My old man's cleaver vs the new ones in my shop

I been cutting for 20 years now and I pulled out my dad's old cleaver from the 80s last week. Thing has a patina like you wouldn't believe and the edge holds way better than the stainless ones I been buying from the supply catalog. My theory is the steel back then was just harder, they didn't make em as cheap. Anybody else notice older tools just last longer or am I just getting sentimental?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookep2723d ago

Not sure about the steel being harder, but older carbon steel tools were definitely thicker and less prone to chipping. The patina is mostly from the lack of stainless alloys, not from some magic aging process. You gotta keep them dry and oiled though or that "lasting longer" turns into rust city real quick. The real trick with old cleavers is the geometry - they usually came with a better distal taper than modern budget ones. Still, I'd take a good modern high-carbon over most 80s cleavers any day, just less guesswork involved.

wood.zara23d ago

Honestly, you ever had a friend who thought they could just toss an old carbon steel cleaver in the sink and it'd be fine? My buddy Jake did that with his granddad's cleaver from the 70s, thought the patina was some kind of super coating. Left it soaking overnight after a big cookout, and next morning it looked like something from a shipwreck. Rust was everywhere, pitted the blade real bad. He spent like a week with steel wool and oil trying to save it, but it never cut the same after that. So yeah, your point about keeping them dry and oiled is spot on. People see that old look and think it's magic, but it's really just a lot of upkeep.