Bladesmith Nick Anderson delivers his rendition of a Chinese Cleaver in unique and magnificent style, forging high-performance AEB-L stainless steel to form the 185mm long by 87mm tall blade. For your cutting pleasure, silky, hand-sanded bevels feature compound 's-grind' geometry, thin at the edge, convex above for strength, and immediately concave beginning at the half-inch mark for food release and balance. Then, just beneath a nicely faceted and slightly tapered blade spine, is a forge-finished area of the blade's flats that leads into the wide, forged tang before entering the handle. And it is this handle that we especially cannot get enough of. The predominant material is verawood, the Argentinian cousin to lignum vitae, known as the Tree of Life; two species which produce some of the densist hardwoods on the planet. In an octagonal form with rounded edges, the wood meets, at either end, shibuichi that Nick has painstakingly cast by hand for this project, using the traditional Japanese approach to working with this copper alloy. Centered at the rear of the handle is a domed and hammered carbon steel retention nut cap, and at the front, on the left side of the ferrule, you will find the crown of the piece, a fine silver inlay, a phoenix rising. A knife that gives the power to soar.