I have been having issues with my snack sticks for a while now. I had been using my grinder to stuff my sticks and finally had had enough with stuffing a “meat paste” into the casings. I was in Academy Sports and saw that they had their 5# stuffer on sale for $99.00 (Now 49.99 online). It is stated in the manual that it is made by Weston Products. It has metal gears so I figured it was worth a shot. After picking it up I read some of the reviews online and most people that reviewed it complained about either not being able to stuff it and that some metal shavings dropped onto the top of the plunger. Well after reading some of those reviews I just looked at the stuffer and realized that the metal gears have been painted black. I think that some of the problems that people were having with stuffing it had to do with not having the canister and gasket lubricated. I can say that I used the LEM silicone spray and had absolutely no issues stuffing into the smallest tube into 19mm collagen casings. Before I ever cleaned the stuffer I ran the plunger all the way to the top and bottom several times. I did notice some black residue on the bar immediately underneath the gears and some black residue on the plunger. This is my only complaint about this stuffer. After a little bit of looking at this and thinking about this I realized that they painted the gears. I could see some wear showing where the gears meet. What I’m seeing is black paint flecks showing up on top of the plunger. I’m thinking that in the future I might get some sand paper and go ahead and just remove a lot of the paint in the teeth of the gears.
In short, I would recommend this stuffer. Especially at the 49.99 price they’ve got it listed on for online. See below for the pictures.
In short, I would recommend this stuffer. Especially at the 49.99 price they’ve got it listed on for online. See below for the pictures.
