The Art of Restoration of the Berkels
Berkel Slicer Restoration
Passion and competence are the key to the restoration of vintage Berkel slicers and scales
The restoration of Berkel slicers and scales involves a work of great professionalism and passion, and it is with passion that in the 90s we began to restore these wonderful objects.
INITIAL CHECK
The restoration of a Berkel slicer begins with the evaluation of the general conditions: the missing worn parts are restored with original period pieces or new ones (blade, bearing sharpening stones, etc.). Our goal remains to replace as little as possible in order to have a more original and authentic object, as the replacement of original parts would lead to a depreciation of the historical value.
PAINTING
Once the slicer has been completed in all its parts and is fully functional, we proceed with the disassembly phase and an initial cleaning of the various components. The metal parts that need to be painted are sandblasted and then entrusted to our coach builders specialized in the painting of antique objects. The paint chosen is the “ultra high solid” (UHS) type for Auto Refinish use at the top of the range. The painting is done with “direct gloss” exactly as Berkel did, without the use of “transparent varnish” for final protection, as it did not exist at the time. We can proudly say that we are among the few European restorers who do not use clear varnish.
CHROMING AND NICKELING
The metal parts that must be chromed or nickel-plated must be entrusted to a laboratory specialized in the processing of antique pieces, which intervenes with micro sandblasting, polishing and copper plating in several stages. The following baths are nickel-plating for the nickel-plated pieces and nickel-plating and chrome-plating for the chromed pieces.
DECORATIONS
The next phase is that of the decorations, made by hand, copying the original ones to perfection. Even the decorations are not protected with transparent varnish, but a procedure is used that still guarantees great resistance to wear.
REASSEMBLY
We are almost at the end: the reassembly phase of all the pieces begins, the functionality of each component is checked and finally the final testing is carried out.
WARRANTY AND CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
The vintage Berkel is ready: each slicer is accompanied by a photographic reportage to give the customer a documentation of the work done. We issue a 5-year warranty on operation and a Certificate of Authenticity with the list of replaced parts.
Flywheel handmade decoration
The Principles of Our Restoration
• we adhere with the utmost fidelity to the historical reference period of the object, without compromising its full efficiency;
• we restore the parts marked by time with craftsmanship and extreme care;
• we apply the oven varnish over the decorations, brands and painted parts to the detriment of transparent varnish, which did not exist at the time of Berkel;
• we make decorations by hand without the use of an airbrush, which at the time of Berkel had not yet been invented;
• we use original copal varnish brands of the time;
• we issue the “Certificate of Authenticity” and the list of replaced parts;
• we guarantee the excellent functioning of the object for 5 years.
• To have complete information on our slicers for sale, please send an e-mail to .
The Restoration phases of the Berkel model 3
In this area we report all the sequences of the main activities of the restoration.
As an example we illustrate the restoration of a Berkel Flywheel Model 3 slicer, produced from 1915 to 1924.
Flywheel Decoration
Pedestal Decoration
Decoration of the base
Scroll the images to view them