Shibazi JiuJiang (Kau Kong) Cleaver 200mm

Shibazi is a Chinese company based in the Yangjiang Province in China where many knife brands outsource their manufacturing to. If your kitchen knife is made in China, it likely came out of a factory in Yangjiang.

The brand was established in 1983 and is known globally for their different chinese cleavers. They are popular among home cooks as well as favored by many Cantonese chefs.

This specific cleaver, the F216-2 model, is named "九江弯刀" which describes the shape of the blade resembling the Jiujiang River. It is taller towards the front of the blade and has a slight dip in the middle of the spine. This results in a more blade heavy knife which helps cut through food more easily. This knife is a light cleaver suitable for most kitchen tasks and can go through cartilage and chicken bones. Do take caution to avoid thicker bones as that could damage the blade. 

Most knives produced in Yangjiang are quite unremarkable. However, this cleaver is an exception due to this one feature: A Sabre Grind

Pretty much all blades start out thicker at the spine and thin out at the edge (otherwise it wouldn't be a knife). The gradual thinning from spine to edge is known as the a taper or grind. For most blades made in China, the taper is fully flat. You can test this by placing the face of the blade on a flat surface and observing any gaps between the blade and the surface. A flat taper is bad news for food sticking as the slices of food can easily travel up the face of the blade uninterrupted. Most Japanese blades have either a convex taper or a sabre grind (you can test this yourself!), which greatly aids in food release as the slices of food have a harder time sticking to a surface that is not fully flat.

The end result? Slices of food fall off this cleaver when they reach about halfway up the blade. This helps with the uninterrupted flow of chopping as you prep your meals!