J.A. Henckels Twin High Carbon Stainless-Steel Meat Cleaver

Cuts so well my mom (who cooks a lot of asian cuisine and is accustomed to crappier, duller versions of cleavers) had a minor cut on her hand she didn't even realize until after she was done cooking. Wow, a knife that cuts so well it's borderline dangerous--love it!

Knife is excellent quality, good weight and is a great addition to our Chef knife and Santoku.

This is a great knife. A little on the small side, but it cuts through big chunks of meat with ease. I used it last night on a mango that was frozen solid. While it didn't slice through it like butter (a frozen mango is about as hard as granite), it got the job done quickly and efficiently.

It's very well balanced and it's sharp enough for a variety of tasks around the kitchen beyond chopping meat. I've used it to thin-slice tomatoes, open coconuts, and dice garlic. You won't be disappointed.

Very good product. My wife and I have both used it and it does everything we want it to!

First off, it's a little bit confusing figuring out which of Henckel's lines this cleaver belongs in. Amazon's site doesn't say it's a Pro S blade, but when I put the product # into the Henckel site it actually came up with 2 different descriptions for the same blade - one said Pro S, the other did not. When the product arrived I confirmed that it DOES say "Pro S" on the blade itself, so I think I am justified in comparing it to the rest of the Pro S line in my review.

When I decided to get a good meat cleaver, I was debating between this and the 5-star. Generally speaking, comparable knives within the Pro S and 5-star lines are essentially identical in terms of quality, with the only real difference being the handle, which comes down to personal preference. Prices are generally quite similar as well, which is why I couldn't figure out why this blade was significantly cheaper than the 5-star cleaver. Because of the price difference, and because all my other knives at home are Pro S (and I like to have the handles match), I went with this one.

When it arrived, I discovered that while this is a nice all around cleaver, it is NOT comparable to any other knife in the Pro S line because the blade is NOT forged steel, but steel sheet.

Despite this, I'll admit it is a pretty nice cleaver, it has a nice weight to it and it works well. But it simply doesn't belong in the Pro S line, and it's a lower quality product than the (justifiably more expensive) forged steel 5-Star meat cleaver. If I could do it again, I'd order the 5-Star. If you're on a budget, this is still a very nice cleaver for the price.

If this blade wasn't mislabeled as a Pro S knife I would give it 4-stars, but because it says Pro S I think it should have Pro S quality and it simply does not.