chippewa I’m quite sure the brass washer is the original thrust washer for the vintage they didn’t use nylon back then. The brass will get polished up while doing it’s job. I’m sure a nylon one will work fine if it’s the same thickness.

We followed the process that Walton has in their learning center for making ring bologna. We used The waltons ring bologna mix along with the red salt and cold phosphate, mixed for 10 minutes in the mixer, followed their schedule for smoking except that we doubled the cooking time between raising temperatures. We use medium hickory smoke for about 4 hours but did not raise the temperature in a smoker to more than 160°. after this we removed it from the smoker and finished it in 180deg water until it reached 160°. At 160 degrees we immediately removed it and put it in ice water for about 20 minutes and then set it out on the counter to dry for a couple hours before refrigerating and then vacuum packing to go in the freezer We have made this before and it seems that finishing in hot water is the fastest and best solution. We have also found out the hard way that is important to mix it vigorously for 8 to 10 minutes. If it is not mixed enough your meat will be grainy. If you like good meat and knowing where it came from this is well worth the process.
Good luck let us know how yours turns out.

smokin greg I also built a smoker from a commercial refrigerator. I used a large electric stove burner in the bottom. It heats it with ease and it would be easy to add other if necessary.

Jonathon people from Upstate and Western New York are great and it is a beautiful place to live. But it is hard to thrive in such a oppressive environment. We have 49 other states and I’m sure that 48 of them have to be better than New York if you want to make a living.

YooperDog we were too. 30# of Italian, 20# breakfast, 15# keilbosi sausage, 2 bellies, 2 hams, 15# venison hotdogs, 20# venison bolony, 10# ham deli meat. Was a long three days only waiting for the ham to pickle until Wed. Everything turned out great so far. Freezer full!

Austin I’m with Fat Bob if it’s going to be a voting thing

SupplySergeant me too but we’ll use more bacon then do the rest of the hog.

Kmucker I have tried my best to get the pics to work but no luck. I guess I’ll stick to processing meat.
Smoked 60# of bacon today, processed 65# of ham for sandwich meat into 6" casings and got them in the cooker, and injected 6 20# hams and got them in brine with Waltons brown sugar cure and my wife’s spice mix. They will be ready for smoke on Sunday.
A lot of work but will be good eating for the next several months!

Jonathon we were in Arkport, a one light town in the southern tier. We farmed pruducre and had a retail farm store with a deli and bakery for 43yrs. We bought our bacon and deli meat from John Martin in Stevens PA. Martin’s have all high quality stuff. Some weeks my wife would slice 500# of bacon a week. We got tired of employees and NY regs so we quit and moved to Fla but we miss the JFM meats so we are learning to do our own now and are enjoying it. We grow a large garden almost year around and produce almost all of our food and meats.
Thanks again for your help

It keeps the moisture in the product. It is not necessary but makes a huge difference.