally, Vg-10 has a hardness of about 61HRC after heat treatment, but the hardness of this kitchen knife is barely 52HRC, The hardness is not as good as the $8 X50Cr MoV15 steel fruit knife I bought in the supermarket, and this knife is super heavy, it is not the weight of a traditional Chinese kitchen knife, it is more like a bone chopping knife.

When my wife took this tool from its box, her comment was that it is heavy. Yes, this is a heavy blade and bulls through bone as you might expect. The interesting thing about this cleaver is that it is VG10, a large mass of it. I anticipate this knife will give years of service to me with plenty left for children and grandchildren as it is passed down. The handle appears to be oak, and if it has a finish, it isn't obvious. I will be adding a mineral oil finish to mine to protect it from water damage. It has been used to process chicken carcasses for stock. The weight of the tool separated the back with little to no effort. If you're looking for a tool to cleave through bone, this is sharp, heavy, and well-balanced. It is so massive, it should serve to cleave anything a kitchen cook or a professional chef will encounter. I am very happy with it. One caveat, this isn't a vegetable cleaver. It is too heavy and the blade is too thick for processing veggies.

This knife is high quality & easy to sharpen

This was an OK cleaver - I bought this because I didn't have one, and wanted something to break down various meats. The blade itself seemed to be made well, was balanced, and had enough heft to let the weight do a lot of the work. However, the handle wood, overall quality, and fit-and-finish was disappointing. I would say it would be a good starter cleaver for light-to-medium kitchen work, but just isn't for me.