Takeshi Saji

 Master Craftsman & Forgesmith, Takeshi Saji has been making traditional hammer forged knives for decades. His uniqueness is to add modern technologies, materials and designs, while keeping the traditional knife making methods.

 This time, he came up with a beautiful and very unique Custom Damascus Chinese Cleaver made of VG-10 core forged with layered Nickel Stainless Damascus steel blade with Traditional Hamaguri-Ba (Convex edge) blade profile. Master Saji says this is the first forged Damascus Chuka-Bocho, and it was hard to hammer forge and heat treat this large blade.

  Chinese Cleaver is very versatile cooking knife for many cutting tasks with large and square blade. His art of beautiful Custom Damascus layers can be more impressive and we can feel its powerful craftsman’s soul from its large size blade.

  Traditional Hammer Forging Process is known as the best method to bring the steel to its maximum performance in sharpness and edge retention.

  This is the limited custom Damascus Chinese Cleaver that is something different and unique with the craftsman’s spirit.   Master Saji chose to use a green and black layered Linen Micarta® for the handle scales, due to its durability, water-resistance and strong resistance to shrinking.

The Chinese Cleaver is a highly versatile general-purpose kitchen knife that can be used to slice, chop, mince, scrape, and even crush ingredients. The tall blade of the Chinese Cleaver enables it to be safely guided with the knuckles of your free hand when 'tap chopping’, ‘push cutting’, or ‘pull cutting’. This makes it possible to cut large fruit and vegetables, such as cabbages, easily and safely.