How to Sharpen Meat Slicer Blade?

A meat slicer is a tool used by professional butchers for slicing meat as per requirement. Going to butcher’s shop is time-consuming as well as cost a lot. If beef has a distinguished place at your dining table, then your kitchen must be equipped with a meat slicing machine. A meat slicer is a multi-functional device for slicing meat, bread, cheese, vegetables, and fruits. Owning a meat slicer at home can cut your food serving time significantly. If you are a butcher or running a restaurant meat slicer is a machine you use daily. The blades of the meat slicers get dull after significant usage, and the machine starts tearing meat instead of fine slicing.

To get perfect thin meat slices, you have to sharpen blades after regular intervals. Also, sharpening makes edges durable. Some machines come with a built-in sharpener; you need just to plug-in the machine and push on the sharpening button, and the job is done. But if you own a meat slicer without a built-in sharpener, then you need to learn how to sharpen the meat slicer blade properly like a pro. Yes! I am here with a step by step guide to sharpening blades of the meat slicer.

Contents

Usage of meat slicer

A meat slicer is a versatile device. Besides slicing meat, it can also slice cheese blocks and vegetables. It is equally useful for any butcher shop and home. In a household kitchen, the machine gives you maximum control over the slicing process. Whereas, its efficiency and ability to slice meat in bulk make it a suitable purchase for a super shop. But the skills and features vary from model to model. Whatsoever the basic mechanism is common in all varieties of meat slicers. In the below context, we’ll describe how a meat slicer works:

  1. First of all, wash your hands, and wear gloves.
  2. Raise the pusher arm and put the meat chunk on the product carriage. After that lift down the pusher and set it back into the position to hold the meat.
  3. Next, you have to make some adjustments to get the required thickness of the meat slice. For this, set the gauge accordingly.
  4. Switch on the machine.
  5. Keep on moving the carriage back and forth. As a result, the food will move across the spinning blade. Before you proceed, make sure that the resulting slice matches your required thickness. If not, adjust the gauge accordingly.
  6. You can carry out the whole procedure manually. However, some slicers may be shifted to automatic mode. So, if the facility is available, go for it.
  7. After the entire slicing finishes, switch off the unit. Remove the product after turning the blade to 0.
  8. It’s time to clean the equipment. Follow the cleaning procedure as recommended by the manufacturer.

Importance of meat slicer:

A meat slicer is indeed a potential appliance in the kitchen. Its usage is simple and tricky at the same time. But if you precisely follow instructions in the manual, a meat slicer is fun to use.

Whatsoever, the increasing popularity of sliced meat is the big reason behind the advent of so many innovational meat slicers. Apart from serving you with uniform slices of meat, these machines are important in so many other ways also. Let’s learn their other benefits:

  1. A pack of sliced meat is a costly item to buy in comparison to the whole chunk of meat. Therefore, buying a meat slicer saves your budget in the long run. Just buy a meat piece from the butcher and slice it at home.
  2. With a meat slicer, producing uniform slices of meat is super easy. Cutting meat remains no more a tough task once the meat slicer joins you in the mission.
  3. Presentation plays an essential role in the appearance of any cuisine. And meat slicer can help you best in preparing highly presentable food. They help you slice meat in a precise way. As a result, your meat and veggie platter turn out extremely appealing.
  4. A meat slicer minimizes your prep time. Instead of cutting meat with a knife, slice it through a meat slicer. It will speed up the process with perfection, and obviously the cooking time also. As a result, you save a lot of time and escapes from the kitchen quickly.
How to Sharpen Meat Slicer Blade
How to Sharpen Meat Slicer Blade

Sharpening of meat slicer blade:

Blades of the meat slicer play a legendary role in chopping, cutting, and slicing meat and vegetables. You need to be really careful about their health and well-being. They may get dull after frequent usage. And once they start to shred meat instead of cutting sharply. It clearly means that they have fallen ill and needs treatment to cure.

So, once you sense their illness, get ready to sharpen them. Because they need some pampering and protocol and sharpening them is the perfect remedy. Timely sharpening maintains the quality of the machine and enhances its lifespan. So, let’s learn how to sharpen the blade of a meat slicer:

How to sharpen a meat slicer blade?

Sharpening the blades of a meat slicer is a step by step process. Join us to see how it goes:

  1. First of all, turn off the machine. If it was running previously, then allow it to cool down.
  2. Remove the blades’ cover. Use a dishcloth and soapy water to wipe them. After wiping blades, rinse the blades thoroughly and let them dry.
  3. Now, coat some kind of cooking or lubricating oil over the blades.
  4. Hold the sharpening stone very close to the blades. Consult the manual for instructions also. Some meat slicers include the sharpener stone within their package. If not, buy them separately.
  5. It’s time to turn on the unit. Let the blades spin on the grinding mode for a few seconds.
  6. Turn off the meat slicer to check whether the blades have got enough sharpened or not. If you still feel a bit of dullness, repeat the process.
  7. Once you feel that the blades are sharp now, wipe them again with a dishcloth and detergent water. It will clear away all the mess of metal particles that appeared as a result of sharpening blades.
  8. Furthermore, sanitize the blades with good quality and effective solution. Also, coat the entire machine with a sanitizer.
  9. Wait for the whole machine to get dry. Then assemble it appropriately. You can switch it on to check whether it’s working perfectly fine or not. Once satisfied, unplug, and store it.
  10. Store it in a safe and dry place to enjoy the benefits for years to come.

Different ways of sharpening and requirements for sharpening:

Ways of sharpening blades depend upon the model of the meat slicer. Some models contain a built-in sharpener whereas others include an integrated sharpening stone.   The integrated sharpening stones sharpen the blade while it works. But if the scenario is different, you have to manually sharpen the blade according to the below-described step by step process.

But before you step ahead to sharpen the blade, make sure that you have all the ingredients readily accessible. And the ingredients are:

1.      Cut-proof gloves:

These gloves comprise a mesh and safeguard against injuries. Don’t forget to wear them on both hands before sharpening the blades of your machine.

2.      Safety glasses:

It is very important to put on safety glasses that are thicker in comparison to ordinary ones. These glasses protect your eyes from getting damaged from fire spark or small stone particles. Because while sharpening blades, hard particles of stone may get into your eyes resulting in unfavorable consequences.

3.      Sharpening stone:

The sharpening stone or whetstone is something without which you cannot carry on the procedure.

4.      Soft washcloths:

Once the blades get sharpened, wipe them with a soft washcloth. Don’t use sponge or scrubber instead because they can scratch the blades causing them to rust quickly.

5.     Sanitizer:

Germs can easily infect meat slicer blades. So, after sharpening them, you must apply sanitizer on the blades. Also, sanitize the whole machine to enjoy healthy yields.

Some other requirements for sharpening are:

  1. A non-abrasive mild detergent
  2. A lubricating oil
  3. Manual of your meat slicer

Maintenance of meat slicer blades:

Although it’s a good idea to sharpen the blades of your meat slicer occasionally. But this exercise reduces the lifespan of blades. Their performance won’t remain as comprehensive as it should be and you’ll have to change them quite sooner. But if you follow a few maintenance steps after each use, the blades won’t get dull quickly. So, to maintain the sharpness for a longer time. And to cut down the need to sharpen the blades after some uses, here you go with a few tips:

  • Wipe the blades after cutting, chopping, or slicing meat.
  • Lubricate the entire machine once a month. It will improve the performance, productivity, and longevity of your meat slicer.

Safety measures:

Slicing meat can be a dangerous task if your meat slicer lacks in safety measures. Besides recommending you to deal blades while wearing cut-proof gloves. We suggest you buy a machine with an integration of safety precautions. Let’s learn in the below context what those safety precautions can be:

Covered blade:

Never buy a slicer with an exposed blade. No contact with the blade means no risk of getting injured. Meat slicers available in the market normally are designed accordingly. The placement of the blade is either behind the door. Or the machines feature a chute that directs the meats to the blades. So, it’s not a challenging task to find the meat slicer with a covered blade.

Safety switches:

Safety switches with chopping and cutting machines are real blessings. They don’t allow the machine to start if any component is not properly secured. In short, they also reduce the chances of injuries. So, while looking for a safe meat slicer, make sure that safety switches are present in:

  1. Blade set cover
  2. In feed guarding
  3. Discharge conveyor

Locks out while cleaning:

For cleaning, you need to remove the protective guarding on a prior basis. So, make sure that your slicer is not capable to start unexpectedly. This feature makes a device safer to use.

Other safety measures while cleaning and sharpening the meat slicer blades:

  • Unplug the meat slicer from an electric source. Be very vigilant about this.
  • Don’t dare to submerge your machine in water. Always use a soft cloth to wipe it clean.

How to Sharpen Meat Slicer Blade? (Video Demo)