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. :-)

If it has never been used it has a factory oil coating. Needs a good cleaning with a degreaser. Most good dish soap should work. Hot, hot, water. My manual i run through the dishwasher but it is stainless. The grinding plate is not and needs oiling for storage. I always run something cheap through mine before every use...collard stems or a big carrot. The end of celery or an onion root end, a potato. I've even run leftover rice through. (Also a good way to start the cleaning process after grinding.) The time it sat may have reacted with the pot metal if it is not stainless. (?) If you have a KitchenAid the Chef'sChoice grinder works really well. We just use that one for burgers and small projects. If you are just grinding once a year it may take some time needing to cut up your meat so small but it does work really well. And no creepy oil residue. We just upgraded to good elec, a #22. It was expensive but it handles larger cuts and we use it about once a month. (we make our own dog food) For about 5 yrs we had a cheap one and it did ok and surprised it lasted so long but that puppy was loud and took a long time having a smaller feed tube. We had to cut up everything to smaller bits. I also hated that it was China made and finally died. The stem stripped out and would no longer hold in the gear box. Our manual is also a #22 and works really well but it is a bit of a work out. I do like that it can go in the dishwasher. It was an emergency purchase when our other one pissed out but will have a good home at our vacation home where we have many manual appliances. (power outages are common). I've ordered supplies from a few sites but not often enough to recommend. I can get casings for sausage in my neighborhood grocery meat butchers. My grinders from Amazon.

Arley -- I have a CORONA CORN MILL for coarse milling (you can adjust the grind from fine to coarse), and two other hand mills (noted below) that will also do coarse milling. I teach classes on home milling and that's why I've accumulated all these mills over the years. I also have a Marga Flaker Mill for milling flakes and some coarse milling (it has 3 different settings but can NOT do corn - only grains), and a Nutrimill (for fine flour). FAMILY GRAIN MILL: You can't (repeat, can NOT) mill popcorn and flint corn ("Indian" corn), chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) or tapioca pearls with a Family Grain Mill, but you CAN mill dent (field) corn. WONDER Jr. DELUXE MILL is another great little mill you should take a look at. It will mill all types of corn (popcorn, flint and dent) using the stone head (adjustable to grind desired). It will also mill tapioca pearls with the stainless steel burrs. You have a little more variety with this mill since it has both stone heads and stainless steel burrs. You can even mill peanut butter with roasted peanuts, almonds for making almond flour, coffee beans, flax, and the tiny things like teff and amaranth that a lot of mills can't mill into flour. I also have a Porkert Seed Mill for tiny seeds and oily seeds (flax, poppy). Not all mills can mill oily seeds. If I could only keep one mill out of my bevy of them, I would have to pick the Wonder Jr. Deluxe Mill (http://pleasanthillgrain.com/wonder-junior-deluxe-grain-mill - be sure to check prices on-line, they can vary quite a bit). It will do everything from fine to coarse flour. You can also mill with it using either the optional large pully system powered by a variety of power systems (including a stationary bike), or an optional adapter and an electric/battery powered drill, if you don't want to mill by-hand only. I had the Whisper Mill, which is now the Wonder Mill (electric micronizer mill), and it was a real workhorse for fine flour, but after years of great service it met with a horrible kitchen accident and went to "appliance heaven". I replaced it with a Nutrimill because it has a few features the (electric) Wonder Mill doesn't have, but neither of these mills will mill coarse flour you are looking for.

the shaft in the front I believe is made to turn counter clockwise. Try taking a wrench or pliars to turn the shaft clockwise (backwards) to free the spoon