Meat slicer opinion wanted

[trapper]

I have been looking for a small cheap electric slicer for awhile and run across a lot of older Rival slicers on ebay. They are all metal and appear to be well built and they sell for less than the new plastic models. I was wondering it anybody here had one and what your opinion of them is. My biggest concerns are ease of cleaning and how you sharpen the serrated blade that they have. Any other information is welcome as well. This is what I am talking about: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&it em=220387763415

 

[uncle_lar]

it all depends on how often you are going to use it and for what purpose
those arent much of a slicer if your wanting to slice large pieces of meat or bacon
if you have the room cruise some of the other auction sites also and search for a good used commecial or semi commercial one.
I have a full size hobart that I picke up at an auction and love it.
disassemble and cleans in about 10 minutes or less and I can slice whatever I want
that my 2 cents anyway.
I slice allot of semi frozen beef and venison for making jerky and could not do that with my old rival , not even close

 

[trapper]

I won't use it a lot but one of my primary uses would be slicing venison for jerky. I would also like to slice some pastrami when I make it and possibley some turkey breast or ham for lunch meat. Probably won't get used more than once a month but if it won't cut the venison for jerky I have no use for it. Thanks for your reply.

 

[jerrykr]

My neighbor has one that looks like that, I have borrowed on occasion. It actually does a pretty fair job on smaller stuff like summer sausage. I'm not sure how a large chunk of meat would go on it tho. I don't know about sharpening it. It was not too hard to clean, some of the SS parts, the blade included went into my dishwasher. I don't think any meat slicer is going to be really easy to clean.

I bought the new plastic Rival at Cabelas on sale for about $70. I didn't like it at all, and took it back.

I finally bought a 9 inch Weston for about $120 delivered, and it seems to do OK, I'm keeping it.

None of the above are near like a pro model you see in the deli.

Hope this helps.

 

[ronp]

I have had one similiar for 25 years and it still works. Not the best for consistant thickness but it does the job. I just used it last week for pastrami.

Clean up is easy in the sink or dishwasher.

 

[mgwerks]

trapper, I have one of those old Rivals that was given to me. There's a reason you see so many, they are absolute junk. You can have mine if you want it. You won't, I promise you.

 

[ronp]

If it has a good blade I'll take it, mine works fine.

 

[mgwerks]

I sent you a PM.

 

[gatorcamper]

Trapper, I have the Chefs Choice 610. I like it a lot. It’s a small easy to clean work horse. The unit comes with a serrated blade. To cut meat you will need to buy a Ham blade, they are about $30.00. You’ll find this slicer priced around $100.00. I have been very happy with this unit, but I have never used a slicer before. Folks on this forum also have this slicer and have given it a high rating. I’m sure as you search you’ll find many other great slicers. Good luck in your quest.

 

[nick]

Good luck with finding a decent slicer. I think I hit pay dirt with this one. I bought a full size, commercial Berkel 826A Slicer on Craigslist for FIFTY BUCKS! I knew the motor was almost shot but I found a used motor for my exact slicer for 49 bucks on eBay. I'm installing the new motor tomorrow. I got real lucky.