Hi Alarash,
When I began to post on Chowhound, I noted the excellent threads put together by Chem, explaining how much more, and how different the Chinese cleavers were from my Western thinking, but I didn’t really get it, until
damiano posted a Chowhound thread claiming he could do everything in his kitchen with his beautiful damascus Shun Classic cleaver (same as yours)–and a beloved paring knife. He followed up with youtubes and examples–finally upgrading to a Sugimoto–and I began to “get it.” He could do everything I did with my nakiri–and more. In particular, he could slice and scoop–and he could do vertical “chops” as well as rock chopping.
I was able to track down the CCK slicers that Chem admired so much down the street, but I also checked out AMAZON and AliExpress–even found what CCK charged in Hong Kong. I finally made my way to Chef Panko’s web site and found him buying and testing all the various alternatives you might consider for a cleaver–especially ones from China.
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChefPanko/videos
The one I finally bought a year ago for my birthday, The 8X4 Shibazi F208-2 was almost as big a revolutionary movement in my home kitchen batterie thinking as my nakiri many years ago. It was inexpensive, it was beautiful, and it performed as well as any other knife I had–slicing and chopping–as long as I stayed away from bones. It did have a sticker on the blade suggesting where I even might chop through small bones, but Chef Panko already convinced me that I needed something more heavy duty–even for small bones–and a real Cleaver for the type of lamb bone you are looking for.
At first I teamed it, big brother/little brother with my nakiri, but I found a slightly wider profile knife with similar hardness to your Shun, the Xinzuo Zhen, and semi retired my Seki Magoroku. I still don’t have a cleaver or board support for that “whomp.”
Chef Panko has identified major suppliers in China–ordered and tested several models of each design, found CCK cleavers in Europe that he tested, but also tracked them to Hong Kong–where he picked up and tested a few models there that are not so well known here. Established Chinese brands he’s tested include Shibazi and Deng. Two other brands he hasn’t tested for their cleavers are Xinzuo and Hezhen. They are the same company. I’ve purchased three Xonzuo knives and Chef Panko has tested several others–and their cleavers are sure to be outstanding.
Chef Panko’s ideas parallel and agree with Chem’s points, but with actual video reviews and technical details about some different brands and models–and specific suggestions for sharpening.
Ray
