So i have alwats loved watching martin yan of tge show Yan can cook and always wanted knife skills like his. That man can chopp at a hundred miles an hour and nit even look at what he's cutting. Well i found out the clever he uses is a chinese chef's knife and this one had great reviews and was dirt cheap so i pupled the trigger. Glad i did to! Yeah it came a tad dull but a few minutes on a soft arkansas stone with some soapy water fixed that. The spine was too square as was the part directly below the handle, but some sandpaper fixed that!

I'm chopping carrots super fast, getting dozens of wafer this slices without any special effort and you can kind of see through them. With little effort I'm mincing onions so small that they mostly melt into whatever I'm cooking. They're smaller than the minced onions McDonald's uses. Plus I'm chopping them fast! Just using this thing has made my knife skills improve all the way around.

This is not a butcher's cleaver! It is not meant to go through bones! The chinese name for tgis knife is "cai dao" which means vegetable cutter, or vegetable knife. This knife is the exact same function as a traditional chef's knife or santoku knife. It does however do more than those. This is the all purpose knife of a chinese restaurant and professional chinese chefs. From cutting, to garnishing, to tenderizing this knife does SOOOO MUCH!

It does take a keen edge. If you don't know how to sharpen a knife with a stones then you need to learn. A butcher steel isn't for sharpening or honing, it's for edge aligning.

Gonna buy a second one and give this one away as this was a knife i got just to try. I abused it as i was learning it so it's scratched up pretty good.

This really is a premium piece of kit. I also have a mercer chinese chef knife with a santoprene handle. The blade stock is thinner so it's a touch flexible and this one is not. This is a good, stout knife, manufactured for years of use.

Do not put it in the dishwasher! Good knives should never go in a dishwasher. Nor should they ever be submerged in water. Once done they shoukd be hand washed and cleaned. They'll last decades that way. The mercer has a more premium steel but a cheaper feeling handle. I love both but this one is a bit heavier and i enjoy it. I put them in the same category of quality and love them both equally but for different reasons.

Bought on a lark while on sale, thought it was a cheap experiment. Found out that it was actually a quality kitchen tool.

This knife has become indispensible for all my Asian cuisine cooking, it is just as versatile as everyone claims. Came in a plastic bag, inside a thin cardboard sleeve where it still rests. Had a great edge out of the... sleeve(?) and can take and hold a wicked sharpness throughout a cook. I hone it every time I use it, just a couple quick swipes brings it right back to an edge that rivals my chef's knives at 5x the price.

The one thing I was not expecting, was the weight of this knife. It's 13 oz. or 369g by the kitchen scale, which is about twice as heavy as any of my other knives. Having that much weight though is actually a good thing, as it's the weight of the knife that does the cutting and it makes doing prep work with this knife almost effortless. Chinese chef's knives use a down-and-away motion, and this knife will go through almost everything in a single stroke, meaning less tearing of the meat (which means more tender, juicy meat). The weight also means you have tons of control, as you really have to mean to move the knife to do it. That makes doing fine work like mincing garlic really easy.

It's listed as a "cleaver", but it's really not that at all (and shouldn't be used as one!). This is the quintessential tool of any Chinese kitchen, the one knife to rule them all. Always hand-washed and dried, no signs of rust at all.

The actual measurements as product received by me: Overall length 12.25in, Blade: 8in x 3 3/8in width, Handle 4.25in, Total Weight 13oz. Not sure where the product listing got their measurements from.

Pros:

-Inexpensive

-sturdy

-holds a pretty good edge

-will last virtually forever

-good solid construction

Cons:

-bolster side of blade is ground to sharp 90 degree bevel and scrapes the hell out of your middle finger when gripping the knife. Will lead to blisters with extended use.

-knife's edge had a small frown in the blade near the tip that required extensive sharpening to remove... Poor sharpening from factory... More attention to detail should have been taken to avoid major slips like this.

-blade is rather thick and therefor will not sharpen as fast or cut as well as a knife with a thinner blade.

-this style of bolster and handle can harbor bacteria if not cleaned thoroughly. Also, as knife ages and laquer wears off of the handle, you should apply mineral oil to the handle to keep the wood from warping and cracking.

Conclusion:

This knife is surely not without it's faults, but for $11 it's a hell of a value. My chief complain is the sharp 90 degree bevel on the bolster side of the blade... I understand that the spine of these style knives are left sharp to aid in descaling fish, however they should have taken the time to smooth the bolster side of the blade where the user's fingers are going to be rubbing throughout use. I guess if you wanted to take the time you could try to smooth this with some sand paper.

The other thing to watch out for is to make sure the sharpened edge of the knife has a nice consistent belly or "crest" from heal to tip. If the blade has any section where it frowns, this is not going to allow the user to completely cut through food on the cutting board because this section of the blade will not contact the cutting surface. Then you will wind up with the perverbial pieces of celery that are all strung together by one thread of material! I know everyone has been there at one point or another! lol So just make sure your edge is straight and not frowned. Other than that, it's a good knife considering the price. I'd give it a try.

[NOTE: This identical cleaver is sold with several different descriptions and prices, by several sellers. I chose this one because despite a higher initial price, when you figure in my Amazon Prime shipping versus the shipping charges for the lower priced offerings, this one came out the cheapest. Other than that, they all seem to be the same identical Winco cleaver.]

Now the review -

As a Taiwanese member of our extended family said, there is one of these in every Asian kitchen. It doesn't take a culinary genius to realize the parallels between the functionality of this tool and that of a western professional chef's knife. It is also clear that the large rectangular blade will go the chef's knife one better in the "scooping up" role.

It is important to point out that this tool has some significant differences from the tougher but less satisfactory kitchen knives that many of us are used to working with. Many kitchen knives are made from alloys which are less than ideal for knife-making, but which are selected to survive the abuse that the average home user will inflict. This is not one of those knives. It is made from high carbon steel. It is somewhat brittle. It will rust in the blink of an eye. It will also take (and keep) an absolutely wicked edge.

It is also worth mentioning that this is a "vegetable cleaver", not a meat cleaver.

Do not use this on anything other than a wooden cutting board. Ever. Before you use it on a glass "board", save yourself some trouble and just throw it in the trash. Do not use this to try and whack your way through frozen foods, bones, ice, firewood, or iron pipe. That wonderfully sharp but brittle edge will chip and be ruined if you ignore this advice.

Do wipe the blade as you use it. Rinse clean, then wipe dry, as soon as you are done. Ordinary steel rusts faster than I will be able to get you to believe, especially when damp. Rust occurring at a microscopic level can quickly degrade your edge, so this is not just an aesthetic concern.

I should mention that the blade did not come in the blister pack pictured above, but it was well protected. It was razor sharp, and yes, I was able to shave my arm with it. Examination with a light microscope at 100x revealed a blade edge that was sharp if a little irregular. Given the price, I felt it was acceptably good.

Having mentioned price, let me take a moment to compare this to the overly expensive German brand "me too" putative Chinese Cleavers. They are pretty. They are nicely made and well finished. They are pleasing to hold. And they are not Chinese Cleavers. The ones I have examined are made from the same sort of indestructible stainless steel used in so many western style knives. They believe that we are idiots, unable to care properly for our knives, and satisfied with something that looks trendy without actually functioning like the object being emulated. After all, the important thing is how it looks sitting in your kitchen, right ? Sadly, there are enough customers for this sort of thing that I don't see these products being improved. Too bad, because there are some stainless steel alloys that would do a credible job of improving on the traditional product, but only a few knife makers are using them, because (horrors) they will stain, chip, and rust if not properly cared for.

I'm not a cheapskate, I cook with All-Clad Copper Core, Le Creuset, and Mauviel. But I also use Lodge, and Victorinox - both great bargains. I enjoy finding an inexpensive tool that will meet or exceed the performance of the high priced brand. I'm not going to tell you this is the ultimate Chinese Vegetable Cleaver. It is simply made, not fancy, and typical of what you are likely to find in many homes. I believe it is a great buy for someone wishing to give them a try, and that properly cared for, there is no reason that it could not serve you well in years to come. Two "leftover" details I'd like to mention, the blade is slightly rockered, not square, and care should be taken to keep moisture from getting between the wooden handle and the tang. Personally, I never immerse any knife, but simply wash the blade under cold running water, then dry it by hand before putting it away. Handles clean up nicely with a damp cloth.

Given the price, you can hardly go wrong - you can always keep it on your desk as a paperweight. But, if what you receive is anything like what I received, I believe you will be pleased.

This is my #1 go to for any gifts.

It's affordable but knives are always perceived as expensive and "WOW" (especially as a single) and of the now 8 I think I've gifted, literally everyone will talk to me for 30 minutes about how it's the only knife they'll use/reach for. "it's a scoop", "I smash garlic so easy and it minces so nicely under the weight", "I hacked through the hips with it when I spatchocked the turkey this year and it didn't even blink". WORKHORSE. Best <20$ you'll spend if you love the kitchen and I'll die on that hill every damn day. I have literally beat the hell out of mine but I easily get the edge back and go back to easy knife work. It's a bit heavy but that actually helps a ton because Cucumbers/Tomatoes actually cut under the weight of the knife. 100 stars.

My first Winco cleaver was not used much before I moved 1,500 miles from my storage unit. It was sharp. This one needs sharpening. Darn! All of my sharpening equipment is also 1,500 miles away. I saw a video with a Chinese guy cutting through carrots, onions, etc. without much effort, so it just needs tuned. For the price it is an amazing value. Since this is for my personal use I haven't used it for long lengths of time, so the weight, balance and comfort aren't an issue for me. I wear large size gloves so one size fits none is the rule that best applies.

As an electrician who had extremely large hands. He used a couple different sizes of heat shrink to add girth to his "Kleins." (The "Kleins" are Klein Tools D2000-9NE Side Cutter Linemans Pliers the pliers also called side cutters.

If you need a bigger handle, this Idea could help.

I invested in a fine, high-end Japanese cleaver a few years ago that cost almost $200 and it's been a huge disappointment. I have to baby it, and it still chips. It can't be used on bone, and is impossible to hand sharpen.

My old Chinatown carbon steel cleaver was dirt cheap but I loved it. It wore out a few years ago and I couldn't find one locally. I found this cleaver on Amazon and couldn't believe the great reviews, so I ordered this one, and the larger Winco cleaver for bone cutting. For the price of this cleaver, I was expecting a mediocre cleaver that might last a year.

I can't stress how shocked I was when I opened the box and held this cleaver in my hand! It's a beauty! Well-balanced, high-carbon stainless steel with an edge so razor sharp it will scare most people. It appears well-made and should last some time. It is easy to sharpen as all good cleavers are.

I just bought a magnetic bar for my big knifes. If you don't have one, be sure to wrap this sharp heavy cleaver in a small towel or other protection and store it with respect and wisdom, especially if you have small children in the house.

I love it so much, I am ordering more for gifts, and one to keep as a back-up. A cleaver is the work horse in the kitchen. All good cooks should have one. This one won't disappoint.

This is what mine looks like after whole lot modification. I finally got it thinned enough where it can cut and has bit finesse. As it came from pkg, it had sharp edge, but so chunky above the edge, took lot effort to use it. Cracked carrots rather than cut them and wedge trying to make horizontal cuts when dicing an onion. A knife that wedges in food will feel duller sooner, even if the actual edge is sharp. As you can see, I am also not big fan of the bow type edge curve on cheaper vegetable cleavers. The way I changed it more like traditional western Sabatier type knife edge. This fits my style of cutting better.

I am only giving it 3 star cause few people are prepared for this kind effort. Heck people are complaining they actually have to sharpen it and round over the spine and choil, they sure arent ready to do extensive thinning of the blade. And yea, it could use yet more thinning. But at least I consider it usable now. And by way for those thinking this is carbon steel, NO, its stainless, I would hazard a guess at some variation of 420. Real carbon steel is defined to have less than 10% chromium in it and will rust at drop of a hat if you leave it wet for any serious amount time. Also will stain/patina from acid foods. Has to be washed and dried with towel when you are done cutting with it. Now traditional carbon steel holds an edge better than stainless, well most stainless. But takes more maintenance.

I also am not impressed with the short tang and handle only attached via friction, no epoxy, no rivet/pin. Probably best thing you could do when you get it is to knock the handle off and put epoxy in the hole and then put it back together and let it cure. But new out of package, the handle seems pretty firm with no wobble.

Winco knows better too. Look at their KWP-100 knife. https://www.amazon.com/Winco-USA-KWP-100-Stal-Cutlery/dp/B00ZVUOUSW Full flat grind and distal tapering. Thats how you make a functional chef knife.

If you want a project or if you have a professional belt grinder so modification is trivial, then its good enough steel to be serviceable. I dont have a pro grinder, but I do know how to use an angle grinder to good effect. At time writing this review, I have smoothed it even further on my mini belt sander. Nice thing is, for $13, you can take some risks, if you completely ruin it (unlikely), well you are out $13, big whoop.

Small update, I am adding pics of choil and spine. Shows how much I have thinned it. Not easy getting a choil shot that shows up in picture. Least not with my phone and its mediocre camera. I did thin the Winco one more time. Noticeably less weight than it had. I am probably close to what a normal #4 vegetable cleaver would be like, though they tend to be a bit shorter. Oh and I sharpened the end edge. Some have traditionally done this to nakiri and Chinese cleavers, more to let them function as a spatula I think than actual cutting. But I had to experiment and yes standing cleaver on its end and rocking it, you can finely cut small stuff. I doubt I will do that much but it was interesting. Never heard of anybody doing that before. It definitely now cuts much like a chef knife would be expected to cut. Not sure if thinning it further would really gain much. Its the right weight at this point for me so probably wouldnt want to remove much more metal. Anyway yes the Winco can definitely be made to cut like a $50 knife. But you earn it, it takes lot effort. Well unless you own a high dollar high speed pro belt grinder that can remove metal very fast. Can of course be done with a coarse whet stone or sandpaper wrapped around a flat iron bar, but take LONG time. Took long enough with angle grinder using first grinding wheel, then coarse flapper disk. I did finish the edge using whetstone. Oh and if you use power tools, especially something like an angle grinder, you want to frequently dip blade in bucket water to protect the temper of your blade. It generates heat lot faster than you would think.

Es un buen cuchillo, creo que está a la par con lo que promete.

Cheapest I can found! Other shops sell about 20 bucks plus tax.(and run out of stock!). Very sharp!

Used couple of months, still sharp.

The only drawback is too light, but I feel ok

Compre en 189 pesos MXN , y esta increíble, note que tiene muchos comentarios positivos de USA y ninguno de México, y el resultado es el mismo.

-Por el precio parece que seria de una calidad baja, PERO NO!! es muy buena calidad

-Mi novia es Chef y me comento que conviene que el mango sea de madera, de esta manera no se resbala a la hora de cortar ( a diferencia del que es todo de metal, tenemos uno en casa y justo pasa eso)

-Es pesado y ayuda a que picar vegetales o cortar carne sea más facil

-Es un gran producto a un buen precio

-Si se lo regalas a alguien seguro pensara que su valor es mayor a 500 pesos MXN

REALLY REALLY SHARP AND GOOD QUALITY - WOULD BUY AGAIN

Came very sharp and works pretty well for most things I've needed it for so far. Onions are processed very quickly. I wish I had gotten a slightly lighter/thinner bladed version. This is clearly capable of hitting a few chicken bones but it makes vegetable cutting a little less precise.