Appreciation post: My old cleaver still outcuts the new ones

I picked up a vintage cleaver at a flea market in Denver last summer for $12. Tried it on a batch of pork shoulders and it sliced through cartilage like butter. My new $80 cleaver just bounces off bone. Learned that old carbon steel holds an edge way better if you treat it right. Anyone else still use hand-me-down tools instead of buying new?

3 comments

3 Comments

gibson.morgan1mo ago

and that vintage carbon steel thing is real man. once you get a patina going on those old blades they just slide through whatever you put in front of em. my grandpa gave me his old Forgecraft 8" chef knife from the 50s and it still shames my fancy modern stainless stuff. the steel is thinner and harder so it takes a razor edge with just a few strokes on a stone. the new ones are made too thick and soft so they can survive dishwashers and lazy owners. even a cheap old carbon cleaver from a flea market will outperform a lot of new stuff cause the heat treat was done right back then. just keep it dry and oiled and that $12 find will probably outlast both of us.

patricia2621mo ago

So you're telling me my grandpa's old knife, that I've been drying and oiling like a fussy houseplant, is gonna outlive me and my fancy new stainless thing I spent way too much on? Honestly that's both impressive and kinda embarrassing for the modern knife industry.

samflores1mo ago

Aren't these old blades basically living history at this point? I read an article in some cooking magazine that said the steel mills back then used different ore with higher carbon content, plus they didn't have to worry about mass production quotas like today. That $12 score sounds like a steal and I bet it'll still be hacking through chicken bones when all those new cleavers are dulled out and forgotten.