@knifemaker3 @Joe-Hell I’ll admit my crew tends to bang out some large quantities and I’m exclusively using tubed. At this point I don’t care what they cost, the length and quality is so much better and no messing around untangling… I’ll never go back. I salt them down with non-iodized salt when I’m done. Just dump a bunch of salt in a gallon zip lock and shake-and-bake then refrigerate. I know we had some that were well over 6 months old and they were fine. I use hog for sausage and brats, sheep for breakfast and hot dogs. You just need to find more friends to share with!

@gerhardus6 oh my… DON’T DO IT…no seriously, I know a lot of people use it. I spent years in the restaurant business making ribs in an oven with liquid smoke. The flavor of real wood just can’t be beat. Too chemically tasting… I like 2-4 hours of smoke until stick get to the cherry color I like. Then into a water bath at 170F till they reach 155F, then into ice bath, hang to dry. The key to this is make what YOU like, don’t be afraid to experiment.

@Jonathan Just got my LEM catalog and took at look last night. They are featuring a new grinding head that just longer and has 2 blades and 2 plates to get the double grind in one pass. Is Weston going to offer one? If they do, I want on the top of that list! They claim it’s been used in commercial processing for years. That would be awesome!!

@Tex_77 Look very similar to the grill grate but your’s are much more open then the grill grate. There are small hole for the drippings to get through.

@craigrice @rhjbarney I use the single adjustable patty maker to make them thin as well. I also bought a manual patty press machine, works awesome. I got the multi stack patty gizmo and I’m not a fan…could be operator error too… we freeze them on parchment paper then vacuum seal in bags of four, they lay nice and flat in the freezer that way.

@Joe-Hell We bolted the french fry cutter plate to the wall, just high enough to fit a 1 gallon cambro box under it. We diced tomatoes, onions, peppers, if it fit it went through cutter. We even did squash and zuchinni sticks, perfect 1/4" or 3/8" depending on the plate. We used Vollrath everything. We had the tomato slicer, onion slicer, lettuce chopper. Those things were bullet proof too! Just search onion witch or lettuce witch.

@Jonathon @Joe-Hell We used to dice them in a french fry cutter! makes quick work of them!

@PapaSop Nice work on the sticks, looks good!
@Joe-Hell I don’t even know what to say about all those onions…

@knifemaker3 I can tell you that if you get a vertical get the tall slender one. The short fat ones have more surface area and I think are harder to crank.
I do stuff off the grinder when we are making experimental runs in 5# or 10# batches and I have the Weston 22 with the auger and it works well. I’m not sure if you can buy it as an accessory or not, never looked but it’s surely a good solution to small batches without ever cranking.

@Joe-Hell @Tex_77 You guys tried the grill grates? Those things are awesome! Bit pricey but I throw one on top of the chimney and it rocks out the steaks.