Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-98.112.243.160-20150104193913/@comment-3241231-20150104221218

You can salvage the Meat Cleaver and remove the damage rune from it without losing the Cleaver.

When the game states that items cannot be salvaged, it refers to any forged items that are attached to the weapon along with the rune, so things like Ingots of Physical Piercing, and elemental Gems. The actual weapon will always be yours, and won't be destroyed.