What is cleaver?

A cleaver (Dutch: baander) is a historical craftsman who specialized in splitting (cleaving) wood along the grain. This trade was particularly common in the Dutch timber industry and shipbuilding from the 17th through the 19th century. The cleaver produced thin wooden boards, laths, and staves without using a saw.

Application

Splitting wood as a cleaver was fundamentally different from sawing. In cleaving, the wood is split along its natural grain, leaving the wood fibers intact. This produces stronger and more durable material than sawn wood, where the fibers are cut through.

The cleaver used tools such as a froe (cleaving axe), wedge, and mallet. The wood was placed on a cleaving bench or block and split into the desired dimensions with controlled blows. This required great skill, as the cleaver had to be able to read the grain of the wood to achieve a clean, straight split.

The products of a cleaver were used for roof shingles, barrel staves, wicker work, and ship planking. In cooperage, the staves made by cleavers were indispensable for manufacturing barrels and casks. The regular grain structure of cleft wood made these staves particularly suitable for creating watertight seals.

With the rise of mechanical sawmills in the 19th century, the trade of the cleaver largely disappeared. The craft is still practiced today on a limited scale by restoration specialists and historical craftsmen working on heritage buildings and museum projects.

Related terms

• Cleaving
• Froe
• Cooper
• Barrel stave
• Wood grain
• Sawmill

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