On one of my thrifting excursions, I happened upon this bad lawrence for $3.
Taken in by its chrome plated iron glory, I was all like “That thing is majorly diesel! Totally made to last forever! I could really *use* this!” And snapped it up, so happy with my excellent find.
I got home, clamped it onto the old kitchen table.
Then I ground some meat in it.
Little bits of grey meat kept making its way into the mix. At first, I figured it was something to do with the meat, and picked it out. Upon closer inspection, it would appear that the metal through which the meat is extruded is not iron, has corroded over time, and was grinding itty bitty pieces of metal into my meat. I’m not sure if that’s a major health problem or whatever, but at the very least the idea of gritty metal between my masticating molars is extremely unpleasant.
Consider this an official Omnomicon PSA, brought to you by Aleta Meadowlark and associates.
Free advice is the best thing to come out of the internet since the internet.
So…grassy ass and I’m sorry for your lost $3.
My first thought when I read the part that says ‘grey meat’ was “oh, gross… there were bits of 40 year old meat stuck in that thing,” I was slightly less grossed out to find it was *just* paint chippings. Not… that I would want to eat those…
ho man. .. your posts always make me laugh. 🙂 hah!
I’m with Allie, my first thought was about petrified meat bits in the works…
Something similar happened to a turkish coffee grinder (which ground pepper for me) that lived (along with me) in my sailboat…corrosion happens, often.
BOOOOOOO man I would have been so excited about that thing too! Total bummer 🙁
Bummer. It still looks cool, though. Perhaps it could be reborn as decoration?
Thank heavens. I’m glad the good folks at Omnomicon and Associates are keeping an eye out for us and preventing the intake of metal shards. Holy crap, that’s a frightening food experience. That thing should have come with a big sticker slapped on it, advertising Jagged Metal O’s
Shoulda eaten it… why waste good rust?
To clean a meat grinder you run bread through it.
by “thrifting” i assume you mean you purchased a meat grinder at a thrift store? welllllll theres not much i can say other than you just cant buy certain things at thrift stores and feel good about it later, like second hand underwear. im just suprised the previous owner managed to get all the human flesh out of it before casting it off on the step of the thrift store.
Holy cow I just had a serious flashback to when I was little. My mom has one of those heavy duty things- but the difference is she probably got it when it was the “latest” thing… not as an awesome find years later…
OMG I have that exact model from my Grandma. Box & all but it never rusted & I still use it to this day. I think it’s the way it’s stored that keeps it from rusting. They need to be oiled once in a while
What a shame it doesn’t work anymore! Over here in Australia, we call them spongs, I’ve got my Grandmother’s/Grandfathers – he was a butcher too 🙂
Wow I have one of these, it was my mom’s and maybe her mom’s–still works great, perfect for ham salad the day after Easter! Mine isn’t losing pieces of iron or paint or gray meat into my ham though! Thank goodness!