We process all our own deer and make our own sausage. Even on years when we’ve only done 1-2 deer or when I’ve done a deer by myself the gear takes a beating. Especially the grinder. We spent about a decade buying a new grinder every other year because the gears wear out. We tried all the brands LEM, cabelas etc. We tried going with the more expensive options with each type and still had issues. The problem is that these manufactures use a type of plastic gears instead of metal and they wear out on a regular basis. Further then they don’t have options for buying replacement gears or material lists so that you could source them independently. After many years and talking with many people who also home process we found the STX model grinders. These still have a couple of plastic type gears in the housing but we have not had a single failure with this machine over the last 5 years and if we do they have a complete list of parts and the sell them so you can replace your 5-15$ gear rather then buying a new 100-400$ machine. Also I was able to find this grinder used for $50.
For a stiffer we use a 15# model with metal gears. We went with the 15 just because of the metal gears and not wanting to deal with stopping issues we had read about in the reviews of the 5# models. However I can’t imagine using a 5# model. As it is with the 15 it seems like your always having to fill it with more meat. Pressing the sausages goes quick. Loading and setting a run is the part that takes time.
Mixer. Originally we just mixed the meat by hand and it works but your hands freeze and it’s best to let it sit overnight for proper saturation of the spices in the meat especially if you will be using a cure and aging the sausage. With a mixer you can mix thoroughly and then stuff immediately. We bought a 20# mixer. If you fill it to the top with 20# it doesn’t work very well but with 15 it works perfect and since we have a 15# stuffer this works very well.
For knives while processing we bought a few of the “deer processing knife kits” that are available at any outdoor sports store. Once you put a better edge on these they work very good and are a nice cheap option (not everyone who comes and helps understands how to treat a knife) except for one item. The bone saw is not adequate. I recommend buying a good bone saw. Depending on how you decide to break the deer down however there may be no bones to cut through. We use ours to cut out bone in rib chops.
Hope this help
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