Newbie to Restoring Meat Cleavers

Joined
Jul 22, 2019
Messages
24
Sooooo...I was referred to this sub-Forum for cleaver discussions. I'm a newbie, but enjoy restorations.

I recently picked up a couple of nice, vintage high carbon steel meat cleavers that I am intending to put into use after some "light" restoration. One is a Wm. Beatty & Son #2 (9" blade/18" overall, ca. 1870's) and the other is an ARCO New York (6" blade/12" overall). There is some information on the Beatty family and their cleavers, but I cannot find any references to ARCO. I've seen quite a few ARCO cleavers for sale on eBay and other sites, but no history of the company. Anyone on the Forum know anything about this manufacturer? Are they pre-WWII era? Were they manufactured by some other company and marketed under the ARCO name? Any help would be greatly appreciated. BTW...the ARCO cleaver has a teardrop-shaped hole in the blade instead of a circular hole. The only other cleavers I've seen with the teardrop hole were made by Briddell (both circular holes and teardrop holes). I wonder if Briddell made cleavers for ARCO back in the day. Thanks.
 
I love an old cleaver, I hope someone can help you with the ARCO.
A picture would help a lot.
Many knives and cleavers were branded for hardware stores and such.

Here is one I got recently, 5 pounds worth:thumbsup:
Also have WM Beaty that is identical except for the logo

OpHh3v2.jpg
 
Were they manufactured by some other company and marketed under the ARCO name? Any help would be greatly appreciated. BTW...the ARCO cleaver has a teardrop-shaped hole in the blade instead of a circular hole. The only other cleavers I've seen with the teardrop hole were made by Briddell (both circular holes and teardrop holes). I wonder if Briddell made cleavers for ARCO back in the day. Thanks.

Briddell would be my guess. They were the big maker of cleavers and they made them for other brands (including Sears).
 
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