Precision meat grinder

[Ultradog MN]

I mentioned I got a doe a week ago in the
thread about rifle scopes.
It cost $150 to get it back from the meat
cutter in nice packages.
That's too darned much!!
But I had bought the Mrs a tag so the two
of us went back up this weekend.
And took another doe.
But we weren't gonna pay $150 again.
No way.
My wife was a city girl. I taught her to
like venison but she had never been around
the death and evisceration of her meat.
Abe Lincoln once said that if you weren't
able to use a knife you could hold a leg.
She handled that task admirably and I was
proud of her.
But now I have to cut up this deer.
Dear me...
I'm just going to strip it, take out a
couple of roasts and make the rest of it
into burger.
Still have the tools from when I used to
cut them up.
Was wishing I had an electric grinder
though.
Which got me to thinking...
Do you think 5 hp and 16 speeds will do it?
I'll put some kinda cover over the ways
and a slide to direct the grind into a
pan.
Don't want shavings in my burger or burger
in my shavings you know.
Anyway, a meat grinder is a good tool to
own.
Not having to power it manually it will be
better. And a precision grinder better yet.
We'll have meat for ourselves and gifts for
our our friends this year.
And it's a fun and interesting life we live
around here.

 

[jniolon]

that's just way cool... what kind of tolerance you running on it... I think hamburger grind is about .250

john

 

[RESLLS]

Women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy!

 

[old]

I do all my deer meat but my grinder is an old hand crank type

 

[johnofnewhaven]

Great idea! I like it

 

[Billy NY]

That certainly should work, who would have thought


Those who offer the service, have also gone up around here. I never cared for doing that way, but used to given time constraints. So, for 25 years or so, I have done my own. I hunt the land where I live here, field dress, then rig up a hitch to the hide, after making carful relief cuts, then literally pull the darned hide right off. I can't do it by hand so much any more. I prefer it to hang over night at like 27-30 Deg F. then pull the hide, take the meat off the bones, back straps, tenderloins and a few other cuts. From there, bulked up in fist sized pieces, cleaned of all sinew, tendon, fat etc. etc. Take to the pork store, and get various things made up, traditional German frankfurters, with cheese and jalapenos, pretty good with a cold beer.


Here's one from 5 years ago, cooled overnight, hung in warm garage to strip/clean. I can have all of it cleaned and packaged in 3 hours, or could..... might be longer now.

 

[Roger in Wisconsin]

For years I used a hand grinder, I got tired of that so one year I put my right angle Milwaukee drill on it. Bad idea, the meat flew all over the walls and ceilings. After that I bought a consumer grinder, that's the way I've been doing it since. Been hunting seance 1962.

 

[SDE]

Local couple process venison. $120 plus a dollar per pound to grind the trimmings.

 

[Tony in SD]

Just when I thought I saw everything. I like your creativity. I think 5 to 10 years from now this photo will have a YT caption of WHAT IS IT? Wonder if anyone will know?

 

[Gary Reif]

Good for you. That's thinking outside the box. Should have plenty of horsepower.

 

[PJH]

One of our good neighbors had a big meat grinder that he added an electric motor to for power. He geared it down through a cream separator drive in reverse. Every family in the community borrowed it. The only requirement that he made was DO NOT WASH THE GRINDER! He wanted a few slices of bread ran through it until the bread came out white. Shut it off and bring it home. A few pounds of sausage or ground beef always followed the grinder home. Good memories of good people!

 

[Charles in Aus.]

I'm interested to know if any of you use ice along with the flesh ?
My old Austrian butcher friend ( now long passed ) always threw a few handfuls of ice cubes in along with the meat to keep it cool and stop the grinder from burning or ' cooking ' it .

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Better put it in the lowest gear it's got, or else you'll have to have your wife standing across the room holding a garbage bag to catch the meat.

 

[WNYBill]

Check this video out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMx0JMOv5WI After 50 years of butchering deer I have started using this method. I also have a crane on the ATV so we can lift them and dress just like a beef. No mud and blood on me or the meat.

 

[Charlie M]

I uses a grinder my mother bought in the 80's for pork and horseradish. It has a 3/4 horse motor and one speed. I don't know why you would need more horsepower or more speeds. I freeze my pork and thaw it only enough to get it apart and do a first grind with a course plate. I then season the meat and regrind through a smaller plate. Sounds like what you are suggesting will cost some major money.

 

[John Garner]

I should be able to identify that father's make and model, but it's not coming to me. So I'll have to ask what lathe you have.

 

[John Garner]

Grrr . . Auto-correct ought to correct spelling errors, not change words to other ones. Lathe's shouldn't magically become father's.

So: Who made your lathe, and what model is it?

 

[K Effective]

I think I remember him saying it was a Monarch lathe.

Definitely the best use of a steady rest i have seen!

 

[Ultradog MN]

Yes, an old Monarch.
Worn but not worn out.
Built during the time of the Battle of the
Coral Sea.
The steady rest is from some other machine.
I milled the base to fit this lathe.

Coral sea

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Think I'll stick with my grinder from Northern Tool

 

[Russ from MN]

That's a pretty good idea! We have an electric grinder from Gander Mt. it has worked well for many years. My wife usually hold a leg when we gut them out, and she does the final trimming and sorting. She usually shoots one too, but this year she missed, but our son and I both got does. Our cabin is in an area where there is some farming, some soybeans and rye grass, so the does have almost 2 inches of fat on their backs!

 

[Russ from MN]

We freeze the meat that were going to grind, and then partially thaw it, until you can just slice it. So
it's just crystalized a little, it's seems to grind better, and the grinder sure stays cool!

 

[John Garner]

Thank you, Sir. That's a nice size lathe, and Monarch lathes are usually cream of the crop.

 

[Charles in Aus.]

(quoted from post at 02:42:59 11/17/22) We freeze the meat that were going to grind, and then partially thaw it, until you can just slice it. So
it's just crystalized a little, it's seems to grind better, and the grinder sure stays cool!

Thanks Russ , it made sense to me to keep the flesh cool when grinding .

 

[Ultradog MN]

I finally had time to cut up the deer this morning.
Ha!
My contraption worked great.
I started it at 29 rpm and then bumped it up a couple of times and settled at 89 rpm.
Could have gone much faster but it was all real casual and easy to feed.
Took just a little while.
I covered the ways with plastic and wrapped the chuck and steady rest in Glad Wrap.
jniolon,
Since we were talking precision grinding I measured the holes in the grind plate. You were pretty close. They are .287in
Thanks to all.
It was a fun project and you all gave some fun replys.