"hahabogus" > wrote in message
...
> Christine Dabney > wrote in
> :
>
>> My hands are small,
>> and I really don't know which one would be the best for my needs. Any
>> ideas
>
> A thicker heavier cleaver and a rubber mallet. Place the cleaver where you
> want it. Have at it with the mallet.. Using a rubber mallet and exact
> placement of the cleaver ensures the bone gets cut where you want it cut;
> with no wild willy-nilly swinging of the cleaver. This is a more humane
> way
> for the cleaver and ensures that at the end of the cutting job your
> mandatory pre-job finger count matches. I'd lean more towards a Swiss
> style
> cleaver for meat and bone cutting...Lee Valley used to offer one at a
> reasonable price while not being a 'knife' brand name offering the swiss
> style of cleaver with the point on one end would do a fine job on meat
> joints.
>
> --
>
> The house of the burning beet-Alan
>
> It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
> Elbonian Folklore
>

Oh do I agree with this statement. With heavy bone cutting cleavers this is
the only safe way to do it unless it is as large as a tree trunk. I don't
know about the Swiss style cleaver but any cleaver with a heavy spine should
handle this just fine, provided it isn't sharpened to a real acute angle.

Joe Cilinceon