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How To Sharpen A Meat Slicer Blade By Hand? A Comprehensive Guide For You

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Meat Slicer Blade Sharpener

It comes as no surprise that one day, your trusty meat slicer will be past its prime. Its blade will become dull, it will go inadequate and eventually go out of order. Surely you do not want that tragic fate to befall your meal’s best friend, huh? Then you have to know how to sharpen a meat slicer blade. Once the cutting part is in tip-top condition, it will spring back to life in no time!

But how to do just that? Scroll down to find out!

Table of Contents

How To Tell If Your Meat Slicer Blade Has Gone Dull?
What You Need:
How To Sharpen A Meat Slicer Blade By Hand?

How To Tell If Your Meat Slicer Blade Has Gone Dull?

Finding out whether your meat slicer is in the right working condition is not that arduous a job. Here is an easy-peasy trick: Try cutting some sort of fruit with smooth texture with it – an apple or a tomato or anything of the short. If you need a certain amount of pressure to cut it, then yup, it’s bad news! The blade has gone grotty, and you should do something to fix it ASAP.

Another way to know is to examine at the meat you just cut. Once the meat seems to be shredded or the thickness of each slice does not seem to be the same, the blade is no longer functional.

But despair not. There is nothing that a few minutes sharpening cannot fix. Read this guide and you will know what to do.

What You Need:

There are some stuff you need to prepare proceeding with the sharpening process if you want things to go smoothly.

A sharpening stone
Water
A mild, non-abrasive detergent
Sharpening oil (or cooking oil)
The instructions of the manufacturer on how to sharpen the blade
Isopropyl alcohol or detergent and water

How To Sharpen A Meat Slicer Blade By Hand?

Step 1: Choose A Sharpening Stone

I do not know if this has dawned on you yet, but there is a high possibility that your meat slicer has got its own piece of sharpening stone. Some manufacturers will put them in the package to make your work easier. Now, it is time to take it out let it do its job

But if somehow, the stone is not included, just go and buy one separately. Sharpening stones are not uncommon product, you can easily get one in any local hardware store or just regular supermarkets. But make sure that you are buying a type suiting your meat slicer.

Step 2: Cleaning The Blade Of The Machine

Before sharpening, the blade needs to be cleaned. This is where the detergent comes in. Pour a little bit of the liquid on your blade along with a tad of water and scrub until you can see your image reflected on the metal.

But what if you cannot get any detergent? Then there is no choice but to finish this step with mere water. Never stop with just one quick rinse though – chances are that the germs still manage to cling on your blade thereafter.

Step 3: Placing The Stone On The Meat Slicer

To begin with, turn off and unplug your meat slicer. After that, follow the user’s manual to properly align the stone with the blade. You should do this with extra care, one mismatch in position and the result might not be as you want.

Step 4: Sharpening the blade

After having completed all the steps above, plug the machine and let it work the blade on the stone for approximately 60 seconds. Now, this is of the norm, but the stone can fall off halfway through the process, especially when you use a separately bought one. So, don’t take your eyes off the machine

Later, check if the blade is sharp enough simply by cutting the tomato or apple (or simply a piece of paper). If it slices through those objects without a hitch, your job is done!

If it not, repeat the process a couple of times until you get what you are looking for.

Step 5: Cleaning the blade

After the sharpening comes the cleaning, never forget that. Even if the meat slicer blade is spotless before, it would become dust-coated right now with all that contact with the sharpening stone. With extra care, pour the detergent on top of it, then rinse the blade using water (warm if possible for purification and germ-killing purpose).

Make sure to air dry your blade as you finish! And do not forget to clean your meat slicer thereafter. All the efforts spent on keeping the blade spotless would be for naught if the thing storing it is dirty!