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Thread: Manual Meat Grinder Recommendations

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Manual Meat Grinder Recommendations

    I have an ancient #12 Keystone clamp on grinder that I'd like to replace. Recommendations for a replacement?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    I love sausage even though I don't raise hogs and my friend who did passed away last year. I been looking into meat grinders and sausage stuffers. remembering those winter days we spent with his sons going way into the night hand cranking out like 400 pounds of sausage on slaughter day. I can buy hog from local slaughter house at a fair price. I been looking real hard at the scratch and dent clearance refurbished mixers direct from kitchen aid with the grinder/ sausage stuffer attachments.

  3. #3
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    I would baby it as long as I could and run electrics as long as possible.
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  4. #4
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    you couldnt pay me to grind my meat by hand or to stuff sausage with an adapter on a grinder.

  5. #5
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    I bought an electric one (Mexican -- Tor-Rey or something like that) about 15 years ago for grinding menhaden (bunker) for fish chum, and paid quite a bit for it, and then suddenly, the next fall, the market seemed to be flooded with electric grinders for a fraction of the price. I'd never go back to a manual grinder.

    Don't know whether the cheaper grinders are as heavy-duty as mine (I think it weighs close to 80# and I believe has a TEFC induction motor) but for a few deer a year, you probably wouldn't need the duty cycle I need for grinding bushels of bunker...

    ETA: Just looked it up and mine is a "Tor-Rey M12-FS" and it hasn't missed a beat.

  6. #6
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    Maybe you should first try buying a replacement cutter. I don’t think there’s been a lot innovation in hand grinders in recent years. I’ve done a number of pigs with a hand grinder. Now a friend has an electric, so I take the easy way and borrow his.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master

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    They are available new, Mom got a catalog from a place in amish country that listed them stuffers wood stoves and furnaces oil lamps and lanterns.

    If used isnt an issue then watch the farm estates auctions. Scalding pots scrappers grinders meat saws everything needed can be found. But a lot of it here is now bought for the history and display.

  8. #8
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    I have and use two different clamp-on grinders, each surely more than 70+ years old, and generally grab which ever is closest when a grind is wanted. That said, I purchased the grinding attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixing machine -- available here on Amazon.com for ~$33.00USD -- and it works awesomely well. And, it comes with a sausage stuffing attachment -- three tubes -- as well. If you have a Kitchen Aid, I'd recommend looking into this. The only down side to it is that it is NOT dishwasher cleaning recommended, but dropping it in a pot of warm Dawn-added water and a few swirls with a brush cleans it with little effort.
    (However -- as initially written -- I 99% of the time grab the manual grinder... perhaps you may have available one in your country of residence?)
    A vendor I have ordered from in past purveys clamp-on grinders which go for $43.00USD as an option. The vendor has been 100% top shelf in my purchases, albeit mostly Aladdin lamp oil and parts. A link is: https://www.lehmans.com/product/10-c...meat-grinder/#
    BEST wishes!
    geo

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I like to make the Swedish potato sausage for Christmas, just like my Grandma used to make. I recently acquired that same grinder/stuffer that she used. It had been stored away and basically forgotten for I'm guessing 55+ years, but I put it to work last fall. It still works as good as I remember from way back when I was a kid. Clean up is quick and easy. Any name or logos that may have been on it are long since worn away.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    Since the original question I'll add we have a Kitchen Aid and I do have the grinder attachment for it, quiet frankly I don't want to wear out my wife's KA mixer and it takes a LONG time to put 40lbs through that #5 head and strains the motor appreciably.
    I took the screen plate and knife to Rural King and compared the Lincolin parts there, and bought a plate and knife. It will just work in one of my hand grinders, but not the other. The knife is thicker than the old knife and the retaining ring won't thread on the head tube on one, and catches about 2 threads on the other. I ran 40lbs of pork butt through the one that I was able to make work, and it was much faster than the KA! I'm thinking about taking the auger to a machine shop and have them remove about 3/32nds off the back end to make room for a nylon bearing and let it sit a little deeper in the tunnel body. Then I can use the LEM or Lincolin plates and knives with a near perfect fit. I don't grind a lot at one time so the expense and storage for an electric don't make since for me, I just need to make sure the Grandkids are over when a big job is due! Key to a hand grinder is keeping those plates flat and knife sharp.
    Stuffing small jobs I use a LEM Jerkey gun, I will NEVER try that job again with a grinder spiral! EVER! I really need to break down and purchase a 5lb crank stuffer.

    It turns out that there is one American company making cast iron manual grinders, but I was turned off by the epoxy paint coating on it. Porkert brand, cast iron tin dipped, from the Czech Republic, and you only get one guess where nearly all the rest are produced, even the ones sold by American companies!

    Now to make some sausage!

  11. #11
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    I will never go back to manual grinding... went 1hp electric #12 and will never go back. I make 30 pound batches of hot italian and of breakfast sausage patties fairly often because friends are buying it form me, family stops and asks for it...

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by MaryB View Post
    I will never go back to manual grinding... went 1hp electric #12 and will never go back. I make 30 pound batches of hot italian and of breakfast sausage patties fairly often because friends are buying it form me, family stops and asks for it...
    If I where making 30lbs a week electric weekly be a no brainer!

    Do you mix your own seasoning, or buy a premix?

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Thundarstick View Post
    If I where making 30lbs a week electric weekly be a no brainer!

    Do you mix your own seasoning, or buy a premix?
    Leggs #10 for breakfast, and their hot Italian(forget the number) premix. But I mix a little heavier than the recipe calls for... maybe 10% more seasoning

  14. #14
    Boolit Master

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    Same here with Legg's #10 it's made about 60 miles from my house. I bump up the spices a little and add some sage and rpf. I use a Kitchenaid grinder but I make small quantities < 10lbs. Works great. If I was gonna make a larger vol, I would probably get a larger grinder. To me and my wife, 10lbs is a lot of sausage.

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    might be a bit of an overkill but i love my #32 weston. It would grind bone if you wanted. Where you see the real advantage in a BIG grinder is making sausage like summer sausage or snack sticks that need a second grind. I can darn near through base ball sized chucks of meat down the throat and dont even need to push them. It was always a workout when i had my #12 gander mountain grinder. Down side is its HEAVY. My wife could never get it from the floor up onto the counter. Even with a big grinder stuffing sausage casings is a pain. You about need a stuffer to do that.

  16. #16
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    I've used the Kitchen Aid grinder attachment and it takes a looong time to grind any large amount of meat as Thunderstick said. I now have a #12 1HP Thunderbird that can grind 50 lb of meat in no time. My shoulder and arm ache thinking about doing 50 lb with a hand grinder. I know there are some good ones out there, but I'd have to pass. Good luck with your search. I did look at the Porkert Grinders, and the #10 Professional looks pretty good.
    Last edited by gbrown; 09-14-2021 at 02:57 PM. Reason: Additional info
    One of my father's favorite statements: "If I say a chicken dips snuff, look under his wing for the snuffbox" How I was raised, who I am.

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