Review (4/5): Awesome Cleaver - Buy this for the Home now!
The pictures just don't do this cleaver justice. If you are a home chef, or somebody who needs to chop through some poultry or soup bones now and then, this is a great buy! It's made in china, but the packaging is in Japanese... so basically this is a Made in China Cleaver for the Japanese market. That's a good thing, because the japanese rarely buy/market things that are poorly made (also it probably means the original design and manufacturing was at one time done in japan). Anyways, the blade is 7" so i really can't see some of the criticism for not being able to hack apart a t-bone or quarter of frozen beef!! It's simply not an industrial-focused Cleaver, rather it's a 7", well made, beautiful looking cleaver that does it's job in the home kitchen - where it was meant to be used. If you need an industrial style cleaver I highly recommend the Cajun Cookware 4lb-er!
I just made some soup stock at home recently and used this to cut some of the marrow bones so that they fit in my 12qt Stock Pot more nicely and it worked beautifully. I agree that since the handle is polished Brass and Stainless Steel, it's a little more slippery than say a Fibrox handle from Forschner that's NSF certified for Industrial/Commercial use, but i've never had a problem with it twisting or sliding while i used it - basically i dry my hands, pick this beautiful thing up, slam it down 2 or 3 times, and i'm done with it for another week or so.
Basically, if you're sick of using your favorite Chef's Knife to hack apart poultry, or just want a Cleaver to add to your collection, you really can't go wrong with a beautiful looking, full-tang, Japan Domestic Market Cleaver for under $20!