Project Information
My daughter asked for a cheese press for Christmas. So I went searching on the web and found a picture of something that looks like this.
It's a wooden frame with a series of pegs that allow you to move the paddle up and down and press the curds that you hope will become chese in a future time.
it seems that the harder you press the curds then the harder the cheese becomes. So if you want soft cheese you don't press it so hard, but if you want well aged cheddar cheese you go to the store. They estimate 1 lb of cheese for 1 gallon of milk so you do the math.
This is made out of Cherry. I select that wood because I had some boards that were almost totally white on one side and cherry color on the other. in my mind a great choice for a non furniture item.
The dowel pegs are 3/8" Oak dowels with some Texas Ebony glued on the end and turned to give a knob effect to remove them when necessary.
The arm can be started at the top and pressed down to remove the Whey and them remove a dowell and replace it above the press arm repress it down.
I've seen pictures where someone has tied a 20lb weight from a weight set to keep the pressure on the cheese.
They haven't determined what the mold is going to be but I could see a 4" plastic pipe with holes in it to allow the liquid to drain out. It could also be put in the dishwasher to clean afterwards. I saw a stainless steel one advertised for $75.00. I'd go with the pipe.
The glue joints are all reinforced with Stainless screws
It's about 6" wide, 16" tall and the arm is 18" long. 7/8" thick Cherry.
I thought of the third one but it's not made of wood.
Updated 2/16/2014
Well I got a birthday present today s block of cheese made from this cheese press. My daughter used a can with both ends cut out to hold the curds and then pressed it.
This would be like a Cheddar cheese after its been aged. It's about 8 days old now and it's dipped in wax to keep it from drying out.
It's a wooden frame with a series of pegs that allow you to move the paddle up and down and press the curds that you hope will become chese in a future time.
it seems that the harder you press the curds then the harder the cheese becomes. So if you want soft cheese you don't press it so hard, but if you want well aged cheddar cheese you go to the store. They estimate 1 lb of cheese for 1 gallon of milk so you do the math.
This is made out of Cherry. I select that wood because I had some boards that were almost totally white on one side and cherry color on the other. in my mind a great choice for a non furniture item.
The dowel pegs are 3/8" Oak dowels with some Texas Ebony glued on the end and turned to give a knob effect to remove them when necessary.
The arm can be started at the top and pressed down to remove the Whey and them remove a dowell and replace it above the press arm repress it down.
I've seen pictures where someone has tied a 20lb weight from a weight set to keep the pressure on the cheese.
They haven't determined what the mold is going to be but I could see a 4" plastic pipe with holes in it to allow the liquid to drain out. It could also be put in the dishwasher to clean afterwards. I saw a stainless steel one advertised for $75.00. I'd go with the pipe.
The glue joints are all reinforced with Stainless screws
It's about 6" wide, 16" tall and the arm is 18" long. 7/8" thick Cherry.
I thought of the third one but it's not made of wood.
Updated 2/16/2014
Well I got a birthday present today s block of cheese made from this cheese press. My daughter used a can with both ends cut out to hold the curds and then pressed it.
This would be like a Cheddar cheese after its been aged. It's about 8 days old now and it's dipped in wax to keep it from drying out.