I've been butchering my own meat for quite a few years with a friends grinder. Its a hell of a grinder but the "friend" isn't a hell of a friend anymore. Looking to buy my own grinder under $800 if possible. Recommendations? (based on personal experience please!!!) tks
meat grinder
- Thread starter lookout
- Start date
Cabela's one horse power will handle everything you need for home butchering plus there are loads of nifty attachments.
proble not what your looking for but i have to let people know about it.
i piced up a basic hand grinder from princess auto(power fist) for $10or$14.have used it for 2 years now.i have to say for what i payed im really impressed with this thing.
i piced up a basic hand grinder from princess auto(power fist) for $10or$14.have used it for 2 years now.i have to say for what i payed im really impressed with this thing.
Greenfields
CGN Regular
- Location
- Lower mainland BC
Princess Auto also has an electric grinder/stuffer that works quite well.
Cheers
Cheers
looking in the Cabela's catalogue I see the 1HP. Then I compare it to the price of the LEM 1 HP and the LEM is considerably more expensive.
Is there a huge quality difference between the two, ie all steel gear drives vs a nylon or belt drive?
I've bought some princess auto stuff before and am generally of the opinion that it is for infrequent use. I intent to do about 12 deer and 3 moose a year as an average.
Not much difference that I can see.......seems durable and I know several guys with them that all swear by them.
Got one at CT last year 'cause I couldn't see myself hand-grinding all the trimmings from a horse sized elk. Did the job no sweat.
I had to pull the cutting knife, wheel and auger a couple times to clean the sinews and tough bits out every 100 pounds though.
I had to pull the cutting knife, wheel and auger a couple times to clean the sinews and tough bits out every 100 pounds though.
It doesn't matter the quality of meat grinder, when you grind your meat sinew, tendons, & silver skin will build up on the blade. You just have to take it apart every little while & clean it. I don't know if grinding meat that's half frozen prevents this, but I say it's a good thing, let the meat thaw. The more of the sinew you get out of your ground meat, the better it will be.
That's not entirely true. Aside from removing the largest tendons from the lower legs, full size commercial Hobart grinder will handle all the silver skin and small sinew you can put through it. The blade and plate need to be pretty tight together and sharp. A smaller grinder will require the removal of most these parts.
Meat that is partially frozen does grind better, esp in a smaller grinder. Meat that is warm tends to just wrap around the worm and just bung up the works.
I have been doing some research this summer and have decided to get one of those 1hp Cabelas grinder from S.I.R. I will get a few extra sets on knife/blade sets as well. It will do good service here for cutting game as well as beef and pork.
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canadian hunter312
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Brant County
not just a grinder, its THE grinder 
this thing will chew through bone and you can ram as much meat in as you want and it wont even begin to bog down. my grandfather put it together but i think its just a $100 grinder attached to a motor by some fancy things that i dont know what are called.
this thing will chew through bone and you can ram as much meat in as you want and it wont even begin to bog down. my grandfather put it together but i think its just a $100 grinder attached to a motor by some fancy things that i dont know what are called.
In the past I have used a handgrinder converted to power use with the replacement of the handle by a stud that fit a large 1/2 inch variable speed drill. My dad was running it and found that going easy on the speed made the build up of silver skin etc worse. Reving it up meant the meat went through in a much better manner. Not sure if it would work for a dozen deer plus other animals but it was a cheaper alternative to buying a special single use tool.
Lately I have used a small grinder that I won from a store. It is slower but works okay for 1 or 2 deer. I also found grinding meat when it still has a few ice crystals speeds up the process. FOr packing the sausage I use a buddy's sausage stuffer as the one with the small grinder just doesn't cut it when making 100 plus pounds of sausage.
Lately I have used a small grinder that I won from a store. It is slower but works okay for 1 or 2 deer. I also found grinding meat when it still has a few ice crystals speeds up the process. FOr packing the sausage I use a buddy's sausage stuffer as the one with the small grinder just doesn't cut it when making 100 plus pounds of sausage.
If you intend to do 12 deer and 3 moose average per year, make sure you get a high quality or commercial grinder. Check the yellow pages for Commercial butcher supply shops, then make some phone calls. These shops take trades and will occaisionally have 1 - 2 hp models on hand that are used but still very functional. If you have 3 phase electricity it is easier to find one. I picked up a 1 hp model in single phase for $300 total including a new plate and cutter and some minor repairs. It is rated at 22lbs per minute and has never let us down. We once ground up a whole beef in part of a day. The trimming was the slow part. We used to use a setup like Canadianhunter312 has that I made with a rototiller gearbox, but it was very slow.
Here's one that I built a few years ago ...
...the meat table is off ...to show how the grinder hooks up '
Got most of the parts for this at a garage sale for $25
There was a thread on this very subject about a year ago....mebbe on the recipe/cooking forum
Got most of the parts for this at a garage sale for $25
There was a thread on this very subject about a year ago....mebbe on the recipe/cooking forum
