Will need
In addition to the already mentioned knives that require sharpening, we need to prepare the following materials and tools:
- table vinegar and a small container;
- several toothpicks;
- cloth napkins or waffle towel;
- sandpaper with grit 180, 240, 500, 1000 and 1500;
- laminated chipboard residue;
- construction tape, etc.
Knife sharpening process
Typically, the knives of a meat grinder that is constantly used do not require special cleaning. Therefore, before sharpening, it is enough to wash them in a washing solution, rinse with clean water, wipe with a towel and dry.
But if, for some reason, the knives are covered with rust, then it needs to be removed.To do this, place the knives in a small container and fill them with nine percent vinegar overnight.
To make the process more intensive, the mesh can be rubbed after it has been in vinegar for several hours, and the filling can be replaced with a new one. To remove rust from the holes, clean them with toothpicks.
After a night in vinegar, the mesh becomes covered with a black coating, which is removed with napkins or a waffle towel. We clean each hole with sandpaper rolled into a tube. To speed up the process, you can use a drill by holding sandpaper in the chuck, wrapped around a nail without a head.
Let's start aligning the mesh plane. To do this, glue construction tape transversely onto a laminated piece of chipboard, then remove it and lay sandpaper on the chipboard so that one of its edges falls on the place where the tape was glued. Due to the traces of adhesive remaining from the tape, the paper will not slide on the chipboard.
We start sharpening with 180-grit sandpaper, then successively move to 240, 500, 1000 and 1500, which will give an almost mirror-like shine. We sand the mesh in a circular motion, pressing it with our hand onto the paper. We repeat the same procedure with the petal knife.
When the knives are sharpened correctly, they slide over each other very tightly even without pressing. Therefore, when installing in a meat grinder, there is no need to tighten them too tightly.
After sharpening knives, some craftsmen advise passing a piece of lard through a meat grinder to lubricate the cutting edges and remove dust and dirt from them.
