Cabbage Slicer Blades

B

brausch

Joined
Sep 23, 2019
Messages
3
Not sure if I am in the correct place, so please redirect me if appropriate.

I am making a couple wooden cabbage slicers and I need to source (or create) some blades. I have the woodworking portion covered just fine, but I am struggling with the steel blades.

629048.jpg


Option #1: find someone locally (central Iowa) to make the blades for me

Option #2: make them myself.

If I go with option #2, I would appreciate recommendations on a couple things.
1) grade of steel
2) methods to grind an edge (I would love to do some reading - I am sure it has been covered plenty times before - I just need someone to point me in the correct direction)

I understand that I can probably find an old cheap one at a garage sale or auction, but I love woodworking, and I hope this will turn into a nice project for me (dovetailed joinery, etc).

I appreciate any and all direction.

Thanks,

brausch
 
I kind of wonder: if you are going to use this exclusively for cabbage (which is not in the scheme of things extemely difficult to cut) could you get by with un-hardened steel????? given your picture ... extremely simple to make: flat bladed, angled on the side to give you your diagonal, and not even beveled - just a simple one-sided edge put on each one. would not last long - but easy to re-sharpen on any sanding belt. You could do hardened blades, and that would give you more lifetime per blade ... at the cost of somewhat more difficulty in sharpening.

With the cabbage, you "ideally" would want stainless steel, otherwise you will get some darkening of the veggie from contact from the steel. However, SS is somewhat more challenging to work with, AND the stainless properties also often frequently depend on the heat treatment.

Others will have something to say, and even though I am not a "maker", I would be willing to work with you on this (like I said, this can be done in a really simple way). ***probably* one of your best bets is to work with JT and get in on one of his AEBL runs. Have him cut out a number of your simple blades, along with mounting holes, then you get them, and put a simple edge on each one, mount into your box, and away you go!! :-)
 
brausch said:
Not sure if I am in the correct place, so please redirect me if appropriate.

I am making a couple wooden cabbage slicers and I need to source (or create) some blades. I have the woodworking portion covered just fine, but I am struggling with the steel blades.

629048.jpg


Option #1: find someone locally (central Iowa) to make the blades for me

Option #2: make them myself.

If I go with option #2, I would appreciate recommendations on a couple things.
1) grade of steel
2) methods to grind an edge (I would love to do some reading - I am sure it has been covered plenty times before - I just need someone to point me in the correct direction)

I understand that I can probably find an old cheap one at a garage sale or auction, but I love woodworking, and I hope this will turn into a nice project for me (dovetailed joinery, etc).

I appreciate any and all direction.

Thanks,

brausch
Click to expand...
Buy a modern plastic Mandolin Slicer that you like from a known company that you could get replacement blades from someday, and copy it in wood, It will save you plenty of headaches. Just a suggestion , Stay safe & have fun!
 
Rhinoknives has a very good plan.

If you want to go from scratch, The best steel would probably be AEB-L. It should be .060" or even .040" thick. After shaping the blades, harden the pieces and grind the edge at around 10 degrees ( one side only).

Shaping the blades before hardening will be pretty easy. A hacksaw, and some files should do it. You will need some sharpening skills and some elbow grease, but the edge could be shaped on a set of sharpening stones if a variable speed belt grinder isn't available. The hardening would have to be done by someone with an oven and the equipment for stainless steel, but there are plenty of them in Iowa.

If you make the wooden part and give it to a knifemaker, he should easily be able to make the blades as I described above.
 
I would use something like Olfa blades. They are easily available if desired.
Make a jig and they can be easily honed.
They take a fair bit of force to snap off. If they are supported in your mandolin frame, they should be plenty strong.
 
Cushing H. said:
I kind of wonder: if you are going to use this exclusively for cabbage (which is not in the scheme of things extremely difficult to cut) could you get by with un-hardened steel????? given your picture ... extremely simple to make: flat bladed, angled on the side to give you your diagonal, and not even beveled - just a simple one-sided edge put on each one. would not last long - but easy to re-sharpen on any sanding belt. You could do hardened blades, and that would give you more lifetime per blade ... at the cost of somewhat more difficulty in sharpening.

With the cabbage, you "ideally" would want stainless steel, otherwise you will get some darkening of the veggie from contact from the steel. However, SS is somewhat more challenging to work with, AND the stainless properties also often frequently depend on the heat treatment.

Others will have something to say, and even though I am not a "maker", I would be willing to work with you on this (like I said, this can be done in a really simple way). ***probably* one of your best bets is to work with JT and get in on one of his AEBL runs. Have him cut out a number of your simple blades, along with mounting holes, then you get them, and put a simple edge on each one, mount into your box, and away you go!! :)
Click to expand...

This will get its main use for slicing cabbage for making sauerkraut. But I wouldn't rule out slicing other vegetables pickles, celery, carrots.

I will do some reading to see who JT is, and figure out what an AEBL run is. :)

scott kozub said:
Could you use box cutter blades? They are already angled which may work well for you.
Click to expand...

I think I have ruled out a box cutter blade, as the cutter is large - so the blades themselves will need to be around 12" long.

Rhinoknives1 said:
Buy a modern plastic Mandolin Slicer that you like from a known company that you could get replacement blades from someday, and copy it in wood, It will save you plenty of headaches. Just a suggestion , Stay safe & have fun!
Click to expand...

As I mentioned in the quote above, I am hoping to make blades about 12" long. I have done quite a bit of looking at replacement cabbage slicer/mandolin slicer blades, but I have come up empty handed.

Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Rhinoknives has a very good plan.

If you want to go from scratch, The best steel would probably be AEB-L. It should be .060" or even .040" thick. After shaping the blades, harden the pieces and grind the edge at around 10 degrees ( one side only).

Shaping the blades before hardening will be pretty easy. A hacksaw, and some files should do it. You will need some sharpening skills and some elbow grease, but the edge could be shaped on a set of sharpening stones if a variable speed belt grinder isn't available. The hardening would have to be done by someone with an oven and the equipment for stainless steel, but there are plenty of them in Iowa.

If you make the wooden part and give it to a knifemaker, he should easily be able to make the blades as I described above.
Click to expand...

The blades from the template cabbage slicer I have measure about 1" wide, by 1/8" thick - .060 seems a little thin to span 12". Thoughts?

Lieblad said:
I would use something like Olfa blades. They are easily available if desired.
Make a jig and they can be easily honed.
They take a fair bit of force to snap off. If they are supported in your mandolin frame, they should be plenty strong.
Click to expand...

I need the blades to be approximately 12" long - and they will span a 10" clear opening, so I think that eliminates this type of blade from contention.

I appreciate all the help and thoughts on this. I will keep doing some digging and reading (I found a sticky thread All The Good Info You Want In One Place).

Thanks again everyone!

brausch
 
why not buy pre made blades like for a floor scrapper,or something where you can buy lots of Replacement blades. then build it around those???
you could make them using like a Power Hacksaw blade,but they will discolor with use and require carbide to drill them.
just a thought....
 
Pinoy Knife said:
why not buy pre made blades like for a floor scrapper,or something where you can buy lots of Replacement blades. then build it around those???
you could make them using like a Power Hacksaw blade,but they will discolor with use and require carbide to drill them.
just a thought....
Click to expand...

I need the blades to be rigid enough to span 12" without deflecting when I run a head of cabbage across them in order to get a uniform cut. All of the "disposable" blades that I know of will deflect too much over that length.
 
brausch said:
I need the blades to be rigid enough to span 12" without deflecting when I run a head of cabbage across them in order to get a uniform cut. All of the "disposable" blades that I know of will deflect too much over that length.
Click to expand...
You can buy some cheap big knife ,cut blade and shape it as you want ..........
 
Man, you must REALLY like saurkraut! :-)

JT is a member of this forum and a service provider. He has a plasma cutter, and can cut out for you (and heat treat and surface grind) an arbitrarily shaped blade. Look up “JTknives”
 
weo said:
12" wide skew plane blade? I bet that costs a bit.
Click to expand...
My bad, I missed the 12" bit. yeah. That would be...interesting. But it is just about the size of a planer blade! The hardest part of working with planer blades is keeping the entire edge flat and sharp, but that only matters for their intended purpose. Food for thought
 
brausch said:
I need the blades to be rigid enough to span 12" without deflecting when I run a head of cabbage across them in order to get a uniform cut. All of the "disposable" blades that I know of will deflect too much over that length.
Click to expand...
Having used only a few mandolins, the best one was an older variant that had a heavily patinad carbon steel blade. Just one thin blade and we never sharpened it.
I would consider a single blade variant, that way you can support the blade from the back and improve rigidity that way. You can also put the blade(s) in tension.
 
For a mandolin that size, I would suggest you look at buying a planer blade. They come in carbon steel or carbide. They are very stiff and can be re-sharpened by any good sharpening service, or just replaced. They are made to cut wood and will last millions of cuts before getting dull.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/V2-HSS-PLANER-KNIVES-BLADES-RBI-812-WOODMASTER-712-JET-JWP-12-Foley-Belsaw-SEARS/231424767937?epid=1258393718&_trkparms=ispr=1&hash=item35e1fdb7c1:g:0gkAAMXQobdQ9Hs2&enc=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&checksum=2314247679371668e30054014008993f9bd3dd13063b

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  • Brand new planer knife set
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  • Looking for T1-HSS, call Dave, we have a few left.
 
Those blades are not that thick. .040 at most.
My old man made kraut three crocks at a time for years and he had one of those. Used it many times myself.
And just an FYI, company doesn't stick around too long when you've got kraut "cooking" up in the farthest corner of the basement.
To this day I can't even stand the sight of sauerkraut.
 
A friend made several of these years ago using old planer blades. We had 24' planer and when the blades got down to around 1" to 1-1/4" wide, we got new ones. He used the old blades for the mandolin slicers. Those blades were 1/8" thick. I believe he cut them in half, so they would have been about 12" long.
 
Our family has those and they are irreplaceable by modern gadgets.

My grandfather made them.

He used crosscut saw blades, re HT'ed
Probably equivalent to 1095

The thin thickness is important. Too thick and it's too hard to push.
The full taper is of the grind is important.
See the drawing of the planer blade Stacy shows, that angle is too steep - it would need to be reground.
The angle of the blade vs the cabbage is important so it's slicing vs shearing.

As above, it's hardly ever resharpened, maybe every ten years or so
Keep the fingers, rings and abrasive dirt out.
 
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