Sharpening a Meat Grinder Knive/blade

Does anyone have any tips, web site, instructions, etc. on sharpening a meat grinder blade?

Thanks,
Donnie

 

Hello Donnie. Welcome to our Do-It-Yourself Web Site and my Sharpening Shop forum topic.

Personally and professionally, I do not know of any web sites which cover the sharpening processes for meat cutter blades. They are highly specialized single purpose blades. Being as such, they require a special jig and sharpening setup.

Since they are in some aspects very similar to saw blades, the runout diameter must be perfectly circular. If you had any saw blade sharpening equipment for carbide blades, the holding cone the blade rests on can be used.

The blade must be perfectly circular and the existing angle must be maintained. Thus the need for a jig which can be tilted or the motor head of the machine angled to match.

Lacking such, best be is to locate a sharpening shop in your area and have the blade professionally sharpened. The cost should not be too costly and very well worth the price paid.

Any attempts to do it yourself without the proper machinery is very likely to result in the blade becoming out of perfectly circular and ruin the blade. Replacement costs will than exceed the resharpening costs.

If you need further assistance, use the reply button to add any additional information or ask additional questions. Doing so will automatically move your question to the top of the forum list.

Regards and Good Luck, Sharp Advice.
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I didn't think I could just pull out a file or Arkansas Stone to do this, but it was worth a try.

I hate having to toss things out and just replace them. However one question was answered...they can be sharpened and not wasted.

Thanks for your time,
Donnie

 

I know this is an old thread, but I think its best to answer it anyway.

Sharpening the knife of a meat grinder is easy. You also need to sharpen the plate at the same time, and it is sharpened the same way BTW, I have bought several different brands of knives/plates, and they ALL need sharpening especially the plates. I have yet to get a perfectly flat plate!

First you need a hard surface that is perfectly flat. I use a 12x12 marble tile that I found at home depot. You could also use a piece of 1/4 glass or mirror, just be carefull of sharp edges! Also you will need wet/dry sandpaper, 100, 220, 3-400 grit.

The plate just needs to be sanded perfectly flat. put some water on your flat surface, then lay the 100 or 120 grit sandpaper down, then a little more water on that. The water makes the sandpaper stick to the tile, and the flat surface of the tile translates over to the plate Just lay the plate down on the sandpaper and apply even pressure, then move the plate in a figure 8 pattern. After a few minutes lift the plate and rinse it off. If you hold it at an angle you can see where you have been sanding. You want to keep sanding until you see an even coverage of sanding marks on the entire plate. Once that is done, move up to a finer grit and do it again. I go all the way down to 800 grit to get a very shiney surface, but 600 is good enough.

The knife is done the same exact way. I suppose you should try to sharpen the angled part of the blade... but just honing the bottom has always gotten them more than sharp enough to grind well.

 

I didn't invent this technique, but read about it in a brief note in a 1984 Popular Mechanix magazine. (volume 80, according to Google Books)

The author had a picture of one of the cute little Universal grinders with the curved cutters, and the following text:

"There was nothing wrong with this meat grinder that a good cutter sharpening wouldn't fix. The concave shape makes it impossible to sharpen conventionally, but this can be done effectively with a grinding compound. These compounds are available at industrial-type hardware stores or auto supply stores. It's a mixture of abrasive particles suspended in grease. I used grade 1-A (320 grit). Apply compound to the cutter face then install the cutter and rotate the crank backward until edges are sharp. Clean off all traces of the compound."

The key word is BACKWARD. I dry the sharpened and washed cutters with a hair dryer or in a very low oven.

Permanently matching a cutter blade/plate combination is a good idea if you can manage it. Buying stainless blades and plates is another if you can afford it - they're pretty pricey.