a few years ago i decided to start doing my own processing. a good freind of mine has done it for years and i learned some things from him. ive made it all pepperoni,summer sausage,beer dogs, jerky, smoked turkeys, cheddar dawgs, etc....its fairly easy and fun and you get exactly what you want....there is some expense though grinder, stuffer, and a good smoker..I think a guy can get it all for a 1000$ or less...My smoker is custom built 50lb capacity which is about right for the average joe..i think your investment would pay for itself in 5 years.. and faster when you start doing it for buddies...I will help anyone if they want some advice(for what its worth?)

Just got my #32 grinder with pulley in the mail yesterday. Can't wait to get it hooked up and do some grinding. I was going to start with a 3 pound lever stuffer. I am looking for a 5 pound crank.
Have you used the lever stuffers before? I made a # by 6 table, and will be putting a sheet of the white board on it.

rk43... never used a lever stuffer... i do know you want as big as stuffer as you can afford,,, i have an old 8 quart entriprise crank stuffer,, works great but a 15 quart one would be the cats meow...it takes time to load em up and when get 100 lbs pepperoni to stuff you spend alot of time loading the stuufer

OOOHHHHH!!!! the enterprise stuffers are awsome. I keep looking at estate sales for a good deal on one. Hoping someone does't know what they have. You are a lucky guy!!