Quick review of my century old NHE meat cleaver.

The cleaver shown in this post is a New Haven Edge Tool Co Cleaver, which I purchased from a small company known as Roninsgrips after he refinished it and fixed it up a bit. Ronin usually tends to make gun parts and grips, but has ventured into refinishing old knives and making other things as well. I absolutely love this thing just because of how ridiculous it is in size, and how much history it most likely has to it. It's almost 22 inches in length and weighs a little over 3 pounds, the blade itself is about 10 inches long. When Ronin got a hold of it, the handle was cracked so they used some special cyanoacrylate glue to stabilize it, as well as using some reinforced glass epoxy to seal the front of the handle. 

The massive blade on this cleaver is secured to the wood by using a rat tail tang which spreads through the whole handle and is then peened over to secure it firmly. Once the cracks in the handle had been repaired, it was then sanded down with various grits of medium/fine sand paper and also had four coats of Boiled Linseed Oil and turpentine applied by hand using a rag once all the sanding done. I think it gives it a very rustic look which matches perfectly with the blade finish. 

  

The blade surprisingly was in pretty good condition however, and didn't require too much work to touch up. (I was a bit surprised considering how old it was, but I don't mind at all!) It was sanded to help shape it a bit, abrasive blasted, and then had an acid etching job done using a mixture of apple cider vinegar and phosphoric acid, which gave the blade the darker grey color. He then applied a thick coat of oil afterwards to help prevent it from rusting until it found it's way to me. He also was cool enough to make me an edge guard for it that's custom made to fit, with the material known as Kydex which is a thermoplastic used often to make firearm holsters and knife sheathes. It sort of reminds of of the guards they use for hockey skates.

This cleaver is estimated to be around 100-150 years old according to some research done. New Haven Edge Tool Company's catalog from 1911 listed it discontinued, so it's pretty likely that it's older than 100 years which I find absolutely fascinating. The history that goes with this cleaver is something I probably won't find out about, but I can imagine it's seen some things considering that it's more than likely well over a century old, and has been in quite a few peoples hands in that time period. 

I grabbed this cleaver mainly for a wall decoration/conversation piece due to the history of it and just how crazy it looks. I feel that it really has some character and depth to it which I just personally dig. I'm planning on building a hanger for it to mount it on the wall, but for now it resides in my safe. On the plus side, should I ever need to cut up a pig or cow I'm pretty sure I'm covered. 

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