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Suppose, your dog loves bone broth, and that’s why you use your meat grinder frequently for grinding the bones. But for excessive use, you see that the blades and plates of grinder have become blunt. Also, the blades and plates are smeared with bones and could not grind the bones properly. As the chances of finding new blades are low in a shop, we need to take care of them. And if you know how to sharpen meat grinder blades, you can easily save some money.
So, if you want to know how to sharpen the blades, you have come to the right place. No worries! This article will enrich you with all the proper techniques to sharpen meat grinder blades.
Let’s get started!
Table of Contents
What Components Need Sharpening?
Without knowing the processes or the machine correctly, don’t rush to any step. Meat grinders are complicated, and if you have ever possessed and operated one, you should have a good knowledge of its system. There are two components that need to be sharpened:
For the plate, we need to flatten it. And for the blades, there are four surfaces that require sharpening. We need to get rid of the scratches of plates and blades.
How Can You Disassemble Your Meat Grinder?
Here are the steps to disassemble your meat grinder:
- Choose a tool which is compatible with the grinder fastener you have and remove the blades of the grinder.
- Please keep in mind the order in which the blades were set up. This will assist you in assembling the machine without any fault.
- If the blades do not come with numbers, place them on a paper and mark each with a specific number.
- Please clean the blades and plates properly with a wet cloth before sharpening it.
Now proceed further.
3 Techniques To Sharpen Meat Grinder Blades
There are actually a lot of conventional processes to sharpen your meat grinder’s blades. But it depends on what components you have and in which process you feel comfortable.
We are giving you some options for sharpening. You can choose from them according to your needs and preference.
1. Using Sandpaper
Arrange The Components You Need
You’ll need the following components :
- A pair of safety workman gloves
- 600 and 120 grit sandpaper
- A 12×12” mirror or glass sheet
- scrape paper
- screwdriver
- nose pliers
- water
Prepare Your Working Place
Now, place the glass sheet on a robust flat surface. The glass sheet needs to be flawless. Now dampen a small cloth or handkerchief by water and wipe the surface with the cloth. Make sure that the surface is just damp and don’t have any excess water. Now place the 120 grit sandpaper on the glass sheet. The water helps the paper to stick to it.
Procedure:
- Firstly, safety should be the #1 priority. Wear your workman’s gloves or you will have an unpredictable accident. This gloves will keep your hand safe and give a firmer grip.
- Now before sharpening your blades, examine the sharpness of the blades by slicing a piece of paper. This will give you a perception of how much time you need and the amount of bluntness of the blades.
- Now push the blade on to the sandpaper at a 45-degree angle and proceed it on the surface of the sandpaper in a circular or figure eight motion. This will ensure you how uniformly the surfaces of the blades are sharpened.
- Carry on this process at least 10 times or until your desired sharpness is achieved.
- After completing this process, get a damp cloth and wipe out the particles that were produced during the previous steps.
- If you want more smoothness on the surfaces, use 600 grit instead of 120 grit and cut it according to the size of the glass sheet.
- Now continue the whole process again. That means to push the blade on to the sandpaper at a 45-degree angle and move it on the surface of the paper in a circular or figure eight motion. This time the smoothness of the blade will be higher.
Wash It And Give It A Try
After finishing the sharpening process, give the blade a quick rinse under lukewarm water to get rid of the excess particles on it. Now let the blade dry and then assemble the grinder. Now examine if the sharpness or the efficiency has increased. To do that, grind a scrap paper and compare it with the previous sharpness.
You can check the sharpness by grinding meats. If the meats clog and don’t come out consistently, you have to re-sharpen the blade.
2. Use A Sharpening Stone
You can use any sharpening stone to sharpen meat grinder blades. Here, we are using diamond stones because they are durable, water and oil resistant. It will lessen the hassle.
Here are the steps:
- Pick a stone: It is important to choose a fine or extra-fine gritstone. Choose a coarse stone when necessary. You can use a 600 gritstone and continue the scrubbing process to give a mirror polish on the blade.
- Sharpen the blade: Put the stone on a stable surface and pick your blade. Now, sharpen the blades in a back and forth motion. You can do it in a circular motion. You can continue this process for 10 times or as much sharpness as you need. If all the scratches are cleaned, you can stop. If not, continue sharpening.
3. Using A Knife Sharpening System
This system includes two ceramic sharpening stones with an approximate size that generally goes for all kinds of plates and blades. Again, you can find different sizes. The process is as follows:
- Soak the stones in water for 3-5 minutes.
- Gently assemble the grinder with the proper stone.
- Attach the rings and keep them slightly loose.
- Turn your grinder on for 3-5 seconds.
- Turn off and repeat the process for both sides.
- When you have finished this process, rub the blades on cardboard to remove the burr.
- Now you can enjoy grinding.
Let’s watch a video of Knife Sharpening
Is Flattening The Meat Grinder’s Plates The Same As Blades?
Yes, we have told it earlier. We actually flatten them, not sharpen them. It is quite simple. The easiest way is to use sandpaper. We have said how you can sharpen the blades with sandpaper. The process is the same.
Here is a nice tip. If you mark the surface, you can easily find out how much the plates are flattened as the mark will be removed.
Precautions And Maintenance
- You need to sharpen both sides of the blades and plates.
- By coloring the blades with a black marker, you can know the smoothness of the surface.
- Please be careful if there is any rust on the blades. Keep the blades clean, and a little elbow grease will remove the rust.
- If you possess a commercial grade meat grinder, we recommend you not to sharpen the blades at your home. It will be risky and cost you a lot of time. So do it outside and paying money for it is a sensible choice.
Conclusion
The blades and plates of a meat grinder could become worn down. Sharpening the components will deliver you a good result and prevent smearing and jamming. If you sharpen the blades, it will make meat grinding much easier. Also, it improves the efficiency of the grinder.
By following the above mentioned tips on how to sharpen meat grinder blades, you don’t need to go outside and waste your time.
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