Dexter-Russell Traditional 7-inch Meat Cleaver, Carbon Steel (5387)

A meat cleaver does the work a knife should not, chopping through chicken backs, pork ribs and the thick cartilage of a beef shank. Dexter-Russell shapes the 5387 Traditional cleaver for chopping through bone and cartilage, on beef and pork bones as well as poultry.

Dexter credits its carbon steel with sharpness and edge retention, and a cleaver edge in carbon is easy to restore with a file or stone. One question customers ask us is how to maintain a carbon steel cleaver. The short answer is to keep it dry and lightly oiled, and the Care section below covers the routine.

Meat Cleaver or Chinese Cleaver?

Customers also ask whether to buy a meat cleaver or a Chinese cleaver. A meat cleaver is thick and heavy for bone. A Chinese chef’s knife such as the Dexter-Russell 8-inch Carbon Chinese Cleaver is thinner and meant for slicing and chopping vegetables and boneless meat, so it should be kept off bone. For a stain-free meat cleaver, see the Sani-Safe 7-inch Cleaver.