Butchers Cleaver - Restoration

My good friend from Germany was clearing out his shed when he came across his grandmother's old butcher's cleaver. I told him I'd love to restore it and he was kind enough to send it over to me! Not much is known about the origins of the blade as it doesn't have a maker's mark on it at all. But it was likely forged by a local blacksmith to his grandmother as you can see the forge marks on the tang when I remove the handle in the video.

The cleaver itself is quite basic so I knew I needed to get a bit creative with this restoration. I began by removing the handle which was held on by the peened over tang. I attempted to straighten it out but without heat the metal just snapped. In order to fix this, the handle needed to be drawn out with a mixture of hot and cold forging which increased the tang length from 14cm to 16cm.

I removed the rust from the blade using a mixture of electrolysis and wire wheeling, after which I decided I would not grind away the pitting as it gives the blade a unique character and us an insight to its past. The handle was beyond repair, so I crafted a new handle from a lovely piece of walnut wood and decided to accent it with a brass bolster and butt plate.

All of these components were shaped using files, mini lathe and grinding belts. Eventually they were all bound together using a two-part epoxy and finally secured by re-peening the tang onto the butt plate which was a different style than the original. The blade was finished off with a mirror finished sharpened blade, mirror finished brass and a tung oiled handle.

It was a unique, interesting challenge and often very stressful! But I believe the results speak for themselves and I am happy to have given this old blade a brand-new lease of life.

I hope you enjoyed the video and please like and subscribe if you would like to see more in the future :)

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