Salvaged Cleaver
A powerful 2-handed melee weapon with high damage.
The Salvaged Cleaver is a melee weapon in Rust. It deals 60 slash damage per hit and swings once every 2 seconds, 30 damage per second. You craft it at a Level 1 Workbench, and its blueprint costs 40 scrap to research.
About the Salvaged Cleaver
It can be thrown as well as swung. On an animal corpse it takes 10 health per hit and loses 0.5 condition each time. Recycling it returns the Road Signs only by chance, 50% of the time.
On the tech tree it sits behind 8 other unlocks: Mace, Mini Crossbow, Compound Bow, Reinforced Wooden Shield, Salvaged Sword, Pickaxe and 2 more. In all, 26 loot sources drop it; the full list of where it drops gives the chance for each.
Salvaged Cleaver damage and stats
Among the 16 melee weapons it ranks 2nd for damage per hit and 5th for damage per second.
How to craft the Salvaged Cleaver
Crafting one takes 15 seconds at a Level 1 Workbench and costs 50 × Metal Fragments and 1 × Road Signs.
50 
1 
How to get the Salvaged Cleaver blueprint
Research it for 40 scrap, or unlock it on the Level 1 tech tree for 9 Blueprint Fragments in total.
1 Item 
40 Scrap Blueprint 40 
Node 
1 Blueprint Fragment Unlocked 9 How to repair the Salvaged Cleaver
A full repair at a Repair Bench costs 11 × Metal Fragments and 1 × High Quality Metal, and you need its blueprint.
×11 
×1 Per hit is how much of the node one swing takes; wasted is the share destroyed rather than collected, which is why two tools at the same damage do not yield the same. Wear is the condition the tool loses per hit.
What the Salvaged Cleaver recycles into
A green recycler always gives back 25 × Metal Fragments for one.
×25 50% ×30 60% 
×37 50% 75% 
×20 40% 
Medium Present 8.5%×1 The chance is for a single roll of what the item gives when opened.
Where to find the Salvaged Cleaver
Gingerbread Man has the best chance at 8.7%, followed by Tool Box at 4.9% and Sunken Crate at 3.3%.
Stats checked against the Rust game files on 12 November 2026.
