How to sharpen a cleaver

A meat cleaver and a Chinese vegetable cleaver are sharpened differently

A meat cleaver is built for splitting through joints and bone. The edge is wide and sturdy, ground at an angle designed to resist chipping against hard material. A Chinese vegetable cleaver, sometimes called a cai dao, is built for precision: julienning and thin-slicing where the edge needs to stay fine.

The quickest way to tell which you have is the spine. A meat cleaver's spine is thick enough to feel substantial, and the blade is built to take a palm strike on the spine. A Chinese vegetable cleaver's spine is thinner, the blade is lighter, and that kind of force would damage it.

Both types are tall enough that sharpening them on a rolling sharpener takes a cutting board beside the block to raise the roller. For the full list of knives a rolling sharpener can and cannot take, see which knives fit a rolling knife sharpener.

Cleaver edge angles from 15 to 30 degrees

America's Test Kitchen's April 2026 cleaver review covered eleven Western-style meat cleavers and found edge angles from 15° to 30° per side — wider than the same makers' chef's knives. The review notes that Western-style cleavers have historically been given angles of 20° or more to protect the edge against chipping on bone. Kai's FAQ states 16° per side for its PRO cutlery, including its cleaver. Global gives a range of 10–15° for all its knives; the review lists its G-12 meat cleaver at 15°.

For a Chinese vegetable cleaver, makers publish no universal angle. Rollkeen's guidance for knives ground thin is the 15° end. For the angles of other kitchen knives and how to look up your brand, see the knife sharpening angle chart.

Why a cleaver needs the roller raised on a cutting board

A cleaver's blade is taller than a chef's knife's — higher from spine to edge. A roller sitting on the counter can reach the edge of a chef's knife; with a cleaver, the disc ends up below the edge unless the roller is raised. A cutting board beside the angle block lifts it to the right height.

1. Set the angle block on the counter. Leave room beside it for a cutting board.
2. Lay a cutting board flat beside the block.
3. Choose the face and set the cleaver against it, edge up. Meat cleaver: the 20° face. Chinese vegetable cleaver: the 15° face.
4. Lay the roller on the cutting board. Turn the disc end toward the cleaver's edge.
5. Roll from heel to tip with light pressure. For the full method (the burr check, turning the knife, and the tomato test), see how to use a rolling knife sharpener.

What to expect from the first sharpen

A cleaver's first session on the roller moves its edge to the block's 15° or 20°. Most meat cleavers have been ground at 20° or more, so the 20° face is the natural starting point. For a cleaver already at the block's angle, the first session is a straightforward reset. For a cleaver ground wider, the 20° end sets the new edge at 20°, narrower than it was. America's Test Kitchen's April 2026 review lists the Wüsthof Grand Prix II 6-inch cleaver at 30° per side. That first session takes considerably longer than a touch-up on a knife already at the block's angle.

Once the edge is set, keep the cleaver on the same end for every later sharpening. Switching ends means cutting a new bevel.