ADIDAS

SpaceCase, Sharpstone, Trueblendz, Mendo Mulcher, Mix N Ball. Please feel free to add to the list if I am forgetting one.

I owned a SpaceCase, so Ill give my reviews on it.

SpaceCase Medium Grinder:
A top of the line, metal grinder. No bud is too sticky for this metallic beast. Even vacuum sealed, super compressed chronic didnt stand a chance against the SpaceCase. Kief production was very good, not too small to never gain enough kief, but not too big to maintain the purity of the kief. There are always plenty listed on ebay, gratefulbuys has been great to work with in the past. Ive ordered 3 off of him, long story haha.

Drawbacks:
-Price, of course. I believe I paid about $75 off of ebay for mine.
-Cant put any bud in the middle of the grinder, where the magnet is. Itll be the same case with all other magnetic grinders, just something that bothers me.
-Finish scratches easily. While this doesnt effect the functionality whatsoever, it creates a less cosmetic appeal after few uses.

These are all factory images, not mine.

Space Case

Very nice, shiny finish. It scratches pretty easily.

Very quality. Notice all the holes and how sharp the teeth are. Lastly, the screen section is all screen with tall walls.

TrueBlendz

Similar design to the spacecase, although the teeth and hole spacing are a bit different. Notice that the walls of the screen are angled, might be a gathering spot for kief?

Sharpstone

The outside holes of the grinder are longer, not sure why...?

Lightning bolt shaped teeth, no idea what thatll do to some bud.

Nice screen, covers the whole section.

Mix N Ball

The only place Ive seen it advertised, also include multiple screens for different purities of kief. Neat.

Mendo Mulcher

Notice the ring around the screen. Possible place for kief to build up?

Lots of slim, smoother teeth. Apparently shreds quite nicely.

Submit your reviews on your high quality metal grinder.

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Vicki

I have a Space Case (generic) stainless steel, medium grinder. I've had it for almost 4 years now, and it's great. I can soak it in alcohol, clean it with a toothbrush, and it looks like brand new again. I do this every so often. Good to keep the screen clean.

I think I paid 45.00 for it up in Indiana at a place called Karma Records. I don't think I was ripped off because it has given me years of use at a small price, really.

Sticky buds do tend to get stuck, and that bothers me a little. My grinder has no magnet, so I can fit more buds into it.

I really love it, and I know I'll have it for many more years. It is a quality grinder.

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ADIDAS

Thanks Vicki!

I just want to note that the Mendo Mulcher seems to be discontinued from what I can find. Anybody have any information on that?

Buzzby

I'm going to keep a close eye on this thread because I'm in the market for a better grinder than the one that came free with my VaporWarez vape. Before I started the thread about the problem I was having with sticky bud getting stuck (Grinder Tech Question) I had assumed that all metal grinders were basically the same.

I've had two grinders in my life. I never felt a need for one until I started vaping a couple of years ago. The first one was beautiful hardwood with a Sanskrit "OM" character carved in the top. Unfortunately, it didn't grind worth a damn. Instead of sharp teeth, it had patterns of steel pins. When I got the freeby with the vape, it was such an improvement that I thought "It can't get any better than this". It's four-part and superficially resembles a SpaceCase, but now I'm thinking that subtle aspects of design might be pretty important to the way a grinder functions.

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SpiralArchitect

Vicki, if you have a generic Space Case, it probably has no where near the quality or 'precision' as a traditional name brand Space Case. I'm not being nitpicky, I am being honest and just want to clarify for those who are reading this. All in all, it is probably unnoticeable different from a Space Case, but it is still just a generic grinder.

There are hundreds of generic grinders out there, many imitating popular brands like Space Case, Sharp Stone, Mendo Mulcher, TrueBlendz and Mix'N'Ball. These 5 names here are the only brand name grinders I know, and I have heard individual things about each of them.

I personally am an owner of the Mendo Mulcher. I have no idea if it is discontinued, but you can find some on Ebay at a very reasonable price (Almost the same that I paid years ago, but still cheaper than most anything else you'll get). The thing is - you aren't compromising for saving a few bucks, your making an investment - in your next sack!

In all honesty, the Mendo Mulcher is great. Here are some pictures I took for a more in depth review;

First off, the teeth;




I have yet to see a grinder with such great teeth. Usually you can tell where they 'drilled' out the metal or whatever, but on the Mendo Mulcher it is almost flawless. As you can see the teeth are rounded, this makes less surface area for resistance and makes the teeth shred right through any herb.

Also, their is no 'kief collection' in my teeth. I fucking hate that!!!As you can tell though, there is a lot of residue built up - thing is I haven't cleaned it in at least 6 months, and I smoke a lot, so as you can tell almost everything goes down the holes.

Next, the middle and bottom section;



The middle has a very nice screen. I have seen other screens in grinders and they always seem to bend, or warp if pressure is applied. I have seen some really chinsy screens too. This screen is very fine, and if you notice that grey ring around it - the screen is actually replaceable. I have yet to figure out how, but I assure you it wouldn't be that hard, I'd assume the thing just pops out when you really need it to.

The bottom has no rounded edges, which is a blessing in itself. Rounded edges tend to make the kief 'climb' up the sides of the grinder base wall and you usually end up losing some in the process as they are caught in the threads, or spill over the edge. A very minute amount, but still...

Kief production;



As you can tell the kief is very pure. Very little plant material, in another thread I had posted some kief to show how well it works and it wasn't as blonde as this, it has some plant material but it was good kief (and alot, I barely ground up a bowl or two from that).

I got that much kief, after only grinding, I didn't even shake the grinder aside from moving it around as I opened it.

But how does it work?





Well, as you can see here it produces a VERY consistent texture and consistence of herb. The little pieces of herb are broken up (which I prefer, some prefer them intact for some reason).

You can compare it here to the rather inconsistent ground up herb of a generic Space case I received with my Vapor Warez

The generics teeth;


You can't really see it in the picture, but I guarantee Buzzby, and Vicki can agree with me - that the generic grinder that came with the Vapor Warez (Which I am probably assuming correctly, that we all have the same one) often collects kief in the teeth. I hate this, its probably the one thing I hate most about grinders. I don't know if it is the magnet, the metal, the finish or design but kief tends to 'stick around' to the teeth and interior walls of the grinding apparatus.

My guess is that the holes are not drilled all the way up to the wall of the grinding part, see how the holesa are about a centimeter away from the metal wall? It appears the Mendo Mulcher and Space case the only ones that actually do... How odd!

edit: I would like to clarify one thing, after looking at the pictures ADIDAS edited in I noticed that the inside of the grinder on that Mendo Mulcher seems a little different than mine, I have the 3 inch model. The outside ridges are more defined, I am assuming that is just a smaller grinder. Unsure really, just wanted folks to know...

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Buzzby

The free four-piece grinder that came with my VaporWarez has its holes drilled half a millimeter from the wall.

Today I finally located an unused soldering flux brush in my tool locker. It works great for cleaning the stuck stuff off the teeth and out of the holes. It only takes a few seconds, as opposed to a couple of minutes using my dental tool, and it does a better job. These brushes cost 19¢ at Home Depot, so I think I'll put off spending $70 on a large Mendo Mulcher.

ADIDAS

GREAT review Spiral. I wish I couldve done the same before I tragically departed with it, but unfortunately that wasnt in the plan of my nemisis hahah. Ill at least edit in a manufacturers pic.

One thing Id like to ask about the Mendo Mulcher. Does the ground up weed fall on top of the grey ring holding the screen in place, or is it threaded to the inside of it? That seems like it would be a bit of a burden, as you notice the SpaceCase is all screen...

Vicki

Spiral, my grinder looks just like that, with teeth just as sharp. I need to get a pic of it up sometime.

SpiralArchitect

Well, of course weed falls on top of it. And yes you can see that the space case is 'all screen'.

In reality tho, on the Space Case all they did was take metal, 'bend' it, you can see how it has a downward curvature/angle to cover up the 'grey' part you see in the Mendo.

Truth be told, it doesn't affect anything. If it hurts your eyes, then go with a different model but you can't replace the screens with those - and what good is a kief grinder with no screen?

If you take a look at the picture I posted comparing the consistency of the ground up herbs, look again. Do you see how on the free, generic, chinsy grinder that there are large amounts of kief and crystals stuck to the interior wall of the 'bud collecting' section. They literally stick to the wall. You have a similar problem with the Mendo Mulcher, but a tiny brush usually does the trick. Thing about the Mendo is usually the kief is much more easier to move off the plastic than the metal, the kief tends to stick to the metal in my cheap grinder.

I am also going to point out the Mendo Mulchers finish. I don't know how many fancy grinders I have seen that are scratched to fuck because of a shiny, clear, smooth surface. The Mendo Mulcher has tiny ridges, I believe it something like Airplane metal finish or something, I dunno, don't quote me onthat - but It literally has NO scratches on it besides a nick here and there, whereas grinders with fine finishes get scratched to fuck and look like shit. This is one durable grinder.

Sure, but there probably isn't a need. I'm safely betting that we have the same exact grinder, as well as Buzzby and anyone else who got a free grinder with their Vapor Warez.

Well, it really can get better than that, kind of. A grinder is a grinder, and in reality the only thing that matters is it works to your liking. I love my Mendo Mulcher, but I could see why others would prefer a different model (especially since Mendos are so hard to find it seems). Subtle designs do make a difference, but usually its a rather minuscule difference, I wouldn't consider them as inherent benefits/disadvantages, just different.

Buzzby

Now you've got me wondering if it's worth replacing my free grinder with one that costs $60 - $70. My only real complaint about the free one is that some of the ground-up material sticks in the upper chamber and in the holes to the second chamber. I've been using a dental tool to get the stuck stuff out. I was looking at a vape site and noticed that they were selling brushes to clean out grinders and the brushes look exactly like the ones I use to put flux on copper plumbing before I solder it. I've got a bunch of new ones, so I'll try one on the grinder the next time I use it and post back here. That might be all I need and the brushes cost next to nothing at Home Depot.