Goat cleaver

This was a commission from a Navy SEAL (a buddy of the one who's been such a good customer to me) to use in processing out the wild goats and feral hogs that he hunts in his downtime there in Hawaii.  Since he was wanting it for more butcher duty than some of the blunt-ended choppers I've made in the past, I followed a more traditional meat cleaver design.

As part of that, I angled the blade to the handle where the knuckles would have plenty of clearance when chopping a carcass on a butcher block.

 

I decided to take pics with several different backgrounds and levels of shade.  :)

 

 

The steel is 5160, the handle is an integral socket handle wrapped in hemp cord with three-strand Turk's head knots at the ends, impregnated with epoxy.  The overall length is 18", the blade is 12" long and 3/16" at the spine, and is 3 1/2" wide at the widest.  It shaves hair very cleanly.

A shot of it in hand.

And a picture he sent me of one of the goats he's hunted in the past.  He's promised to send me pics when he gets to hack up a carcass for a barbecue.