Cleaver

A cleaver is a large knife that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed hatchet. It is largely used as a kitchen or butcher knife intended for hacking through bone. The knife's broad side can also be used for crushing in food preparation (such as garlic).

Design

In contrast to other kitchen knives, the cleaver has an especially tough edge meant to withstand repeated blows directly into thick meat and dense cartilage and even bone, not to mention the cutting board or other supporting surface below. This resilience is accomplished by using a softer steel and a thicker blade, because a harder steel and a thinner blade will fracture more readily. Formerly, weaker knives would suffer buckling failure when used in a cleaving fashion.

In contrast to all other kitchen tools but one, a meat tenderizer, it is the only one designed to be swung like a hammer.

The edge of a meat cleaver does not need to be particularly sharp, because the knife's design relies on sheer momentum to cut efficiently, to chop straight through rather than slicing in a sawing motion. Part of the momentum derives from how hard the user swings the cleaver, of course, and the other part derives from how heavy the cleaver is.

Cleaver (tool)

In archaeology, a cleaver is a type of biface stone tool of the Lower Palaeolithic.

Cleavers are a little like hand axes. They are large and oblong or U-shaped tools meant to be held in the hand, but unlike hand axes, they have a wide, straight cutting edge running at right angles to the axis of the tool.

Acheulean cleavers resemble handaxes but with the pointed end truncated away. Flake cleavers have a cutting edge created by a tranchet flake being struck from the primary surface.

Difference between Cleavers and Hand Axes

Cleavers, found in many Acheulean assemblages such as Africa, were similar in size and manner of hand axes. The differences between a hand axe and a cleaver is that a hand axe has a more pointed tip, while a cleaver will have a more transverse “bit” that consists of an untrimmed portion of the edge oriented perpendicular to the long axis of the tool. These were used in lithic technology. It is unclear if it was used for heavy digging or not. More experiments were shown that the cleaver in Africa was more used as a butchering instrument. They were also helpful in skinning large game, and bone breaking.

Cleaver (The Sopranos)

Cleaver is a metafictional film within a TV-series that serves as an important plot element toward the end of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos. Although very little film material is actually shown in the series, its planning and development are discussed at large throughout multiple seasons of the show. The extent to which Sopranos character Christopher Moltisanti mixes confidential and personal information about the Soprano mob family into the story elements of Cleaver is the focal point throughout its development. After the project eventually materializes, Cleaver can be categorized as a direct-to-DVD mafia-slasher film — described alternately as "Saw meets the Godfather II", "the Ring meets The Godfather", and "a story about a young man who goes to pieces and then manages to pull himself together again"—. Several characters are credited for their involvement in the project. The screenplay was written by J. T. Dolan based on a story by Christopher Moltisanti, directed by Morgan Yam and produced by Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr. and Moltisanti. The film starred Jonathan LaPaglia as Michael "the Cleaver" and Daniel Baldwin as mob boss Salvatore ("Sally Boy"). Also starring as Sally-boy's key advisors are George Pogatsia as Frankie and Lenny Ligotti as Nicky. Moltisanti and Lupertazzi initially attempted to recruit Ben Kingsley to fill the role of the mafia don in "Luxury Lounge (6x07)," but Kingsley turned down the part.