Electric Meat Slicers

[fields32]

Hi Abra,

I bought a non commercial Sunbeam food slicer 6 months ago and absolutely love it. I use it  to cut my own slices of boneless ham, salami, tomatoes, cheese, bread and so on. I have a food dehydrator as well so it'd very useful when you need to cut fruit and vegies to the same thickness ready for drying.

http://www.sunbeam.com.au/products/product...d=520&sec_id=61

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what is a food dehydrator,or i know what it does but how does it work

[fields32]

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but is it possible to slice warm meats on an electric slicer or will this gum up the machine?

I have a non-commercial slicer, which has worked great for cold stuff.  However, in 2 weeks, I will have the need to slice approx. 40 lbs of roasted pork loin, and for this reason, I thought of my electric slicer.  Having never used it for hot/warm meat before, I'd appreciate any advice.

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no it shouldnt gum up to bad though meat will stick to the blade and 40 lbs of meat for a non commercial slicer does sound like quite a load on it.

[kbjesq]

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but is it possible to slice warm meats on an electric slicer or will this gum up the machine?

I have a non-commercial slicer, which has worked great for cold stuff.  However, in 2 weeks, I will have the need to slice approx. 40 lbs of roasted pork loin, and for this reason, I thought of my electric slicer.  Having never used it for hot/warm meat before, I'd appreciate any advice.

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no it shouldnt gum up to bad though meat will stick to the blade and 40 lbs of meat for a non commercial slicer does sound like quite a load on it.

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Thanks, I'll give it a trial run this weekend. If all else fails, I'll use my electric knife.

[Rembrant Wood]

On Friday, April 28, at 9:32 am, Chris Amirault welcomed into his loving home this magnificent vintage Hobart Meat Slicer, weighing in at well over fifty pounds. Hobart was adopted thanks to the fine folks at craigslist for $100, and he's in good working order.  Here's a few photos of the little bugger:

That's the turkey breast I brined and roasted, sliced nice and thin.

This beast is fantastic. I took it apart -- it's all screws and grease and metal, so I could figure it out more or less -- cleaned it, sharpened the blade, and it's working like a charm. Plus it's absolutely beautiful, don't cha think?

So... what to do with it? I'm planning on curing ham, bresaola, and who knows what, smoking turkey, roasting beef, the usual and I'll slice 'em up with this baby. I'm also thinking about carpaccio at home, something I've craved but never managed to pull off for obvious reasons. What else is there to try?

And does anyone know of any things I should be doing to keep it in good shape other than keeping it clean and sharp?

Finally, I'd love to hear about other people's slicers. What do you do with them? Where do you store them? What do you use them for?

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Mineral oil the tracks underneath and on the food holder-never use cooking oil it will get gummy.

I've used Hobarts as old as 60's vintage and yours is older..probably early 50's...so DON'T lose any parts loke set screws. Hobart kept almost the same design from mid 60's until probably the late 80's or beyond,but the older ones like this may not share parts with those. Note you can yery thin slice red onions on this...a treat, but very thin sliced carrots are a nice salad thing,as are Zukes.

[JAZ]

I have the opportunity to get the Chef's Choice "VariTilt" model #632 (here) for less than half the list price. Seems like a pretty decent machine, for what I need. Does anyone have any experience with these? Also, if I get it, should I spring for the non-serrated blade?

[sandercohan]

I have the opportunity to get the Chef's Choice "VariTilt" model #632 (here) for less than half the list price. Seems like a pretty decent machine, for what I need. Does anyone have any experience with these? Also, if I get it, should I spring for the non-serrated blade?

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I have the Chef's Choice #632. I love it. I got it because I wanted a meat slicer and that's what they sold at Williams Sonoma (where I had a ton of gift cards). It's a good entry level product for small projects. I wouldn't use it for large scale projects (catering, etc...), but it's compact, pretty, and easy to handle. Cleanup is a bit cumbersome, I would have liked dishwasher safe components, but whatever, its not that big and its only five minutes out of my life.

Half price, I think it would be a great idea. No experience with the serrated blade. That might be my next purchase.

s

[randallrosa]

On Friday, April 28, at 9:32 am, Chris Amirault welcomed into his loving home this magnificent vintage Hobart Meat Slicer, weighing in at well over fifty pounds. Hobart was adopted thanks to the fine folks at craigslist for $100, and he's in good working order.  Here's a few photos of the little bugger:

That's the turkey breast I brined and roasted, sliced nice and thin.

This beast is fantastic. I took it apart -- it's all screws and grease and metal, so I could figure it out more or less -- cleaned it, sharpened the blade, and it's working like a charm. Plus it's absolutely beautiful, don't cha think?

So... what to do with it? I'm planning on curing ham, bresaola, and who knows what, smoking turkey, roasting beef, the usual and I'll slice 'em up with this baby. I'm also thinking about carpaccio at home, something I've craved but never managed to pull off for obvious reasons. What else is there to try?

And does anyone know of any things I should be doing to keep it in good shape other than keeping it clean and sharp?

Finally, I'd love to hear about other people's slicers. What do you do with them? Where do you store them? What do you use them for?

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I just took delivery on the same Hobart 210, circa 1940s...I have the manual / parts catalog if anyone needs it...

btw according to Hobart, most parts are NOT avail for this model, so Ill be sure to take care of it- unless anyone here has found a source...

I need to clean it and lube it up...I read here that mineral oil is good lube for the glides, etc?

randall

[randallrosa]

If a person was in the market for a meat slicer,and was willing to spend between 2 3 hundred dollars,which would be the best for my money

I will be slicing meats,cheeses ,easy of clean up should be a factor

Thanks Shane

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I spent $100 on eBay for this one:

It is way more than I need for home use in terms of power. It is also very quiet -- the biggest problem is that it is MASSIVE. I had to buy a cart to put it on (so tack another $100 onto the price tag if you will need to do that!). Cleanup is easier than I expected, but not totally trivial. It probably takes 5-10 minutes to wipe everything down. I count that as a bargain compared to the time it takes to hand-slice 10 lbs of bacon!

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Did you restore this yourself?- looks new! did you use appliance epoxy on the white parts?

randall

[Chris Hennes]

Yes and yes. I completely disassembled it, ground the bulk of the original (now yellow) enamel off, re-enameled it with appliance enamel (white, silver and black, for the various parts), lubed everything, and re-assembled. I actually need to take it back apart one of these days and add a new piece of felt to the sliding assembly: I damaged it reassembling, so the sliding action is not as smooth as I would like.

ETA: I also replaced the original non-grounded power cord with a grounded one, and put a new switch on it.

Edited April 7, 2009 by Chris Hennes (log)

[randallrosa]

Yes and yes. I completely disassembled it, ground the bulk of the original (now yellow) enamel off, re-enameled it with appliance enamel (white, silver and black, for the various parts), lubed everything, and re-assembled. I actually need to take it back apart one of these days and add a new piece of felt to the sliding assembly: I damaged it reassembling, so the sliding action is not as smooth as I would like.

ETA: I also replaced the original non-grounded power cord with a grounded one, and put a new switch on it.

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cool! I have a couple of questions:

what kind of lube?

how did you get the enamel off? I have epoxy paint remover I was going to try on the black parts...but what about the silver areas? (mine is all silver and black, but I like off-white for the base!

I want to fill in some of dings and scratches...any tips on that?

where to you get your parts from? I need feet for mine! and want new stones for the grinder

TIA

[Chris Hennes]

I didn't replace any parts that were custom: the feet are just bolts ( don't recall the diameter, but fairly large. 3/8", maybe?). I used a drill with a wire brush to remove the enamel: worked like a charm, and made a gigantic mess. Make sure you wear a dust mask! For the lube I just used a standard "white-grease" type, picked up at Lowe's. I didn't bother filling any dings or scratches, but I imagine Bondo would do the trick nicely.

[randallrosa]

I didn't replace any parts that were custom: the feet are just bolts ( don't recall the diameter, but fairly large. 3/8", maybe?). I used a drill with a wire brush to remove the enamel: worked like a charm, and made a gigantic mess. Make sure you wear a dust mask! For the lube I just used a standard "white-grease" type, picked up at Lowe's. I didn't bother filling any dings or scratches, but I imagine Bondo would do the trick nicely.

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wow the wire brush didnt scratch the surface? would you recommend the brush over liquid remover?

what is the base made of you figure- its def. not metal

[Chris Hennes]

It scratched the surface, it just didn't matter. The scratches are very fine, and the enamel covers them up quite well. I don't quite follow what you mean about the base: it definitely is metal: some variety of steel I think, based on its weight.

[randallrosa]

It scratched the surface, it just didn't matter. The scratches are very fine, and the enamel covers them up quite well. I don't quite follow what you mean about the base: it definitely is metal: some variety of steel I think, based on its weight.

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I guess when I tap on the base it doesnt make a solid metal ping like the rest of the machine does. is thre a certain grade or stiffness of wire brush you used? i hate using the solvents, so the brush sounds good to me!

btw how did you clean out all the old grease?

Randall

[Chris Hennes]

I just used whatever they were selling at the hardware store: I went through three or four of them on the project, it takes a while to wear away all that enamel (I actually only took off most of it, there was still a thin coat in spots, but I was out of brushes, so I just painted over it). I basically just washed the thing really well with soap and water after that to remove the grease and sanding residue.

I have no idea about the solvents, I have never had much success with them and generally prefer mechanically removing paint, etc.

[OliverB]

What about the Waring Pro slicer? I have little use for a slicer, so spending several hundred on some hefty thing that I can't move won't really do me much good, no matter how pretty those actually are. I just got the Waring Pro meat grinder, which seems very sturdy (have yet to use it, cracked a rib recently and am just getting back to being fully mobile), seems like they make good products. I would use it to slice things occasionally, possibly increasing use over the next years while I get more into charcuterie. But it's not something I want to have sitting in the kitchen all day. I have very sharp knives and can slice a salami for a sandwich just fine, it's more for those times where I have to slice a lot of stuff, things that are too hard for a mandolin. Curious what others might think of Waring Pro equipment.

Oliver

[randallrosa]

I just used whatever they were selling at the hardware store: I went through three or four of them on the project, it takes a while to wear away all that enamel (I actually only took off most of it, there was still a thin coat in spots, but I was out of brushes, so I just painted over it). I basically just washed the thing really well with soap and water after that to remove the grease and sanding residue.

I have no idea about the solvents, I have never had much success with them and generally prefer mechanically removing paint, etc.

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any tips on removing the motor / motor housing?

[randallrosa]

I just used whatever they were selling at the hardware store: I went through three or four of them on the project, it takes a while to wear away all that enamel (I actually only took off most of it, there was still a thin coat in spots, but I was out of brushes, so I just painted over it). I basically just washed the thing really well with soap and water after that to remove the grease and sanding residue.

I have no idea about the solvents, I have never had much success with them and generally prefer mechanically removing paint, etc.

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Ive gotten everything apart except for the blade out of the housing...any tips?

thx

[Chris Amirault]

Can you share pix of it in its dismantled state so we have a sense of what you mean?

[randallrosa]

Vintage Hobart Slicer restored!

My first attempt at a restoration was nerve racking- I even thought I blew the motor (the starter cap came off), and slashed my finger on the blade...thanks to Chris H for all the help!

As I took inventory of all the parts, mine is missing the external blade cover (safety shield)...

So I found another slicer on eBay , and bought the entire slicer to get the part (I have kids running around my house)...so Ill be restoring another one in the next few weeks!

Hobart Slicer Before

Hobart Slicer Before

Hobart Slicer After

Hobart Slicer After

Hobart Slicer After

[Dave Weinstein]

I had just about given up.

"Yeah, sure, someone got a Hobart for $25 and a cup of coffee off of Craigslist. Myth. Just made to make me cranky."

I hit refresh on my "meat slicer" search.

Commercial meat slicer, works, $100?

Globe 500.

Mine.

[OliverB]

I just looked at the Waring Pro at Costco where it sells for around $50 or something like that. But I found the display model to be rather flimsy and the tray was not moving all that well on the gliders, they seemed a bit sticky. Anybody that owns it notice that too? You never know what kind of abuse a floor model had to deal with. I sure like the price and the small size of the machine, as I'm running out of space, but I know myself, if it does not work 100% well I'll be throwing it out in a heartbeat and get something else. Well, I'd return it to Costco, but I'd rather safe myself that extra trip.

Those old slicers look so neat, wish I had a big kitchen that's all mine (away from the regular kitchen) where I can put on the counter what ever I want w/o getting into trouble about all that clutter :-)

[Marlene]

I have a waring pro slicer, and I have noticed this. The other thing I've noticed is that, since I've started making bacon, I cannot slice the whole belly on the Waring Pro, I have to cut it in half. I'll be looking at a new slicer in the next while.

[OliverB]

thanks, that would bother me no end, even if I won't use that thing much. I'll look for a used one or get one like the Chef's Choice for $299. Not exactly cheap, but I can't deal with flimsy things, just a personal hickup.

Not sure I'd have the time (and patience) to restore one of those nice old ones, though I'd probably like it in it's banged up and used state more anyway. Gotta check craigs list I guess :-)

Oliver

[Kerry Beal]

I have a waring pro slicer, and I have noticed this. The other thing I've noticed is that, since I've started making bacon, I cannot slice the whole belly on the Waring Pro, I have to cut it in half. I'll be looking at a new slicer in the next while.

I'll sell you mine - I haven't had the stomach for it since I took the end of my finger off. Don't worry - well cleaned and all.