What type of grinder do you use?

[Macthediver]

I've been thinking of getting a grinder to use for bait and such. So I was wondering what you guys that make your own lure & bait use.  Is there a grinder that can be used for meat and plant material?? I know there are a lot of options out there I'm just wondering if I can get by with one machine thats somewhat universal???Hand or motor operated?
 
Mac

[fishmax2]

Mines a piece, its a hand crank grinder, only used it once, don't know if I ever will again.  All I know is it has a #5 on it.  It constantly gets clogged and doesn't work then.

[maskbandit]

I got one that my mom gave me several years back, the main part is made of cast aluminum and I've ground up everything in it and never had trouble with it.It's called a Grind-O-Matic.

[Jacktheknife]

I am wondering the same thing.  I have an old garage sale grinder,
a handcrank grinder and it will grind up about anything.
Prep the stuff to be ground by getting it about half froze,                           cutting it up as well as you can with a thin knife,with a serated edge.  And grind, if the first time doesn't do it, then keep grinding till it does.
I saw some beaver castor on ebay, and was wondering if it would grind well, or if it would be better to buy some that had been already ground?
Pretty cheap letting someone else do the grinding, especially if you haven't had dinner yet.                                               Knife

[jim-NE]

my grinder came from a garage sale too (as did a lot of my other equipment around here). hand crank, several different grinding heads, and a nice sturdy base clamp for the bench mounting. because of what it needed to do for me, I didn't want to spend more than a couple of bucks on one. If it would handle a couple gallons of bait ok, but not be out anything if I couldn't get it cleaned up too well...then that was my only criteria when I was on the hunt for one at garage sales.
I got some nice carbon steel skinning knives at sales, too. I used my bench grinder and made a rounded "beaver knife" and made a couple of the short, angled "pelting" knives, too. I only have about two dollars in four or five knives. (only a decent steel...no stainless, etc.) can be reworked this way and still hold an edge. I did the same thing with two-handled fleshers too. One was an actual fleshing knife I got for a song and reworked the nicks out of the edge, the other was a two handled draw knife for woodworking...I reworked the angle on the edge to fit the handle angles and it came out to point it works fine for me...and it was a buck and a quarter at an auction estate sale.

[Jacktheknife]

Beaver Castor and my old hand crank grinder update:
Hey, Dried Beaver castor grinds easily!  I just threw it in and ground it once, and 'Bada Boom!' a coarse ground powder!                                     Put the ground castor in a pint jar and covered with 17-18 year old {vintage} Bobcat urine.                                                                         Today I am going to grind 4 oz dryweight, of castor and mix it in with a gallon of Bobcat urine, and as Asa recomended,  shake it every time I walk by, for a month or two, {but why stop shaking it at one month.}                                                                            Now: if I had another old garage sale blender..........  
What all could be ground up in it?
What all could be mixed together?
Yes, I am on a lure and scent making roll,  it is interesting and fun.
Besides accumulating more scents, more weird bottles to put the 'stuff' in.
[Olive oil bottles are fine}
And more shelves in the shed to store the 'stuff' on, so that I can see it all in one glance.                                                                                        Last night I was looking for my green label paper with the peel off back, so it will stick on the jars. I know it is around here somewhere.

[Jacktheknife]

Beaver castor and my old hand crank grinder update II

     Hey Ya'll,   I ground up {coarse grind}  a quarter pound of dried castor and it was very tough.  I said in update '1',  that I just threw in two small castors and bada boom! ground them up!  to a coarse powder, and that is true.  However, the first ones I ground were not represenitive of the rest.
They were as I remembered from long ago about as tough of a substance as I have ever ground.  
     It was hot out in the shop and I thought I would never finish.
But 1/4 Lb castor is in a gallon jar, covered with {vinitage} bobcat urine.
I am very proud of it.
I had to grind one way, the back, forwards and backwards.
Every time the crank became to hard to turn, back and forwards,
I would pull the pieces of castor on through with my fingers,                  and grind some more. I misspoke when I implyed that grinding castor was so easy, it ain't.

      I have ground castor in the same old grinder 20 years ago.                When I was done,  I took the handle off,  and the thing with all the holes in it off. And the screw was pretty much full of 20 year old,  really dried castor which I am soaking in water {all last night.}  
Bet it will grind better now.
Now I plan on soaking the castor till this time next month, while I look for a garage sale blender.  After a month in the rehydration urine, I expect
the castor will blend nicely, and then back in the gallon jar.

             Yes, store bought pre-ground castor is a good investment.

                                                                Knife

[Jacktheknife]

Not a quarter of a pound-a quarter of an ounce!

                               And that air different.    sorry...  Knife

[Jacktheknife]

It is a quarter of a pound!   4 ounces!   Yeah!   {duh}

[RdFx]

Sniff, sniff ah the joy of grinding and smelling castor.   I grind my castor  semi dry  with a heavy duty bar type  blender.  Have been doing it for  30 years  and it works great as i add glycol to mine as i do it.   I can either have it so it squirts out of a bottle like urine or  a paste.