Used to make the stuff a lot a number of years ago. Always used the dehydrator to make it. Much more effecient and if you want the smoky taste...just add some liquid smoke to the marinade.

For the marinade, I used a combination of low salt soy sauce (regular is a little too salty), brown suger, worchester sauce and pepper as a base. Just make sure you use cheap lean meats like rump roasts, as dried beef fat does not taste very good. As for slicing it into thin jerky sized pieces, most meat counters will slice it for free.

Being that the meat is sliced thin, I never let it marinade longer then 10 min. At first, I would dry a few pieces at a time so you get the right flavor. Don't want to get stuck with a batch of either real salty, or flavorless jerky. Also want to make sure you don't over dry it as well. Good luck.