A cleaver cuts by momentum. The thick spine and the mass concentrated toward the front edge mean you raise it and let it fall — through poultry joints, rib bones, pork trotters and squash rind that would stall a chef’s knife.
The Traditional line puts that blade on a riveted hardwood handle rather than a moulded one, which shifts the balance forward and gives the head more authority. Being high-carbon steel it takes a keener edge than stainless and wants drying after use rather than being left wet.
Dexter-Russell has made cutlery in Southbridge, Massachusetts since 1818 and is the oldest cutlery manufacturer in the United States. Traditional is its original pattern book — high-carbon steel blades on hardwood handles, ground to shapes the company has been making for over a century.
