Jay Fisher - Fine Custom Knives

"Edesia" Fine Master Chef's Handmade Cleaver

• Size: Length overall: 11.8" (30.0 cm), Blade Length: 6.75" (17.2 cm), Thickness: .078" (2.0 mm)
• Weight: Knife: 1 lb. ,3 oz. (539 grams) Sheath: 15.5 oz. (439 grams)
• Blade: 440C High Chromium Martensitic Stainless Steel, Hardened and Tempered to Rockwell C59, mirror finished
• Fittings: Copper, alloy 110
• Handle: Olive hardwood
• Sheath: Hand-stamped, hand-stitched Leather
• Knife: The Edesia is named for the Roman goddess of food who presides over banquets. She ensures the food is excellent and the feast goes well. The cleaver dates back to Paleolithic stone age times, literally millions of years ago, and the first cleavers were simple stone tools. Cleavers were present during the bronze age, and were so revered that they were buried  in ancient tombs. Today, cleavers are instantly recognizable, useful, and elegant tools spanning many cultures.
  
  I made the Edesia cleaver blade of 440C high chromium stainless steel, a highly corrosion resistant, tough, wear resistant modern alloy tool steel that is the standard stainless tool steel, a steel so popular that all others are measured by its performance. This is a very large piece of steel, and extremely difficult to grind and finish, because it's only .078" thick in the flat, and then hollow ground by hand at the edge. The super-thin, hand-ground edge is as sharp as a razor, and the thin blade spine makes this cleaver extremely light for its robust appearance. It was quite a challenge to finish the very large flat of the blade, and I spent many hours getting it just right. The beautiful crystalline structure of the steel is easily seen in the flat, which is as mirror like as this stainless steel can be, which helps in corrosion resistance, easy cleaning, and beauty. I added no filework for smooth and easy rinsing without trapping foodstuffs. The curve of the edge encourages comfortable rocking, since a professional cleaver is not a simple hacking tool, but an elegant and speedy working blade used also for clearing, scooping, and arranging on the board.
  
  The handle of the Edesia is a classic, the venerated standard of copper for the fittings, dating back to antiquity. This is copper alloy 110, a nearly pure alloy of 99.9 percent copper for a rich, warm feel and unique appearance. I made both the guard and the pommel in ferrule or cap form, so that the fittings are caps surrounding and containing the ends of the wood handle material, not simply butting against it. These types of ferrules protect and squeeze the end grain of the wood, and with the epoxide bedding and sealant, the wood is as protected as it can possibly be, mechanically and adhesively. The hidden tang is a large an heavy 3/8" welded and annealed 304 stainless steel rod going through the handle material threaded to the solid copper pommel-ferrule. The copper is soldered and sealed to the blade tang, polished, and will assume a flat patina, or appreciate the attention of the owner as all classic copper cooking implements do. The wood had to be very hard, durable, and self-sealing and olive was the beautiful choice. Olive hardwood smells like olive oil when turning, shaping, and finishing it (naturally) and it made me hungry to work with this naturally oily and resinous hardwood. It's a wood that maintains its color and figure indefinitely, and it's smooth and silky to the hand. I created the handle with a substantial diameter, partly to balance the blade weight, but more so to give comfortable control. The balance of the cleaver is perfect, blade-to-handle, with the fulcrum point exactly at the finger indent ring in the front copper guard.
• For transport and protection from the razor keen blade, I included a simple hand-tooled sheath, but a sheath for a cleaver with a 4 1/2" wide blade is no simple affair! I made it in 9-10 oz. thick leather shoulder, cleanly tooled and hand-stitched with double row black polyester. The sheath has a unique double flap retention method with a nickel plated steel snap, and the heavy belt loop will allow hanging at a complimentary angle. The entire sheath is dyed in burgundy and sealed for protection from exposures and preservation.
• A bold and useful Professional grade Master Chef's knife

Thanks, D. H.!