"john d hamilton" > wrote in message
...
> Helping to clear out an old garden shed in London u.k., we found this
> cleaver.
>
> Its pretty ancient probably from about 1910 or so.
>
> Some think it's a woodworking tool or similar, and others think its a
> butchers cleaver, although some think not, because butchers cleavers are
> usually much bigger and you can see from the photo it's really quite
> small. it also has the number 6 stamped on the blade. anyone any idea
> what its original purpose was likely to be? thanks.
>
> photo on tinypic website:
> http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=33y5a9u&s=4

My vote goes to cleaver. Cleavers can be small, too. I have a very small
knife that looks like a cleaver. It can be used as a knife or cleaver, but
I hesitate to start smacking stuff with it, as it is so sharp. This one I
have is some off beat name, but had one in another marriage that was Joyce
Chen, IIRC. They are fantastically sharp, and useful as heck, almost the
one you'd take if you could only have one knife in the house. I really like
mine.

Steve