Guitar cutter: Sourcing, Using, Maintaining

[GRiker]

On 12/30/2023 at 11:30 AM, pastrygirl said:

that concludes my enabling for the moment  

Consider your enabling successful.  I've got that guitar from Maine on the way to me!  Thanks for pointing me in that direction.  Can't wait to try it out!.

[GRiker]

On 1/4/2024 at 8:42 PM, Elle Bee said:

I've been thinking for a couple of years already that I should share a review of my guitar in case it's helpful to anyone else here. One of my New Year's resolutions is to be better at giving back to a couple of wonderful communities (like this one) where I have gained invaluable information by lurking without getting around to posting much myself

@Elle Bee Thanks so much for sharing your experience here.  I too have really appreciated the people who've posted and whose knowledge has helped me figure out many things.  I've got my own used guitar en route to me thanks to pastrygirl.

 

I too am a mostly Christmas season chocolatier without much formal training.  

Would you mind answering a few question for me?

1. What are you using to frame your confections before you cut them? Do you use caramel rulers?

2. On 1/4/2024 at 8:42 PM, Elle Bee said:

   I've just recently started the process of converting all my piped/rolled truffle recipes to slabbed ones

   Are you hand dipping all these once they are cut?

3. On 1/4/2024 at 8:42 PM, Elle Bee said:

   a thousand or so caramels

   Are you using your guitar to cut your caramel?

[Elle Bee]

Hi @GRiker, congrats on making your guitar decision. You're going to love having one! To answer your questions:

 

1. For framing slabs of ganache or meltaways, I would LOVE to have real caramel rulers but have never been able to justify the expense. So instead I use 12 inch lengths of half inch aluminum bar and just arrange them on a sheet of acetate so the opening is either 6x9 or 6x12 (I'm still figuring out the optimal size for my small guitar). I ordered the aluminum bars from OnlineMetals.com years ago, and they've worked very well for me. They are very lightweight, however, so I "glue" them in place on the acetate sheet with untempered melted chocolate before I pour the slab. 
 

2. Yep, hand dipping everything. I use the Revolation 2 chocolate tempering machine. It's small, but adequate for my purposes—it holds about a pound and a half of chocolate and I can dip about 60 truffles before I have to start over with a fresh batch of chocolate. My only real complaint about it is that it is SO LOUD. I actually built a box out of dense insulation sheet one year to damp the noise. Which worked surprisingly well, but was a different kind of annoyance. So now I just wear ear plugs when I use it.

 

3A. I painstakingly mark and cut all my caramel by hand into 3/4" x 1" rectangles. The next piece of serious confectionery equipment for me is going to be a caramel marker with changeable spacers. I actually tried making one of these once, but it flexed too much to be useful. I'm fussy about the size because sometimes I like wrapping them in colored foils like tiny Christmas presents and put them in candy cups so I can pack them neatly in the same boxes I use for chocolates. Obsessive, I know, but they're so pretty that way. When I do this I listen to the best caramel wrapping theme song of all time: "I Wanna be Sedated" by the Ramones. 🤪
 

3B. Please do not even consider using your guitar to cut caramel. It will make you very sad. If you're lucky, you will only end up with broken wires. If you are unlucky, you could seriously damage the guitar. And probably ruin a lot of delicious caramel in the process. 

Edited January 10 by Elle Bee
Fixed a couple of typos (log)

[pastrygirl]

I have cut caramels on my guitar, they can't be too firm.

 

If you don't want to risk it, you can instead push the wires into the top of your caramel to mark it for cutting manually.

Edited January 10 by pastrygirl (log)

[GRiker]

@Elle Bee   That's a lot of hand dipping! 

 

Currently I use these square candy silicone moulds from chef rubber for making my caramels. By volume they are pretty close to yours, but might a less expensive option than a cutter?  I have two and scaled my recipe to just fit.   they Sounds like I'll need to be careful if I try cutting caramels on a guitar.  May just stick with the caramel moulds. 

 

I looked into a caramel cutter as well.  The commercial ones are so expensive so also thought about making my own but only got part way down that path.  Was the one you made similar to this one?

 

[Elle Bee]

@GRiker I have some round moulds similar to those that I used to use for making an orange and star anise caramel. I loved the idea of making an orange caramel in a round shape, but I had a hard time making friends with the mould even after giving it several chances. I do still think they're a great idea, even though I don't seem to have the right temperament for them myself. Once the caramel mass is cooked, I just want to get it out of the pot and move on to the next thing.

 

My DIY caramel marker looked a lot like the one in your picture. I made it from a bunch of disassembled pizza cutters that I bought at Target, a piece of threaded steel rod and spacers from Menard's, and a couple of center-drilled dowels for handles that I fitted with threaded inserts. I have a wonderful little centering jig for my drill, so everything was perfectly lined up and I really thought it would work. The problem was that the threaded rod was just not rigid enough to keep from flexing when I pressed on the handles. Finally I realized I had spent more time designing it, building it, and trying to make it work than it would have taken me to just cut the dang caramels in the usual way. I do have a pretty slick method for marking where the cuts go, and I should share that in some thread where it would be on topic.
 

@pastrygirl, oh duh, of course you are right about the soft caramels, and that's a great idea using the wire frame as a marking device. I wasn't even thinking about soft caramels—I tend to make all my caramels on the firmer side (248-250 degrees) and I should definitely have clarified that. Since we're here talking about slabs, though... I wonder if you could answer a question that's been on my mind all day (and causing me to procrastinate about getting started on turning the first of my regular rolled truffle recipes into a slabbed one)... and that question is:

 

When you have a slab of ganache that's been bottomed, the recipes all say to cut it on the guitar with the bottomed side down. But at what point do you do that? I'm guessing somewhere between wet (which would stick to the platform) and fully set up (which seems like it would just crack)? Apologies if this is the stupidest question in the world. 🙄

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

2 minutes ago, Elle Bee said:

@GRiker I have some round moulds similar to those that I used to use for making an orange and star anise caramel. I loved the idea of making an orange caramel in a round shape, but I had a hard time making friends with the mould even after giving it several chances. I do still think they're a great idea, even though I don't seem to have the right temperament for them myself. Once the caramel mass is cooked, I just want to get it out of the pot and move on to the next thing.

 

My DIY caramel marker looked a lot like the one in your picture. I made it from a bunch of disassembled pizza cutters that I bought at Target, a piece of threaded steel rod and spacers from Menard's, and a couple of center-drilled dowels for handles that I fitted with threaded inserts. I have a wonderful little centering jig for my drill, so everything was perfectly lined up and I really thought it would work. The problem was that the threaded rod was just not rigid enough to keep from flexing when I pressed on the handles. Finally I realized I had spent more time designing it, building it, and trying to make it work than it would have taken me to just cut the dang caramels in the usual way. I do have a pretty slick method for marking where the cuts go, and I should share that in some thread where it would be on topic.
 

@pastrygirl, oh duh, of course you are right about the soft caramels, and that's a great idea using the wire frame as a marking device. I wasn't even thinking about soft caramels—I tend to make all my caramels on the firmer side (248-250 degrees) and I should definitely have clarified that. Since we're here talking about slabs, though... I wonder if you could answer a question that's been on my mind all day (and causing me to procrastinate about getting started on turning the first of my regular rolled truffle recipes into a slabbed one)... and that question is:

 

When you have a slab of ganache that's been bottomed, the recipes all say to cut it on the guitar with the bottomed side down. But at what point do you do that? I'm guessing somewhere between wet (which would stick to the platform) and fully set up (which seems like it would just crack)? Apologies if this is the stupidest question in the world. 🙄

 

 

Set up - a thin foot on the bottom doesn't crack typically. The the chablon on the top get's cut when it's still damp if possible to prevent cracking. 

[Elle Bee]

Thanks, @Kerry Beal. I understood the first part of your answer, but the second part—about the "chablon on top gets cut when it's still damp"—has me mystified. What am I missing?

Edited January 11 by Elle Bee
Typo (log)

[Kerry Beal]

5 minutes ago, Elle Bee said:

Thanks, @Kerry Beal. I understood the first part of your answer, but the second part—about the "chablon on top gets cut when it's still damp"—has me mystified. What am I missing?

If you put a foot top and bottom (foot aka chablon) then the one on the top should still be soft when you cut cause it will crack. 

[Elle Bee]

@GRiker, I just checked out that link you shared with the caramel marker and I can see why theirs worked so much better than mine did—they used MUCH better quality parts! All of the parts I used in mine (with the exception of the spacers) were really substandard. Maybe I will try it again now. Thanks for sharing that!

[Elle Bee]

Just now, Kerry Beal said:

If you put a foot top and bottom (foot aka chablon) then the one on the top should still be soft when you cut cause it will crack. 

Oh I think I get it now. So basically the purpose of the thin layer of hard chocolate on the bottom (as it's being cut) is basically just to keep the slab from sticking to the platform, is that right? And then the wet chocolate on the top later becomes the actual bottom of the truffle when you dip it. Yes?

[Kerry Beal]

1 minute ago, Elle Bee said:

Oh I think I get it now. So basically the purpose of the thin layer of hard chocolate on the bottom (as it's being cut) is basically just to keep the slab from sticking to the platform, is that right? And then the wet chocolate on the top later becomes the actual bottom of the truffle when you dip it. Yes?

Actually bottom is usually bottom - you put a top chablon on when you are using a soft ganache that is likely to deform when you cut it. 

[Elle Bee]

@Kerry Beal, okay, I think I understand. Tomorrow I will bravely go forth and experiment.

[GRiker]

On 1/14/2017 at 7:20 PM, pastrygirl said:

I made this little video for anyone who can't decipher Dedy's instructions and needs to replace a wire. Hope it helps! (And I hope this works)

 

https://youtu.be/LT2es_3xFQQ

 

Thanks @pastrygirl for this video.  My new/used guitar needs to be fully restrung so I appreciate the tutorial, it does still work.

 

I'm going to pick up some wire and replacement bolts from TCF Sales.  Some of the nuts vibrated off during shipping so I lost a few of those.

 

TCF sells wire at

• .5 mm x 60 M
• .6 mm x 60 M
• .8 mm x 60 M

After reading here I'm wondering if I'm better off purchasing a slightly thicker wire, 0.6mm? Standard is 0.5mm.  Right now I'm only planning on cutting ganache and meltaways, but since I'm new at this who knows...

 

Do you all use standard 0.5mm wire? Any reason to not use a thicker wire?

 

[pastrygirl]

Not actually sure what size wire I have.  You're probably fine with the 'standard' 0.5

Edited January 12 by pastrygirl (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Discussion on wire starts  - here

[GRiker]

@Kerry Beal  Thanks!  I did read through that but got lost in the wire gauge vs. inches vs mm not all of which seemed to agree with each other! 

[Kerry Beal]

20 minutes ago, GRiker said:

@Kerry Beal  Thanks!  I did read through that but got lost in the wire gauge vs. inches vs mm not all of which seemed to agree with each other! 

And it doesn't help when you have metric and imperial to deal with. 

[GRiker]

On 7/15/2016 at 11:42 AM, bibbotson said:

Anyone have any ideas about sourcing replacement bolts?

My new guitar needed 10 new bolts/nuts.  They run $6 each from TCF Sales. My resourceful husband spec'ed out the nuts and bolts, ordered replacements and drilled holes in them for about $2 each.  (Price doesn't include the cost of a couple new drill bits!)  

 

Here's the specs:

Metric Socket Cap Stainless Steel M6x25mm bolt

Nut, Metric Stainless Steel M6-1.00

 

Also just to circle back around, I ended up with 22 gauge (0.65mm/0.025in) Stainless 316L wire.  Decided I know I'm going to attempt to cut a thin soft caramel with this guitar so I went a little thicker than standard. 

[The other Sven]

On 1/10/2024 at 5:37 PM, Elle Bee said:

@GRiker,  just checked out that link you shared with the caramel marker and I can see why theirs worked so much better than mine did—they used MUCH better quality parts! All of the parts I used in mine (with the exception of the spacers) were really substandard. Maybe I will try it again now. Thanks for sharing that!

Hi @GRiker and @Elle Bee , thanks for checking out my DYI caramel cutter. 2+ years on we are still using it and it works well. On most caramel slaps I can cut through all the way, though on firmer ones and the ones that have nuts inside, I just score the top and then cut it with a knife. You still get almost perfect squares. 

 

But I came to this thread because I finally broke some strings on our Dedy Praline Cutter. So thank you for your video @pastrygirl. It's always good to see how someone else does something. I am surprised that Dedy did not include a torque screwdriver to tighten those strings just perfectly. Not very German of them. 😜

[GRiker]

On 1/4/2024 at 8:42 PM, Elle Bee said:

I'm a hobbyist confectioner who makes 15-20 pounds of pâtes de fruits

@Elle Bee,  When you make your pate de fruits, do you use a refractometer or do you cook to temp only?