Hatsukokoro Hayabusa VG10 Damascus Chinese Cleaver 175mm

It depends on the blade thickness. A knife maker's guide sorts the chuka cleaver (中華包丁) into three thicknesses, each suited to different foods.

The thin kind (薄刃), the lightest, is for the everyday foods a supermarket sells; the medium-thick kind (中厚刃) can also cut hard foods such as bone-in chicken and fish bones; and the thick kind (厚刃), the heaviest and meant for experienced users, suits bone-in block meat and frozen food. Check the thickness of your blade before you cut any bone.

Yes, as long as it is the thin slicing kind and you keep it off bone. A Chinese cleaver is a general-purpose prep knife, and it covers the same board work as a chef's knife (gyuto): slicing and chopping vegetables and boneless meat.

The tall, broad blade is what you are buying. It clears your knuckles, lets you pinch high on the blade for thin, straight cuts through tall vegetables, crushes garlic under the flat and scoops the lot from board to pan. The sharp front corner will score and carve.

What you give up is lightness and a slim point. The full-size cleavers we have measured weigh from about 240g to about 420g, against a median of 163g for our 210mm gyutos. A gyuto's pointed tip works into tight spots and its curved belly rocks through herbs; a cleaver is made for a chopping motion.

Stay with a gyuto if you want a light knife or do a lot of tip work such as trimming sinew. Do not buy a slicing cleaver to chop bones. Despite the name it has a thin edge, and it is not made for cutting through bone.

Not every cleaver we sell is Japanese. The Japanese-made version is called a chuka bocho, from makers such as Sugimoto in Tokyo, and our Chinese cleaver range also includes Chan Chi Kee (CCK) of Hong Kong.

Yes, it can. Takefu, which makes VG10 (V金10), lists it among its stainless steels, and the JSSA notes that stainless strictly means rust-resistant, not rust-proof.

Takefu lists VG10's chromium content as 15% and describes its corrosion resistance as excellent. We recommend drying the knife after washing.

Takefu, the steelmaker behind VG10, gives HRC 60 or more as its hardening hardness, measured straight after quenching. The hardness of a finished knife depends on its maker.

Takefu says the steel's 15% chromium, 1% molybdenum and 1.55% cobalt give it high hardness and a long-lasting edge, and that it is easy to sharpen.

Both are Takefu blade steels, and they differ in class and in what Takefu publishes about each. Takefu lists VG10 as a stainless steel with 1.00% carbon, 15.00% chromium, 1.00% molybdenum, 0.25% vanadium and 1.55% cobalt, at a hardening hardness of HRC 60 or more.

Takefu describes SG2, its Super Gold 2, as a blade steel created by powder metallurgy, lists its composition as not disclosed, and SG2 runs 61 to 65 HRC depending on the maker. Takefu also calls SG2 a powdered stainless high-speed steel.

Yes. VG-10 is our default suggestion for a first Japanese knife, because it is stainless and easy to sharpen, and it holds a good working edge through everyday home cooking.

VG-10 is made by Takefu Special Steel, with about 1% carbon, 15% chromium and 1.55% cobalt, and is usually hardened to around 60 HRC. Takefu describes it as corrosion resistant and easy to sharpen. Day to day you rinse it and wipe it dry, with none of the rust watching carbon steel asks for.

It is also a kind steel to learn sharpening on. It takes an edge readily on a basic waterstone, so you can feel when your technique is working. A harder steel such as SG2 holds its edge longer but is less forgiving on the stone, as our VG-10 vs SG2 comparison explains.

Stainless steel can still stain: VG-10 will spot if it is left wet with acidic food on the edge, and it should never go in the dishwasher. Like any hard, thin Japanese edge, it should also stay away from bones, frozen food and glass boards. If your household is rough on knives, the slightly softer AUS-10 is the safer choice.

Steel is only part of the decision. Heat treatment and grind change how the same VG-10 cuts from one maker to the next, so choose the shape and size first. Our first Japanese knife guide walks through that.

Hatsukokoro (初心) is a brand, not a forge. H&K, a company founded in 2013 and based in Amagasaki, Hyogo, created it in 2019.

H&K names the producer for some lines, for example Shinkiro by Takahiro Nihei in Fukushima, Ginyou by Yoshihiro Yauji in Echizen and Kurosagi by Motokyuichi Hamono in Nagasaki, and keeps others confidential. Some knives we stock carry the maker in the title, such as Hatsukokoro x Yoshikane SKD Nashiji.

The name comes from the Japanese proverb 初心忘るべからず, which means don't forget your original intention. The company read it gently as hatsukokoro rather than shoshin.

H&K created the brand in 2019, six years after the company was founded, and chose the name for its knife line.