Mastodon 7.5" Hand Forged Cleaver Knife, Clip Point, Hammer Textured High Carbon Steel, Rosewood Handle

The Mastodon is a 7.5" cleaver knife hand forged from hammer textured high carbon steel, and it is the most brutal looking blade in our cleaver line. It was made for the hunter and the camp cook who process their own meat and do not want to carry three knives to do it.

Built for Game and Camp

The heavy rear half does the chopping: splitting ribs, working through joints, breaking a deer or a hog into pieces that fit the cooler. Then you turn the knife and use the clip point for the fine work, like trimming around a joint or scoring fat. One blade covers both jobs, and that is the whole reason for the shape.

It is a lot of knife for dicing onions. For daily kitchen prep, the Kermode 7" Serbian chef knife is the better pick. If you want a smaller blade with a clip point of its own, the 5.5" Padauk cleaver sits in our cleaver collection.

A Gift That Gets Used

This is the one for the hunter who dresses his own deer, or the dad who runs the fire on every camping trip. It makes a strong Christmas or birthday gift for someone who already owns kitchen knives and has nothing that looks like this. It also works as a retirement gift for a man who finally has the whole of hunting season free. Want something built to order instead? Our custom knives take 2 to 3 weeks.

Every Xcutlery blade is high carbon steel, hand forged one at a time in the Serbian style: thick stock, a lot of hammer work, and the forge finish left on the flats.

The Mastodon is Serbian style hand forged, and you can read the hammer on it. The blows that shaped the blade are left on the flats as a dimpled texture, so the steel looks closer to stone than to a factory knife. That texture is not only for looks. It adds rigidity to a long blade and gives wet meat less flat surface to cling to. The spine sweeps down into a clip point, which is unusual on a cleaver this size, and a clean edge is polished in below the rough flats.

Why high carbon steel

It takes a very fine edge and comes back quickly on a whetstone. The price of that edge is a little care. This steel is not a rust resistant alloy, so water left on the blade will mark it. Wash it, dry it, wipe on a light coat of oil, and it will be cutting long after the cutting board has given up.

Patina

With use the steel darkens to a grey or blue patina. That is normal for high carbon steel and it helps protect the blade. Red rust is a different thing, and it comes from a knife left wet.

• 7.5" hand forged clip point blade
• Hammer textured high carbon steel
• Hand hammered texture with a polished edge
• Full tang with steel pins
• Rosewood handle
• Built for butchering, game processing and camp cooking

Specifications

• Blade: 7.5" hand forged, clip point
• Steel: Hammer textured high carbon steel
• Finish: Hand hammered texture, polished edge
• Construction: Full tang with steel pins
• Handle: Rosewood
• Use: Butchering, game processing, camp cooking

• Mastodon 7.5" hand forged cleaver knife
• Lifetime warranty against defects in materials and craftsmanship

Each blade is forged by hand, so the forge texture, hammer marks and wood grain on yours will be its own.

Wash it by hand after every session and dry it right away, especially after field use. Wipe on a light coat of food safe oil before it goes back in the pack. Never the dishwasher, and never a soak in the sink.

Every time you use it

• Hand wash it right after use and dry it straight away
• Wipe on a light coat of food safe oil before it goes away
• Cut on wood or plastic boards
• Touch up the edge on a whetstone when it starts to drag

Keep it away from

• The dishwasher, and a sink full of water overnight
• Glass, stone or metal cutting surfaces
• Prying, twisting or throwing

The full routine is in our high carbon steel knife care guide, and the edge work is in how to sharpen a meat cleaver.

Every Xcutlery knife is covered for life against defects in materials and craftsmanship. If a handle works loose from the tang, a pin comes free, or there is a flaw in the steel or the build that came from us, we repair or replace it free of charge.

It does not cover normal wear such as a dull edge, damage from misuse, or rust from the dishwasher or soaking. Slight differences in forge texture, hammer marks and wood grain are part of a handmade knife, not defects.

To make a claim, email sales@xcutlery.com (Australia: sales@xcutlery.com.au) with your order number and photos. Separately, you have 30 days from delivery to return an unused knife. Engraved and custom knives cannot be returned for a change of mind. Full terms are on the warranty page.

Why does a cleaver have a clip point?
So the same blade can chop and do fine work. The heavy heel handles joints and ribs, and the tip handles trimming and scoring.

Is it good for processing deer?
Yes, game processing is what it was built around. It handles quartering, joints and trimming. For long, thin fillet work a flexible blade is still easier, and those are in our boning and fillet knives.

Does it come sharp?
It ships with a polished edge, ready to cut.

Will the hammered texture rust?
The texture is not the problem. Any high carbon steel will rust if it stays wet, so dry it, oil it, and it will be fine.

Breaking a deer into pieces that fit the cooler and then trimming with the clip point is the job the Mastodon was shaped around. For where it sits in the range, see our cleavers compared side by side.