I consider myself somewhat of a cleaver guru since I’ve owned or used over 20 slicing cleavers over the years. This Takeda ranks in my top 3. Personally I look for 5 things in a good slicing cleaver.



1) Thin thin thin,it is a slicer after all. It should glide through foods effortlessly.



2) Light,all cleavers will be heavier than a chef’s knife which is a good thing,it allows the knife to do more of the cutting. However,a knife this size will always have some heft to it,but it should be light and thin enough (see point #1) to still be agile and not tiresome to use.



3) Good steel. The steel should be hard enough to take a keen edge and hold it,but durable enough to stand up to regular use. (A slicing cleaver should never be used on bones or frozen foods.)



4) Comfort and ergonomics. The handle should be well finished and feel good in your hand. The knife needs to be joy to hold or you will never use it no matter how good of a cutter it is.



5) Blade curvature. The blade should have just enough curve to allow a smooth contact with the board,but not so much curve that you feel like you are using a mezzaluna with only an inch of edge in contact with the board at any one time.



Frankly the Takeda cleavers excels in all five of these areas. I have cleavers that may beat out the Takeda in one area but the Takeda is the only one that equally excels in all five. Highly recommended.

Awesome Chinese chef’s knife with excellent geometry. Replaced my need for a meat slicer when making beef jerky. The weight and balance is perfect. The patina developed in a few days,and it’s now quite resistant to rust. I’m just a home cook,so edge retention is almost too good (never get to sharpen anymore).

I used to be a gyuto and chefknife user,but since purchasing the Takeda Chuko from Mark it’s now my main knife.Plus CKTG service is awesome as always. Thanks Mark.