Norpro Deluxe Bean Frencher With Clamp French/Green/Slicer/Cutter Heavy Duty, Manual, Aluminum, Silver

I was skeptical about how something like this would actually work, especially with the mixed reviews I've read on this site and others. It really isn't as bad as some would lead you to believe. Use some common sense and a bit of ingenuity and it works fine. No, you can't put a giant handfull of beans in it and expect it to not clog up. If you put in 3 or 4 at a time you'll have no problems. No, the jaws of the clamps don't open 4 inches to accomodate a countertop. They open only about 1.5 inches, enough to clamp on the edge of a table. I used a couple thin silicone pads, one on top and one underneath the table under the clamps. There was room for this and it did not damage the surface of the oak dining table at all. I have to admit, it doesn't clamp down super tight with the pads this way. One person CAN turn the crank by themselves and feed beans into the hopper with no problems, but it did work best with my husband's help. He turned the crank as fast as he could while simultaneously feeding beans into the hopper. I helped steady the slicer to the table. We went through a large brown shopping bag of beans in about 10 minutes. We grow our own vegetables every year and this is the best way to get frenched beans. You do have to disassemble the slicer to get all the bean bits out but it isn't difficult to do. If you use this with realistic expectations and realize you're going to have to work with it a bit to make it work, you'll be very happy with the result of the beans and with the time it saves. If you expect it to do all the work and the thinking for you, you'll think it's a piece of junk. It's not 100% perfect but it's as close as we're ever going to get for under $25.

After reading reviews I put off getting this. For a while. I finally decided to get it. While I waited for it to come, I made a plan on how/where I would use it based on the reviews I read. I had several bushels of green beans. I am thankful for the reviews. I read them and knew what to expect when I got it. I put my thick cutting board about 2” off the end of sink, with the 2” hanging off over my sink basin. I attached the frencher(which took less than 2 mins) and it worked perfectly! Trenched all the beans in lightning speed. You think it will take forever because you only put a couple in at a time. When you get a rhythm down it goes quickly. I am so GLAD I bought it! I will never be with out it. I would definitely recommend getting this if you are a canner for sure! I am now able to have French style beans in my pantry as well!

Before purchasing this I read through many of the 1 & 5 star comments to get an idea of common criticisms and found a few that are valid but the thing is that this is NOT a professional tool, it's a relatively well made, but very light, tool. Out of the box I noticed that not all of the components were screwed together firmly. A few twists with a screwdriver fixed that quickly. As has been stated in other reviews, the jaws of the clamp would be better if it opened wider/deeper and the clamping screw could be beefier too. Because this is an inexpensive (I stay away from the word 'cheap') gizmo one cannot expect to grind a bowl of green beans in 30 seconds. Especially when cutting larger, mature beans. 3-4 beans at a time is a lot for a lightweight unit to choke on, and that's when you'll get torn and shredded beans instead of cut beans. I used the flat English style beans and fed them 1 at a time and it did just fine. However, because of the afore mentioned narrow clamp opening I mounted it to a 3/4" thick cutting board and let it hang out over the sink where I could place a catch bowl underneath the slicer. Because there's a lot of torque applied to crank those mature beans through, make sure that the unit is butted up tight against the edge of whatever you clamp it to. This takes away 99% of any rocking back and forth while cranking the cutting wheel, stopping it from loosening the clamp. The trick is to get each bean started, inserting the bean with one hand and cranking the slicer with the other, and once it grabs the bean, I just then transfer my hand to support the cutting board that I clamped it to...it cut about 2 lbs of beans in about 3 or 4 minutes very easily and without tearing or ripping the beans due to over-feeding the machine. In short, this is a great little (key word) machine and if you take your time and don't overwhelm the unit it will french-cut your veggies brilliantly. Hope that this helps!

It came packaged very well. It looked great and could be attached to the cutting board very easy. That is where it all ended. Tried it different ways, with the beans, all fresh out of the garden. Blanched, unblanched. A few at a time, one at a time. It was very frustrating only a few would it actually grab onto and work. Kept trying to work with it though. We had an old one we got at auction and it was great. Unfortunately it got distroyed in a fire. So much for new things. Very sad.