Terrible trouble

[Papist]

I have tried several times but I can't seem to grind pork butt. I grind beef just fine. But there is something in that pork that is clogging my grinder. There is some membrane or some string of tendon or something that runs through it. Is there a trick to butchering it? Being a beginner I just buy the butt and cut it into cubes (like I do with beef) and run it through. But it won't work. And when I have to disassemble and scoop the pork out, even thought it is ground, the string or clump or whatever it is, is in there......all clumped.

[Mohalk]

Welcome.
It sounds like there may be several things here. While cutting the pork try to remove as much as the connective tissue you can. You are not grinding the pork par-frozen, you want the pork close to frozen to where it is stiff but not completely hard. Also you may have a dull blade in the grinder.

Al

[the chorizo kid]

I do the pork exactly the way you do without any trouble, so I suspect it is a blade problem. I use either a cheap motor grinder or a small hand grinder depending on the amount of the pork. however, now that I think of it, I always use the coarse 3/8" or larger plates.

[johngaltsmotor]

I've seen the same but typically only when the pork isn't cold enough to start, especially if you separate the fat, I grind the fat nearly frozen.
As you've already guessed, when you trim the butt from the bone make sure you cut out any tendons. The little bit of meat you'll save isn't worth the aggravation.
If you do a double grind where the first is very coarse (1/2") then even if the tendon wraps around the backside of the blade it won't affect throughput as much. Then when you change to a finer grind you'll have eliminated the problem bits.