About that $5 mandolin I previously mentioned buying....use it only for shredding cabbage or lettuce...and thin slicing pickles or cukes length wise. The problem for me was having a lot thick ends left over from using the guard, which required knife work to finish. Not worth the extra effort when careful cleaning is added to the equation. Every one of my knives is straight razor sharp and I can cut thinner than the mandolin. Especially the cheap Aldi one which thin blades flexed too much.
We have other gadgets that cut things rather thinly within a crank-turned receptacle. They work for most things that we make. You have ‘chunks’ left over with those, too; I just eat them on the spot - more healthy veg for the cook.
But there are some applications for which there is really no substitute for a mandoline.
(I salute your skills at knife-wielding :-)