Best grinder these days?

[Bauer]

Hey all,

After 15 years running my #12 grinder, it is finally starting to show its age, getting hot very quickly and we have simply just outgrown it with our new group of friends on sausage day.

Looking to upgrade to something in the 1+hp range with a bigger throat and push my #12 to a backup grinder. I noticed that there have gotten to be so many choices out there now days. Currently I am running a LEM and have all LEM products as far as stuffer etc., but nothing that ties directly to the grinder, so I'm not tied to LEM.

LEM - new stuff still tried and true? No changes in quality or performance in the recent years? I did appreciate their customer service support via phone when I needed some parts.

Meat! seems to be a little more reasonable in price, but at what sacrifice. Anyone know their warranty process, how to even begin?

Cabelas - Are they still as good as they used to be, and is any warranty process still as easy as it was 20 years ago? I havent done shit for business there since they joined w/ Bass Pro. Not to mention it's a drive from Garrison to Grand Forks for any support.

Thanks for any insight.

 

[Ruttin]

I have the LEM #22. It works as good as i want it to. Which ever route you go make sure you purchase the "dual grind" adapter. It is amazing. Also grinding partially froze meat works the best for me. Good luck!

 

[Traxion]

LEM.

 

[MuleyMadness]

I have had the LEM #12 3/4HP big bite for about 5-6 years. We normally do anywhere from 75lbs to 200lbs at a time. IT handles everything I have thrown at it with ease.

 

[scrotcaster]

LEM,, had a Cabela’s and got rid of it and bought a 1hp LEM .. I think the Cabela’s use to be better as my dad had one (before it became bass pro) that was a good grinder . The one I had , not so much

 

[KDM]

My next grinder will be the biggest LEM they make for household use. Grinding frozen meat takes some oommff and the 3/4 cabelas model I have struggles sometimes. I'm a "Tim the Tool Man" when it comes to hand tools and kitchen stuff. MORE POWER OH OH OH!!!!!

 

[Duckslayer100]

Legit: Best grinder I've ever used is the homemade jobber my buddy created. It's a run-of-the mill hand crank hooked up to an electric motor via a belt-and-pulley system. That sucker just straight chews through all manner of meat with zero effort.

But for off the shelf, I swore I'd never buy another grinder unless it was the biggest one I could possibly afford. The low-watt unit I run make me work up a powerful sweat trying to jam in even small pieces -- and after a bit of sinew has bound up on the plate, forget about it.

 

[Callem'In]

I have the Meat! #22 and it has been flawless for me. I grind less than 100lbs/year, so take it for whats thats worth, but have had 0 problems. I also have a vac sealer and slicer from them and they have worked very well. It is the only grinder I have used, so there is that as well.......

 

[wslayer]

Hard to beat the LEM. We have both the #8 and #12, will grind as fast as you can feed it. Both have enough giddy up to operate meat mixer.

 

[Twitch]

The Red Pepper on University in GF….grin

 

[Davy Crockett]

My next grinder will be the biggest LEM they make for household use. Grinding frozen meat takes some oommff and the 3/4 cabelas model I have struggles sometimes. I'm a "Tim the Tool Man" when it comes to hand tools and kitchen stuff. MORE POWER OH OH OH!!!!!

I miss the one my dad made in the 60s out of a Maytag wringer washing machine. It was a simple build with original motor and gears with foreword , neutral and reverse. He ground frozen all the time. He borrowed it out and the fellow died and that's the last we saw of it.

 

[SLE]

We use an LEM and do between 250-500 lbs a year on our annual sausage fest. Typically, to get the consistency we like we grind twice through the course plate and overall it works pretty well. If anything we ended up cutting down a small wooden base ball bat so it fit perfectly down the throat of the grinder with almost no space around the sides as it made pushing the once ground meat into the grinder much easier. The plastic one that comes with the grinder has too much space to push any ground meat into the grinder as it just pushes up around the sides.

TBH, we have all LEM stuff, from stuffers to vac sealers, and I haven't found reason to change to another brand. all of the products we use work well and have held up for many years.

 

[Lycanthrope]

ive got a cabelas 1hp unit thats probably 15 years old at least, works fine for me. a lot of grinders dont see a lot of use annually, likely you can pick up a decent one at half new price or less if you keep your eyes open for a while.

 

[Retired Educator]

Who makes mine? Bought from Cabela's many years ago. It's a 1 1/2 hp, #32 grinder and when I broke a small part Cabelas needed to order the part. When it came the part had LEM labels. Has more power than I'll ever need but it does grind. Replace the plates occasionally. On an average year we'll grind 300=400#.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Who makes mine? Bought from Cabela's many years ago. It's a 1 1/2 hp, #32 grinder and when I broke a small part Cabelas needed to order the part. When it came the part had LEM labels. Has more power than I'll ever need but it does grind. Replace the plates occasionally. On an average year we'll grind 300=400#.

I cant imagine ever wearing out a plate with home use. do you keep the blades and plates together? You really need a blade for every plate to keep them aligned properly.

 

[tikkalover]

I have a Cabela's 3/4 HP with a 22 grinder; it's like 20 years old works great for what I grind.

Have the blades and plates sharpened.

Val's Cyclery has sharpened mine.

I use 1 blade for the 4 plates I have, no problems.

 

[wslayer]

Who makes mine? Bought from Cabela's many years ago. It's a 1 1/2 hp, #32 grinder and when I broke a small part Cabelas needed to order the part. When it came the part had LEM labels. Has more power than I'll ever need but it does grind. Replace the plates occasionally. On an average year we'll grind 300=400#.

I believe Cabelas stuff back in the day was made by LEM , we bent shaft on stuffer( misaligned gears ) and new shaft came from LEM

 

[Ruttin]

Here is a link for the dualgrind adapter. Literally cuts time more than 50% if you do grind twice.


https://lemproducts.com/products/dualgrind-adapter.html

 

[Allen Gamble]

I still don't know if we're talking about meat or the tinder for gay dudes...

 

[johnr]

I still don't know if we're talking about meat or the tinder for gay dudes...

The best grinder on Tinder goes by the gay name "camper"... lol