Why are you cutting or grinding scraps? Just toss them in and let them compost.

It's possible that I've used the my hand-crank meat grinder for compostable materials when it happened to be out anyway, though I can't say for certain. I can attest that what it does to vegetables will make some good quick-composting stuff.

Like lazygardens said, though, you really don't need to cut things up at all if you don't want to, because everything will compost eventually.

I pretty much only cut up things if I have a large quantity of large-ish stuff that won't compost quickly. For instance, if I've just juiced several oranges (food processor), or if I've just pulled all of the squash vines out of the garden at the end of the season (lawn mower), or long-stemmed cut flowers (scissors). Otherwise, I don't bother.

However, if you're really committed to grinding up your stuff before you compost it, I think a hand-crank meat grinder would do the job nicely. You'll develop some nice biceps while you're at it, too. :-)

Fruits and vegetables are about 80% water, and decompose quickly. Peels and cores contain less water, but are still pretty watery...

I do like your idea though. Elbow grease and fuel-less tools are best for composting, healthwise.

If you feel the need to grind them and you want to save electricity... go ahead.

I don't chop up my veggie scraps any more than was necessary to prepare the meal or get them to fit into the compost pail.

If you are in a hurry, go ahead.

I know a meat grinder can grind pickles, celery and onion.
My mom used to make sandwich spread with a meat grinder, that was ground up bologna, pickles, celery, onion. She would let us crank the wheel while she fed the items into the top. We weren't allowed to put the stuff in, for fear we would grind our fingers off.

It is true the smaller the items the faster compost will happen and years ago when I first started I was obsessed with chopping everything. Welcome to the club!!!! Most of us have been them. Shoot I would use a blender on my scraps when I first started out. :-)

Now, I have to agree with the others to just put them in the pile and it will decompose really quick. IMHO things do decompose much quicker if I spread my scraps in a thin layer as opposed to leaving them in a pile before covering with browns.

What I find speeds the composting is chopping up the browns, my oak leaves take much longer to break down them my greens ever do. However, over time I have even stopped shredding them also and just letting "time" work its magic on my pile.

Best of Luck....

Here's a page listing % water content of fruits and vegetables. It surprises me every time.

Here is a link that might be useful: water content fruits vegetables

You can try a garden edger for large grassy compost.

http://www.gardenweasel.com/edger.html

The only thing that might need to be ground up are the potato peelings. Some of mine are still sitting there, don't know what I did wrong, but they need to go.

You can also use a slicer like what you would use to slice vegetables.

http://www.cutleryandmore.com/details.asp?SKU=7733&src=NexTag&cam=Products&kw=7733

I use one for produce. It is so that my worms can process it faster.

Is there any evidence that worms need that? I mean...I never ground stuff for mine; I suppose I never gave them an entire orange to digest, but I always wondered if it really matters. It's like we're cutting their food for them.

After reading about worm mouths, I guess it helps.