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. :-)

Is it large, or would it fit into a foot square box? When I was young, most families had a smaller grinder one would clamp onto a table. I have three of them now, lol. One I married into, one my folks had and one I had. My Daddy would whip it out around the holidays to grind the suet we used for plum pudding and I don't remember them using it for much of anything else other than grinding up ham for salads or maybe a chunk of lean pork for chorizo. It would have been considerably smaller than a grinder one would use when working up hogs, unless you were stuffing sausage casings for a small family and some of them even came with that attachement. Having an old, old patent date doesn't always date the appliance to that time frame, because not much changes with simple mechanical devices like that (and cherry pitters or apple corers). IOW no need for new and improved designs and patents because the old designs worked fine and there wasn't much to improve on. One can still buy small meat grinders and they are still manufactured. If you have a small family sized unit, it could have been made anytime from the patent date on and what Linda said.

Teresa, I'm glad that you are looking out for me. I think I left ample fat. My first sausage will be with your patty recipe. Earl, Thanks for chiming in with that link. Actually I have read some of your sage advice somewhere?? Kathy, I'll have to practice some more first. I'm still working on mastering my new Weber. That's going well thanks in part to Lakeguy's Grill book and other grill accessories. Annie, Thanks for the recommendation. Jim, I'll check out that link as I'm sure bare bones basics is what I need...ESPECIALLY SINCE I RUINED MY GRINDER THE FIRST DAY OUT!! Yup, I put the workings in the dishwasher. I am diligent about reading directions but in my haste to clean before grand babies came over, I didn't inform myself about cleaning the grinder.

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.