Description
Blade: 13″
Handle: 8″
Spine Thickness at Bolster: 8mm
Total Weight: 1000g
There’s not a lot of knives kicking around quite like this one. If you’ve ever used a proper meat cleaver, you know the feeling associated with having that much power in hand, directing it at one object which then shortly and promptly turns into two objects. The Bush cleaver is our attempt at taking that platform and achieving the same performance in wood. The result is a massive blade that delivers insane amounts of chopping power, while also maintaining a surprising amount of general use utility.
The Bush Cleaver’s 13″ blade is the widest that Kailash Blades has to offer and it has a lot of very very wide blades. This extra height only allows for maximum power and solid heft over its moderate length, but it also allows for a very steep semi convex grind to deliver incredible cutting efficiency and penetration performance. This grind terminates in a huge, 8mm spine to give rigidity and durability in prying and other rough use. The primary grind is backed up by a sturdy convex secondary grind to give the kind of durability you’d expect from Kailash blades while also minimising cutting resistance at the edge. As the name would imply, the blade’s pattern is based off a meat cleaver, but with many well though through adaptions.
It sports a long flat section for easy carving and push cutting, while still maintaining a massive, gently curving belly for a hatchet like chopping feel. The tip is raised in line with the handle to give a surprisingly useful point while the entire spine and handle are tapered dramatically for better stress distribution and a finely tuned balance. One of the most prominent features is the finger hole, which allows the user to place their hand directly above the usable edge for fantastic leverage when carving and performing push cuts (available to be left out upon ordering).
The Bush Cleaver is one of the most powerful knives produced by Kailash blades. While it can be used for fine work and carving, it absolutely excels as a chopper, giving the kind of compact power that outshines so many much, much longer, less versatile blades.
As with so many of our heavy use blades, the Bush Cleaver features an oversized handle, a very oversized one in this case. This allows those of you out there with massive gorilla paws or who routinely work with gloves to still manage a comfortable grip, while also allowing for a huge range of potential hand positions. Choke up to the front in the index finger notch or finger hole and the handle balances out some of the weight of the blade, giving this blade a tad more delicacy in fine work like carving and food prep. After that you can slide further and further back to get more and more power out of the blade until you reach the flared pommel. At this point you have maximum retention for minimum effort and the chopping power is simply otherworldly. You can potentially even squeeze part of another hand in the mix for even more control and power. The full tang handle features a tapered, annealed tang, which is sandwiched by two rosewood scales that are smooth and nicely ovalised, giving a consistent grip along the entire length in any possible grip style.
The Bush Cleaver is a different kind of outdoors blade and is defintitely not for everyone. However it allows for a great deal of versatility and a huge amount of power for a blade of such moderate length and gives a cutting experience unlike just about anything else out there. Does the idea of gliding through green saplings in a single blow then using that same knife to cut up rabbit and vegetables for a stew appeal to you? Then while this knife might not be for everyone then it might just be the knife for you.
Before Purchase, please read through our section on Warranty and Factory Seconds for information on the different grind types, tang options and how they affect the level of warranty we offer.