{"product_id":"antique-french-butcher-cleaver-hand-forged-mid-19th-century","title":"Antique French Butcher Cleaver | Hand Forged | Mid 19th Century","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis antique French butcher's cleaver carries a lot of history with it. Although handsome in its own right, it was created for serious use. Every curve, every rivet, every gram of weight exists for a reason. Forged by hand in the mid-19th century, likely between 1850 and 1880, this old couperet de boucher (butcher's cleaver) comes from a time when village craftsmen made tools to earn a living or complete those hard jobs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe construction tells that story beautifully. The broad trapezoidal blade was hand-forged from a thick slab of steel and still carries the subtle irregularities that disappear once production becomes industrialized. The angled upper corner is a classic French style. Three large hand \"peened\" iron rivets secure the shaped wooden handle to the blade. The steel has darkened naturally through a century and a half of use, while traces of forging remain visible under the surface.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat I enjoy about old tools like this is that they still feel connected to the people who used them. Somewhere in France, this cleaver was part of someone's daily routine. Reached for without thinking. Sharpened when it needed it. Put back in the same place at the end of the day. After a century and a half, that familiarity is still somehow there.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday it has earned a different role. The work is done, but the presence remains. Set among your antique French cutting boards or with other old French cleavers, it brings a unique aspect of the farmhouse or butcher shop into a modern setting. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Provence Collection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53673362653527,"sku":"CTS-038","price":395.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/4686\/4215\/files\/antique-french-butcher-cleaver-hand-forged-2.jpg?v=1780483688","url":"https:\/\/theprovencecollection.com\/products\/antique-french-butcher-cleaver-hand-forged-mid-19th-century","provider":"The Provence Collection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}