Searching for a good but small/handy cutting machine

[philie]

Hello,

right now i am owning a rather huge cutting machine used in a butcher shop. its a great tool but to be honest, its huge and heavy so i dont use it as often as i should do.

the time has come as i think the great machine and i should depart for the sake of good and i am currently searching for a smaller but equally good machine.

since i am located in germany there aren so many choices, maybe a graef cutting maschine.

i wanted to ask the experts what machine you would suggest for me?

thanks in advance!

one more thing: i would like to have a machine that is not out of plastic.

[Mjx]

Are you looking for a slicer, or something else?

[philie]

hello,

yeah i am looking for a small but solid slicer which isnt to heavy. the current one is almost 30kg.

thanks!

[Merridith]

I just bought one from Cabela's. It is called a "Commercial Grade" slicer and it is very nice for home use. I did a lot or research before buying this one. My first test was to slice a slab of home-made bacon and it did a fine job of it although it is a little difficult to coordinate the pushing of the meat tray, the holding of the food bar and at the same time pull the slices away from the blade to lay them out neatly. I think I will get the hang of it, though. I studied the market in detail. It had to be made of metal, with a metal food tray and metal food guard. It had to be amenable to regular cleaning and it had to have plenty of torque so I can slice extra thin. I don't have room for a "real" commercial slicer and that would really be overkill anyway. On the other hand, I have had the cheaper portable varieties such as the Krups and the smaller Chef's Choice and they are all way too powerless and have stupid safety mechanisms which require you to press a button while slicing to get the blade to move. This new machine is modeled after a professional machine and made of aluminum with a steel blade. It comes with a blade sharpener. It weighs about 30 pounds and has a nice solid feel. It is plenty big enough for doing my bacon, turkey breast, lamb roast, potatoes (for Pommes Anna) and tomatoes. I am hoping to be able to slice a proscuitto that I have hanging in a friends curing cooler when it is ready for eating (maybe next March). I have not had it long enough to put the thing through the paces but I think I will be happy.

[GlowingGhoul]

I've been researching slicers for about a year. All consumer grade slicers fall short. I was uneasy about buying a used unit, but true commercial slicers seem very hard to find under $1500.

I was in Restaurant Depot, and they had a huge stack of "Sir Lawrence" branded 12", 1/2hp slicers for $799. After searching around, I discovered that this unit is actually a Globe G12 relabled as Restaurant Depot's store brand. The slicer's are identical. In fact, the manual refers you to Globe for support and spare parts.

The Globe G12 sells for $1218, so you're getting a $419 discount buying the relabled version.

The Globe G12 is a "medium duty" commercial slicer. Made in Italy, it's beautifully contructed and easy to clean. It performs like a smaller version of what you'd find in a deli. Perfectly smooth carriage action and you can cut slices from "prosciutto thin" to 9/16". No tools necessary to disassemble for cleaning. Since it's a Globe(one of the largest slicer companies), parts will be available for a long time.

It weighs about 45lbs, but I take the carriage off to move it around more easily(takes 2 seconds to remove and replace the carriage).

I highly recommend this slicer, and think it's an incredible deal at the price.

If you aren't a member of Restaurant Depot, you can buy it at their online equipment store (therdstore.com).

EDIT: Looks like they've raised the price to $849, but it's still an excellent deal. http://www.therdstore.com/page/IFSES/SLICER/SIR-LAWR-SLICER

Edited October 23, 2012 by GlowingGhoul (log)

[philie]

actually that is the size of a slicer i already have and want to move away from. i have an italian omas machine which simply is too large.

so i think i`ll have to check out graef or so for a small and handy device.

[GlowingGhoul]

Ahh, oh well. I thought the drop from 30kg to 20kg might not be enough. I'm surprised with all the slicer makers out there there isn't a "mini" commerical grade unit out there for chefs, but I couldn't find one.