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Used Meat Slicers (Need Advice)

Looking to Craigslist for a nice meat slicer (Hobart probably). What should I look for to make sure I am not getting junk?
Anderson, SC
XL BGE, Father's Day Gift 2012 (Thanks Fam!!!)
Webber Kettle and Webber Summit Gasser
Want List: Thermapen, Small BGE, Wok, Adjustable Rig, Food Saver, More $

Comments

  • Scottborasjr
    Scottborasjr Posts: 3,494
    Hobart is great, but really not a residential grade slicer.  I guess if you plan on slicing meat once a week it would be well worth it. If you are prepped to move something around that is over 100 lbs or have a spot for it to reside more power to ya. Personally judging by your signature I'd knock out the Rig and the Thermapen first. Best place to find a Hobart is if a meat shop/deli or grocer is going out of business.
    I raise my kids, cook and golf.  When work gets in the way I'm pissed, I'm pissed off 48 weeks a year.
    Inbetween Iowa and Colorado, not close to anything remotely entertaining outside of football season. 
  • r270ba
    r270ba Posts: 763
    Hobart is great, but really not a residential grade slicer.  I guess if you plan on slicing meat once a week it would be well worth it. If you are prepped to move something around that is over 100 lbs or have a spot for it to reside more power to ya. Personally judging by your signature I'd knock out the Rig and the Thermapen first. Best place to find a Hobart is if a meat shop/deli or grocer is going out of business.

    Thanks but this is actually for my grandadb just not wanting to spend his money on junk.
    Anderson, SC
    XL BGE, Father's Day Gift 2012 (Thanks Fam!!!)
    Webber Kettle and Webber Summit Gasser
    Want List: Thermapen, Small BGE, Wok, Adjustable Rig, Food Saver, More $

  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414
    Look for a Hobart. They are never junk unless they fell off the truck down into a 100 foot gorge. Even "broken" ones can be fixed by getting whatever replacement parts through Hobart directly. Look for a quiznos that is going out of business. They almost exclusively use Hobarts. Too bad they don't make KA mixers anymore.
  • Scottborasjr
    Scottborasjr Posts: 3,494
    Well Hobart is with out a doubt not junk. Not sure what's around you in Anderson. My grandparents lived in Kershaw, SC. and I have family in Pageland, but it's been 15 years since I've been down there.
    I raise my kids, cook and golf.  When work gets in the way I'm pissed, I'm pissed off 48 weeks a year.
    Inbetween Iowa and Colorado, not close to anything remotely entertaining outside of football season. 
  • Focker
    Focker Posts: 8,364
    r270ba said:
    Looking to Craigslist for a nice meat slicer (Hobart probably). What should I look for to make sure I am not getting junk?

    Make sure the blade is in good shape with no major gouges or warping.  New ones are $200.

    Next make sure the gauge plate and knife guard are not bent.  Knife guard is around $200 new. 

    Hobart parts prices direct are riduculous.  They wanted $500 for a knife guard.  Google Hobart slicer parts and you will find some more reasonable sources.

    For mine and probably most cases, the sharpener will be missing.  No big deal, used it in negotiating and got $100 knocked off the asking price.  I sharpen manually with chosera stones.  Lubricate the slide rods and take something cheap with you to slice.  I took a $6 chub of loney.  Test the slicer at various thicknesses, making sure the cuts are even. 

    Nothing needs to be done with the motor.  Check the power cord. 

    Mechanics for these older Hobarts are straightforward.  A little elbow grease and you can easily bring them back to life.  This 1970s #512 was pulled out of a school cafeteria. 

    Brandon
    Quad Cities
    "If yer gonna denigrate, familiarity with the subject is helpful."

  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
    I found a used Hobart, think I paid $250. for i., and it is very heavy, so I went out and bought it a roll around cart, which was another $100.. If I had it to do over., would have bought a residential unit. The used one, has a oil leak in the gear box which is a PITA?...
  • Chubbs
    Chubbs Posts: 6,929
    O'Brien supply in Columbia is about to have a good hybrid slicer for $400 brand new. Commercial grade but small enough to put in house. She said great for meats. Not so much for cheese. To high for me but thought I would pass on to a fellow SC egger.
    Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013
  • r270ba
    r270ba Posts: 763
    Hobart is great, but really not a residential grade slicer.  I guess if you plan on slicing meat once a week it would be well worth it. If you are prepped to move something around that is over 100 lbs or have a spot for it to reside more power to ya. Personally judging by your signature I'd knock out the Rig and the Thermapen first. Best place to find a Hobart is if a meat shop/deli or grocer is going out of business.
    Well if you are ever this way look me up and we can have a beer!
    Thanks but this is actually for my grandadb just not wanting to spend his money on junk.
    Well Hobart is with out a doubt not junk. Not sure what's around you in Anderson. My grandparents lived in Kershaw, SC. and I have family in Pageland, but it's been 15 years since I've been down there.

    Anderson, SC
    XL BGE, Father's Day Gift 2012 (Thanks Fam!!!)
    Webber Kettle and Webber Summit Gasser
    Want List: Thermapen, Small BGE, Wok, Adjustable Rig, Food Saver, More $

  • r270ba
    r270ba Posts: 763
    Focker said:
    r270ba said:
    Looking to Craigslist for a nice meat slicer (Hobart probably). What should I look for to make sure I am not getting junk?

    Make sure the blade is in good shape with no major gouges or warping.  New ones are $200.

    Next make sure the gauge plate and knife guard are not bent.  Knife guard is around $200 new. 

    Hobart parts prices direct are riduculous.  They wanted $500 for a knife guard.  Google Hobart slicer parts and you will find some more reasonable sources.

    For mine and probably most cases, the sharpener will be missing.  No big deal, used it in negotiating and got $100 knocked off the asking price.  I sharpen manually with chosera stones.  Lubricate the slide rods and take something cheap with you to slice.  I took a $6 chub of loney.  Test the slicer at various thicknesses, making sure the cuts are even. 

    Nothing needs to be done with the motor.  Check the power cord. 

    Mechanics for these older Hobarts are straightforward.  A little elbow grease and you can easily bring them back to life.  This 1970s #512 was pulled out of a school cafeteria. 

    Thanks @focker that is exactly the advice I was looking for!  How do I know if the sharpener is gone?  Also if it is old and dirty looking is it pretty easy to restore to a decent silver?
    Anderson, SC
    XL BGE, Father's Day Gift 2012 (Thanks Fam!!!)
    Webber Kettle and Webber Summit Gasser
    Want List: Thermapen, Small BGE, Wok, Adjustable Rig, Food Saver, More $

  • r270ba
    r270ba Posts: 763
    edited March 2013
    Chubbs said:
    O'Brien supply in Columbia is about to have a good hybrid slicer for $400 brand new. Commercial grade but small enough to put in house. She said great for meats. Not so much for cheese. To high for me but thought I would pass on to a fellow SC egger.
    Thanks @chubbs!  On a side note...soaking my pork belly tonight...forming pellicle tomorrow...smoking Saturday!  Cannot WAAIIITTTT!
    Anderson, SC
    XL BGE, Father's Day Gift 2012 (Thanks Fam!!!)
    Webber Kettle and Webber Summit Gasser
    Want List: Thermapen, Small BGE, Wok, Adjustable Rig, Food Saver, More $

  • Chubbs
    Chubbs Posts: 6,929
    Good luck man. You are going to love it!
    Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013
  • Focker
    Focker Posts: 8,364
    r270ba said:
    Focker said:
    r270ba said:
    Looking to Craigslist for a nice meat slicer (Hobart probably). What should I look for to make sure I am not getting junk?

    Make sure the blade is in good shape with no major gouges or warping.  New ones are $200.

    Next make sure the gauge plate and knife guard are not bent.  Knife guard is around $200 new. 

    Hobart parts prices direct are riduculous.  They wanted $500 for a knife guard.  Google Hobart slicer parts and you will find some more reasonable sources.

    For mine and probably most cases, the sharpener will be missing.  No big deal, used it in negotiating and got $100 knocked off the asking price.  I sharpen manually with chosera stones.  Lubricate the slide rods and take something cheap with you to slice.  I took a $6 chub of loney.  Test the slicer at various thicknesses, making sure the cuts are even. 

    Nothing needs to be done with the motor.  Check the power cord. 

    Mechanics for these older Hobarts are straightforward.  A little elbow grease and you can easily bring them back to life.  This 1970s #512 was pulled out of a school cafeteria. 

    Thanks @focker that is exactly the advice I was looking for!  How do I know if the sharpener is gone?  Also if it is old and dirty looking is it pretty easy to restore to a decent silver?

    No problem.  As for the sharpener, depending on the model, there may be variations.  You can get the model # from the seller and go to Hobart's resource center and print the manual.

    https://my.hobartcorp.com/resourcecenter/default.aspx

    As far as cleaning up the dirt look, guess you could polish it.  Alot of work, but it would look like new.  Luckily mine isn't bad.  The cafeteria workers sprayed Pam on the slide rods for lubrication.  Don't do that, makes things a gummy mess.  Instead, use mineral oil.

    Brandon
    Quad Cities
    "If yer gonna denigrate, familiarity with the subject is helpful."

  • r270ba
    r270ba Posts: 763
    Ok great...thanks!
    Anderson, SC
    XL BGE, Father's Day Gift 2012 (Thanks Fam!!!)
    Webber Kettle and Webber Summit Gasser
    Want List: Thermapen, Small BGE, Wok, Adjustable Rig, Food Saver, More $

  • SWATSgt
    SWATSgt Posts: 21

    Everything Focker said is dead on. Make sure the blade rotates freely before you ever turn the slicer on. This is important to make sure the bearings are in good shape, if you feel a grinding while you turn the blade odds are the bearings are going bad. When you turn the motor on you will hear a loud noise if they are going bad. If they are good you should only hear the noise of a quite electric motor running.  A lot of places just soak them down with water to clean them and this is very bad for the bearings inside. If you have access to the right tools it’s a $30-50 fix, if not it’s about $400 to have them replaced by someone at a chef supply store. Also ask them to take the blade cover off so you can see if the blade is rusted or pitted real bad under the cover. Just as Focker said, they are $200+ to replace them down the road. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

    As for the sharpener, most will look like a funny thing on the top just above the blade. They usually slide to the side to keep them clean when not in use but remember they will cost you $150-300 if you decide you want one and it’s not on there when you buy it. I live near a Chefpro shop that just opened so it was a well spent $20.00 for them to sharpen my blade for me.

    Mine is not a Hobart, it’s a Berkel. I paid $200 and the body alone with a blown motor goes for 250-300 on EBay so I went ahead and bought it.

    As for cleaning, a lot of hot water, soap and some elbow grease I made mine look brand new in about 4 hours total. Most of that time was spent letting one part soak while cleaning the other with Clorox kitchen cleaner and a green scrubber pad. As he said most places use vegetable oil or spray oil to lube them. This will cause a sort of yellowish green scum to build up on everything. Especially the sliding rails under the main body. Luckily most of the parts are aluminum or stainless steel so they clean up pretty good. If you have any more questions just let me know. I have helped several guys at work buy them and I have bought two for me. I sold my old one to a buddy when I bought the one I have now. But one thing to remember, commercial slicers are extremely heavy. Mine is a medium/large sized model and it still weighs 50+ pounds. Some of the larger (12”+ blades) models weigh over 100 pounds.