PA_BOW_HUNTER

For $150 you can make a real good grinder.... Here's what I did. At Cabelas you can buy the #32 Meat Grinder for 79.99, go to Home Depot and get a pulley, a belt and a small 1/3 hp or 1/2 hp motor and a 4 foot 2 X 12all for less than 35-40 bucks.... put it all together and you have yourself a very impressive grinder.

AJ52

I've seen acouple of the home made grinders.Very impressive and simple setup.The guy that had the two I saw had ground up dozens of deer.He used old washer motors for power.

Blackpowdersmoke

I used to work part time for a neighbor that cut deer during the season and I learned how to cut and did my own. When He and his wife split up he sold out and I was back to square one..taking my deer to someone else and PAYING FOR IT!!!!...Not to mention that if you do it yourself you can customize your cuts and keep the meat MUCH cleaner. Processors generally do a great job, but they let a lot more fat,gristle, and yea...hair through than I ever would for myself. After all,when they'redoing hundreds of deer a seasonthey can't take the time to nit-pick. So I bought a small grinder, a hand meat saw, anda few food lugs and do my own. The main thing with your grinder is to keep the knives sharpand theplates true and flat. I'm fortunate enough to be a machinist by trade and do my own, but there are a lot of small machine shops out there that would do them reasonable enough. If you don't run anything through your grinder other than clean meat and fat, you should get a number of seasons of use before they need a touch up.I use a little mineral oil on the knife and plate when I set up so there is instant lubrication on the metal when you start up. And mineral oil is natural ( foodgrade )so it won't hurt anything. Coat the knife and plates with mineral oil after they are clean and dry and keep them in a zip-lock bag until next use......BPS

game4lunch

Check this one out:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=6970&productId=36989&am p;R=36989

It should get here today, so I don't know first hand. But putting 176 lbs. an hour throught any grinder has to be an improvement over the garage sale grinder I've been using!
***** have it on sale now!

NEBHNTR

You could of got the 50$ grinder after thankgiving sale at cabelas. It actually is pretty nice. The only grinder I will ever use is a Kitchen Aid!!!! You can't feed meet fast enough through it. It also can be a wife's x'mas present, then it gives you a reason to buy it. This trick worked on my wife and now have a great grinder for myself. Maybe this year I will buy her a fishing pole.

PastorSteve

Just wanted to say that we bought a meat grinder at Costco for about $70 and so far it has been great. We did about 75 pounds of elk just this last weekend and it never once even flinched.

Only used it once so I don't know what it will stand up to over the next few years, but so far so good.

bowkill144

I had a home made grinder that a friend almost lost a hand in soI got rid ofit. My dad and I bought the big one that LEM had I think it has a size 32 plate and a big motor on it. It did cost 500 bucks on sale but we proccess about 15 whitetails a year with and it makes over 600lbs of sausage and burger a year for us so I dont regret getting it. This thing is built like a tank and I am pretty sure my grand kids will be using it long afterI am gone LOL!

Newhunter1 at work

I have this one and it has been GREAT. It is a 1000w grinder and so far this year I've gotten four deer. Last year it ground up one huge deer and this year I've put 25 lbs of deer from my first one...50 lbs from my next two, and I'll put another 25 lbs from my fourth deer. I also loaned to a friend that got a 220 lb(field dressed) buck. He put 20-1gallon bags thru it. Something over 100 lbs of deer from one deer that he ground up. When I went to his house I saw well over 70 1/2 gallon to 1 gallon bags full of deer burger. He and his family do a lot of recipes that require burger. Anyway we cannot jam this thing up...it literally will out pace us...we cannot keep up with this machine. So far it has ground up over 200 lbs of meat in the first year that I've had it. No slowing down yet. The best part...it was free. My in-laws bought it for me for christmas.

You won't go wrong with this one.

Paul

AJ52

PA BOW,
If you still have that homemade grinder would you post a couple pics?

I'm seriously thinking of putting one of these together in near future.The #32 hand cranks are tough to find locally.

racowboy

I've got a Rival (looks suspisciously like the $69 Cabelas special) that has had whole herds of animals ran through it over the years flawlessly. Is small and a little slow, but I'm not doing this professionally andspeed is not that important considering I don't grind meat that often.