How the Five Compare on the Numbers
A mandoline is a blade in a frame, and the blade is the part a home cook cannot service. Every listing in this pool says stainless steel and exactly one says which stainless steel: fullstar publishes 420. Benriner and OXO name an origin instead, both stating a Japanese stainless steel blade. Börner states a patented stainless V-blade, and Vollum rustproof dishwasher safe stainless.
The frame is documented even more thinly. Benriner states a BPA-free plastic body, Vollum heavy duty non-BPA food-grade plastic with stainless steel, and fullstar BPA-free construction without naming the polymer. OXO and Börner name no body material at all, on tools where the frame carries the load every time produce is pushed across it.
What the table cannot tell you is whether any of these blades can be replaced. No listing states that a spare blade is sold, what it would cost to keep the tool going, or how the edge is expected to wear. On a purchase meant to last years, that is a larger gap than any dimension, and all five leave it open.
What the Blade Is Made Of
One Grade, Two Origins and Two Silences
fullstar is the only listing in this pool that publishes a grade. It states sharp 420 stainless steel blades alongside BPA-free construction and dishwasher safety, and it is the one claim here that can be looked up rather than taken on trust. It pairs that with four thickness settings at 1, 2, 3 and 4 mm, which is the other figure a buyer can check.
Benriner and OXO both name a country instead. Benriner states a handcrafted Japanese stainless steel blade and OXO a Japanese stainless steel blade angled to slice even soft foods with ease, which is a description of geometry rather than metal. Vollum states rustproof dishwasher safe stainless steel metal, which describes behavior and composition not at all.
Where the Blade Comes From
Börner is the only listing that names a factory. It states that it invented the V-slicer, has offered quality made in Germany since 1956, and manufactures every part including the blades at its headquarters in the Eifel region. That is a stronger provenance claim than a grade in some ways, because it covers the frame and the inserts as well as the edge.
The blade itself is described as an ultra-sharp patented V-blade of stainless steel, and the V shape is the mechanism: two edges meeting at a point, which cuts with less force than a single straight blade. What the listing does not give is a steel grade or a hardness, so the two claims cannot be set against fullstar’s 420 directly.
The Body Around the Blade
Two Name the Plastic, Three Do Not
Benriner states a BPA-free plastic body and then publishes the figure that matters with it, a 5 inch wide slicing surface inside a body given as 13 by 6.5 inches. Vollum goes furthest, describing a combination of heavy duty non-BPA food-grade plastic and rustproof dishwasher safe stainless steel, and publishing its own size at 5.5 by 13.5 by 1.25 inches.
fullstar states BPA-free construction without naming the material it is free of BPA in. OXO and Börner publish nothing about the body, which on OXO is odd given how much else it documents: an indicator window, a textured runway, parallel surfaces, a non-slip handle and a spring-loaded holder are all described, and none of them is given a material.
What Keeps the Slicer Still
Three of these five sit on a surface and each says what stops it sliding. Benriner states a non-skid rubber base and a large open handle, Börner states rubber feet that prevent slipping during slicing, and OXO states a soft non-slip handle, which is a grip rather than a foot. On a tool that is pushed away from the body, that distinction matters.
fullstar and Vollum are handheld and publish neither, which is consistent: they are held over a bowl or a board rather than planted on one. Both instead put their safety claim on the guard, fullstar with stainless steel tips it contrasts with flimsy plastic ones, Vollum with a protective design that keeps fingers and palm away from the blade.
Thickness, Storage and a Weight to Discard
Four Ways of Publishing a Thickness
Benriner publishes a continuous range, an easy-turn dial from 0.5 to 10 millimeters, which is the broadest span on this page. fullstar publishes four discrete stops at 1, 2, 3 and 4 mm and states them as its main advantage. Börner publishes its cuts as exact inch figures instead: 0.08 and 0.22 for slices and 0.14 and 0.28 for julienne strips.
OXO publishes a mechanism rather than a number, an indicator window that clearly displays the thickness setting from above in inches and millimeters, which is genuinely useful and is not a range. Vollum publishes no thickness at all, offering three interchangeable blades described only as fine, medium and coarse serration.
A Mandoline That Cannot Weigh 0.2 Pounds
OXO’s listing publishes a weight of 0.2 pounds against dimension fields of 17.6 by 3.8 by 7.1 inches, and the fact sheet flags the two as incompatible: an object that size at that weight would be lighter than the air-filled packaging around it. Given everything else the listing describes, a steel blade and a spring-loaded holder included, the weight field is not this product.
The other four figures are believable and close together: 1.32 pounds for Benriner, 1.0 for Börner, 0.95 for Vollum and 0.77 for fullstar. Read against those, Benriner is the heaviest of the four and the two handheld tools are the lowest of those four, which is what the shapes would predict. Nothing on this page uses the OXO figure.
Which One Fits Your Kitchen
You want to know what the steel is. fullstar publishes 420 stainless steel blades with four settings at 1, 2, 3 and 4 mm, a built-in julienne blade, a hand guard with stainless steel tips, and BPA-free dishwasher safe construction at 0.77 pounds.
You slice cabbage, melon and squash. Benriner publishes a handcrafted Japanese stainless blade in a BPA-free plastic body at 13 by 6.5 inches with a 5 inch slicing surface, a 0.5 to 10 mm dial, a rubber base and top-rack dishwasher safety.
You want to see the setting you picked. OXO publishes an indicator window reading thickness from above in inches and millimeters, a two-sided Japanese steel blade with integrated julienne and French fry cuts, and a holder that stores underneath.
You want the maker to have made the blade. Börner publishes a patented stainless V-blade it states is made with every other part at its own German works, four cuts at 0.08, 0.22, 0.14 and 0.28 inches, blade storage, rubber feet and a food holder.
You want a choice of serration, not a dial. Vollum publishes three interchangeable blades at fine, medium and coarse, in non-BPA food-grade plastic with rustproof stainless steel, at a stated 5.5 by 13.5 by 1.25 inches. It publishes no thickness figure.
What We Could Not Verify
These are the figures the five listings do not publish, or publish in a form that cannot be used, and nothing above has been supplied in their place.
- No listing states whether a replacement blade can be bought or how the edge wears.
- Four of the five name no steel grade, only an origin or a property.
- OXO and Börner publish no body material at all.
- Vollum publishes no thickness figure for any of its three blades.
- OXO publishes 0.2 pounds against fields of 17.6 by 3.8 by 7.1 inches, which cannot both be right.
- Benriner states 13 by 6.5 inches against published fields of 4.7 by 12.2 by 2.
