Customer Reviews

Toastmaster 6102 Electric Carving Knife

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Okay, I bought for the price. And it is effective enough. But it is very clumsy and unergonomic, so that after a couple minutes of use it is difficult to handle any longer. The main problems are: Balance of weight, and the switch.

First, the switch: Because it is a cheap push-in button, which must be constantly depressed to keep the knife on, you lose optimum control quickly. The handle is badly placed for this, as your thumb must always be on TOP of the handle and forward toward the front of it, but you can't hold your hand up there because your wrist angle will be completely wrong for cutting. In addition, keeping that button depressed is difficult not only because it does require a constant application of pressure at a different direction from both the grasp and the application of the knife, but because the button sinks deep into the handle, so your thumb is inside the handle as you're trying to hold and control the knife: Quick cramp. Moreover, as you're pushing it in, if the food you're cutting is moist (like a turkey), juices may run onto the handle, your thumb--and into the hole into which you're pressing the button. NOT safe. A couple times I've wondered whether that shooting pain in my thumb was from nerve torture or electric shock; either way, it wasn't good.

Then the weight distribution of the knife is not very good. Look at the huge bulk of the motor--and then look at where the handle is located, and how it is designed. There's no way to hold this at a proper angle with the handle shaped as it is. Add in the need to be depressing the power button as you're holding it awkwardly, and...

2 stars for effectiveness; minus 3 for bad functional design.

This knife was purchased for us as a wedding gift and we've used it for 10 years. Not all the time, mind you, but for special occasions like Thanksgiving. It's always worked well, never jammed, and it just slices through a turkey like it was butter. We've had nothing but good to say about this knife and for the money, well, it's hard to go wrong! But, if you are looking for something to use more consistently, I would definitely recommend a better brand because I honestly don't think this one would hold up well under a lot of use.

Price was a factor in buying, but I wanted mostly for slicing bread machine bread. The bit at the end of the blades get hung up in my Presto slicing guide as the blades are too short; further, the switch is extremely temperamental and only works if you move your thumb around a lot. I'd return it, if the postage, packaging and trip to post office were worth it + trying to dig up original cash receipt! These people do NOT want return business! (They've been bought by Salton, so they use this brand for junk)

The Toastmaster electric knife is great, especially for adults with small hands. Most of the current models of other electric knives don't have a handle to grasp; and because the outside of the knife is smooth, it is quite slippery. Thus, it is difficult to grasp the knife. The Toastmaster's handle makes for easy holding during use.

However, all the manufacturers would be wise to lengthen the knives to the size they were decades ago and charge a few more bucks.

This is the biggest drawback of the Toastmaster -- it's blades are shorter than other models.

I received my shipment in record speed timing! Brand new, still in the wrapper. Works beautifully! Although I must confess, I'm using it to cut foam wedges (up to 8 " thick) for upholstery cushions. It works perfectly, doesn't get hot after long non-stop cutting. Excellent clean cuts.
... Not exactly what it's made for... but then again, I'm a vegetarian.

I used this knife exactly once, to carve my Thanksgiving turkey. The only area of the turkey that got carved was the breasts. The motor started to give off a burning smell as we got to the other breast. I am very unhappy. I did not expect to last two years, but not able to finish one turkey was rediculous.



Barbara Tusky

I've used this electric knife for 5 years now. It's withstood the test of time. I use it regularly to slice home-made bread, slice rolls for croutons, simple jobs that don't tax the motor. I've used it once a year to slice turkey meat and it does so with no problems.

But the blades are only 8 inches long so they're not long enough for many slicing jobs to include slicing large pieces of meat. The motor is not strong enough to cut through ligaments or joints so you can't cut up a whole chicken with this one.

But it was only $5.00 and it's lightweight, it's easy to pull out for making my croutons, it cleans well. So depending on the price it would be good for the little jobs. I would not recommend if you need one for cutting up chickens and other heavy slicing jobs. This would be perfect for the crafter or someone that needs it to cut small pieces of foam, sandpaper, you can just put one blade in and cut paper with it.

So I can't say it's bad but I also can't say it's good. It's good for what I use it for but it's not good for other uses. I like it because it is lightweight; the button on top does not ergonomically bother my hands but I could see where those with arthritis might have trouble with it. My kids have used it for their school art projects so it's been used in our house frequently and has kept going. HTH.

We only pull it out twice a year, Chistmas and Thanksgiving, but it's great to have one sharp and ready to go again. After 20 years, my old one was putting up a struggle.

This knife works very well on bread and makes perfect non smashed slices even in the softest warmest loaf. do not try and use to cut through a pineapple, i completely stripped the gears and now it's wrecked. i should have known, but it says it can cut through bread meats and more, just not anything too tough! it really is a great tool, just be very gentle with it!

4 stars because the blades are not quite as stiff as I would like, but it works very nicely.