#10 Stainless Steel Clamp-On Hand Grinder

As a response to those who say this item jams; you don't know what you're doing. Please realize that you need to remove silverskin and tendons from meat before grinding. To those detracting the carbon steel blade I say learn the attributes of different varieties of steel. What you want is stainless steel, a metal that is difficult to sharpen, wont hold an edge for long, and is costly to replace. What you get is an appropriate carbon steel blade, a metal that is easy to sharpen, holds an edge for an extended period of time, and costs less to replace than stainless. Yes carbon steel needs more care, but it is still a superior product. Enough ranting; what I like is this items simplicity, durability, and its quaint old fashioned look. Its an item that, with proper care, will last several generations. This grinder gets the job done, thats it, a no frills, no gimmicks product that is beautifully executed. What I don't is like the vice. Its small, and doesn't leave many choices as to where you can secure this device. Even though it is difficult to find a securing point the vice is well made, just small, the rest of this product is superb. In conclusion, if you are an artisan cook, a traditional home butcher, a hunter, or a budding culinarian then this is a device for you. If you're a person who needs everything spelled out for you and spoon fed to you, maybe you should just stick to supermarket sausage and ground meats.

No one tells you how much of a pain in the rear end it is to clean these things, but I would venture a simple hand grinder like this is easier than more complicated electric grinders. Thst said, I bought a manual grinder because my cat hides for almost a half day whenever I use my tiny and quiet vacuum cleaner, so a noisy electric grinder was completely out of the question. The hand grinder is simple, effective, cheap (relatively), and strong enough to handle chicken thigh bones, so it's perfect for me. As a bonus, it takes up less space and the clamp even fits on my 1.75 in thick cutting board if I take the rubber feet off. Now I can make whole chicken raw food for my cat, and custom blend burgers for me!

The LEM #10 is the standard by which manual grinders should be judged. I tried it out by grinding 5 pounds of boned chicken thighs, 5 pounds of lean pork shoulder, 6 large apples, and 2 pounds of beef fat. The grinding was effortless. Cleanup was quick. I then used the included stuffer attachment to turn out 24 chicken/apple sausages. Stuffing sausages takes so little effort our three year old was able to turn the handle. Cost per sausage was under .50 and they are every bit as tasty as store bought ones costing twice as much. The pork and beef was rapidly processed into italian sausage and kielbasa. Again the price per link averaged under .50 and the quality was great. The LEM #10 effortlessly processed everything we put through it. The stainless body and impeller (the impeller is listed as cast iron on some websites, mine is stainless) make cleanup quick and easy. A tiny bottle brush makes scrubbing the holes on the grinder plates a snap. About 3 hours after receiving the grinder we had a freezer jammed full of premium sausage and the grinder drying in the dish rack. I did have two small dislikes: 1) The instructions were much too brief. 2) It sits pretty low and requires a shallow bowl to catch the outflow (this is a problem on all manual grinders) All in all I wish I had bought one years ago.

I researched and shopped different manufacturers ad nauseum and concluded hand grinders fall into three categories; rusty 'ol nasty used ones, cheap junk, and the roughly $100 category. Since I consider the grinder a tool, I wanted a decent one that would last and wanted to use it right away. Along the way, I learned about overall size and capacity, different plate-hole sizes, and dedicated "knives" matched to each plate. That made sense to me which led me to LED. I chose a small grinder and, for a few extra bucks, upgraded the grind plates for my s.o. and myself to use once or twice a month for burgers and pet food. The #22 seemed a bit too big for small quantities we would normally grind so wound up getting the #10 to process my allotted share of camp game meat I bring home once a year. I've used it a few times now and don't regret not buying an electric model. Besides the considerable extra expense, I like the idea of back to basics and it breaks down easy to clean. However, if you desire less of a physical workout cranking the handle, electric is the way to go; faster, but more expensive, more cleanup. Suggest you buy the cleaning brush package and a plastic tub to soak all the dirty parts in when cleaning so you don't tie up your sink basin. Criticisms: the upgraded grinding plates I purchased are absolute highest quality, but the metal casting in the interior of the grinder is "poor" although that doesn't seem to matter when using or cleaning. Still, c'mon LED. Do it right. Edit: May, 2026 - I've used this a lot now, but yesterday a friend and I used his old unidentified #22 manual grinder on some beef bought on sale. WAKE UP CALL .. THUNDERBOLT! His worked flawlessly, perfectly, effortlessly revealing my LEM #10 SUX!! My hamburger is a pulped mash, his a perfectly ground mix. His auger was mostly empty afterwards; mine half-filled with mulched meat that didn't pass through. I have been a fool. I would re-sell it it, but I have a moral conscience. My mistake, my responsibility, "Into the mud, Scum Queen!" (trashed it). Will buy another, but not LEM!

Once I got it assembled, it worked just fine. Unlike some other reviewers' comments, I must say that the stainless steel does have some nicks and dents, but nothing that affects the use, only aesthetics. I did have a lot of trouble getting the ring to fit and fasten over the blades, but once it was in place it worked. My main objective was to buy a manual grinder made of stainless steel--not carbon steel, not aluminum--so I accomplished that. I would like an electric stainless steel grinder rather than a manual one (I have arthritis), but just can't afford such a luxury for an item I only use twice per month. One tip: If you grind chicken breasts, they must be skinless, boneless and trimmed of fat and membranes. Also, keep them almost completely frozen, just thawed enough to pull them loose from packaging. Use a sharp knife to cut each large breast in about three pieces. The auger pulls them in and feeds them through beautifully. I used the blade with the larger holes, and it was just right. I'm very pleased with this purchase, which will probably outlast me.

We own two electric meat grinder attachments, one for Artiste Mixer and one for KitchenAid mixer. Neither of them can handle doing a couple pounds of meat without needing to stop and either let the motor cool down or clean out the buildup. But, this manual one handles many pounds of meat without any issues! We also use it to stuff casings for bratwursts and that is also way easier than doing it with the electric one. Definitely a good choice for up to several pounds of meat. Manuel labor is involved but because it goes more quickly and smoothly, it is worth it. Haven't tried a commercial electric meat grinder or stuffer, but compared to typical home appliances, this is preferred.

This is a wonderful grinder for home use. The body, handle are stainless steel, the dies and cutter are carbon steel and need to be cleaned and dried or will rust but this is the correct metal for the dies/cutter. The stuffing tubes are a sturdy plastic in 3 sizes. I will be using this for the rest of my life and hope it gets passed on to someone in my family who will appreciate and use it !! Well worth the cost, and I was able to stuff and link Italian sausages all by myself, I thought I might need extra hands for the stuffing part, but I tried it alone before calling in help and I had no problem at all. I even pre-loaded the other stuffing tubes with casings so all I had to do was feed the casings from the tubes I wasn't using to stuff with onto the tube I already had attached and loaded when I needed more casings. I will be ordering more tubes just so I can have more pre-loaded if I make a larger batch. Though I haven't gone through the 9 pounds I made yet.

Got it faster than I thought i would. It was an easy set up just to try it out. It clamped down on my table very good and tightly. With a little bit of patience and some shoulder work, I was able to grind up two entire deer front shoulders and legs into hamburger meat, bag them up and freeze them for later. A very sturdy, very heavily made unit, much like the one my grandmother used in the 70's when I lived with her. My grandson had a blast helping me process the meat and soon wore himself down like I did at his same age. A short note for those who may have issues with a hand grinder like this one.. patience and determination do this job. Do not crank fast and hard, you'll only prolong the job. Slow and steady does much more at a much higher output rate than fast and hurried. Be sure and tighten the end cover a couple of times while using it. (If you can't feel the blade, it's too loose.) Clean up was less than 5 minutes using a round bottle brush in hot water with dishsoap.

A few of the boys and I had a session making , venison, bison, elk and lamb sausages. I used this sausage maker and they used an electric gadget. This machine was just as fast and will be around a lot longer. A GOOD MACHINE !!

Works very well on my polymer clay. Revamped 18 year old super sculpey, and the firm stuff too. Gotta have enough depth for the clamp to hold on. Tends to slip if you wrench on it too hard.

I like to grind my own meat so I know what's in it. This little machine is perfect for home use. The original machine came with a piece missing, and after I reported it, another machine arrived only two days later... faster than I could send the original machine back!

Works great, very easy to clean however the things in the picture rusted the first time I cleaned the thing

Works great, I have used it a couple of times for ground beef and absolutely no problem. My only complaint, which is why it is 4 stars instead of 5 is because it sits so low. When the meat comes out you have to place a plate underneath to catch it, you can't use a bowl or anything with a higher volume. Minor complaint, well worth the money and I would have bought it again.