Just Sharpened a Very Old Chinese Chef's Knife (Cleaver)

This knife was brought to me for sharpening the other day at Lunardi's San Bruno:

Vintage Chinese Chef's Knife

The owner of this knife is 86, and he said it was given to his grandfather by their neighbors when he was a kid. He figures the knife is at least 100 years old!

The owner grew up in and around San Francisco, and his neighbors were Chinese, who were in the shrimp fishing business in the San Francisco Bay. The shrimp fishing business was big back then, there is a state park — China Camp — dedicated to this industry up in the north bay in San Rafael.

Vintage Chinese Chef's Knife

Here is  the flip side of the knife. This is a old, vintage knife — but let me say I accidentally used a vintage style filter on my iPhone when I took this shot... The knife was already sharpened and picked up before I realized what I had done, so I couldn't correct it.

I would call this a Chinese chef's knife, not a cleaver. Most people would want to call this knife a cleaver, they would think that because of the knife's shape — a square, tall, rectangular shape with no point.

Cleavers and Chinese chef's knives share the same shape, but a cleaver has a thick blade, a chef's knife has a thin blade. The thick blade of a cleaver allows it to be used for heavy duty chopping tasks; while the thin blade of the Chinese chef's knife allows the knife to perform like any other chef's knife — easily cutting and slicing meats and vegetables.