Vintage Russell Green River Works 7" Cleaver Carbon 1920-40

Antique Russell Green River Works 7" butchers cleaver, hand forged in the old style but with the arrow R mark started in the 1920s. 

Blade is laminated hard steel with softer mild steel backing, it has seen some hammering to the spine which has been mostly ground away, the ferrule is nice and secure with no wiggles and the handle scales are nice and secure with no cracks, big gaps or looseness. 

J Russell was one of the very first American cutlery makers and was located in Greenfield Massachusetts the epicenter of American knifemaking and the American industrial revolution. in 1874 they moved to nearby Turner's Falls. In the 1930s they merged with old rival Harrington cutlery and formed the Dexter Russell brand. The Russell trademarks have been used independently up until today on old patterns but this construction is definitely old.