Steve Wertz wrote:
But to properly smash garlic for maximum flavor, you really need
a press or be able to grind it down with the side of your knife
and some abrasive - usually salt.

For slicing, I usually don't like the smell lingering on my
fingers, which is why I use the mandoline-gadget.

I has a Susi, and it was one of the ones that broke. It looked
like aluminum, but one of the levers snapped right in half. Must
have been cheap aluminum.

-sw

I dunno about that, I can mash and get an extremely fine
pulp pretty quick with my knives so I threw out every press.
Pain the the butt to clean anyhow. Now, the slicing part of
the gadget in the op was kind of intriguing but I have no
problem with slicing either. Granted, if you were doing
resteraunt volumes it may be handy but for what I do around
the house I can slice pretty quickly with my knives as well.

I don't mind the smell. ;-)

But, then again (not bragging) I've got pretty good knife
skills. I'm not super fast like to see some people on tv,
but I can hold my own.

--
Steve