New to us Enterprise Lard/Fruit Press and Sausage Stuffer

[Dawn419]

I posted about our new gem, in my journal, but wanted to post about it here also!

About a month ago, one of docs' buddies from work told him about a neat lard press he'd seen at one of the antique malls which is local to us. We broke down last week and went to see if it was still around and if it would work as a fruit press.

We checked it out, last week finally and made a down payment on it. Paid it off on Friday and brought it home for $165.00.

We mainly plan on using it as a fruit press, at this time. After doing some research, we know it's either the 6 or 8 quart size but there's not a lot of information out there in cyber-space on them, that I've found. We can and will eventually buy the stainless steel strainer plate and strainer basket for it in order to use it as a fruit press.

We are just thrilled to have added this to our homestead as there are no plastic peices/parts that will ever need replacing...it's all cast iron and very sound. This will last our life-time and then some, as she already has.

Doc's going to get in touch with a guy just up the road from us, who has a metal/machine shop and see if he can sand or bead blast it for us to clean it up. Then we'll take it to my mom's to season it in the ovens in her canning shed. Our oven in the camper is too small to do so, even if it taken apart.

If any of you have one and use it or just have information about them, I hope you'll post here!

I'll update here as we go through the tearing down, cleaning and putting her back together proccess!

 

[Wannabefree]

SO very cool Dawn!

 

[~gd]

I posted about our new gem, in my journal, but wanted to post about it here also!

About a month ago, one of docs' buddies from work told him about a neat lard press he'd seen at one of the antique malls which is local to us. We broke down last week and went to see if it was still around and if it would work as a fruit press.

We checked it out, last week finally and made a down payment on it. Paid it off on Friday and brought it home for $165.00.

http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/uploads/603_june_9_2012_005.jpg

We mainly plan on using it as a fruit press, at this time. After doing some research, we know it's either the 6 or 8 quart size but there's not a lot of information out there in cyber-space on them, that I've found. We can and will eventually buy the stainless steel strainer plate and strainer basket for it in order to use it as a fruit press.

We are just thrilled to have added this to our homestead as there are no plastic peices/parts that will ever need replacing...it's all cast iron and very sound. This will last our life-time and then some, as she already has.

Doc's going to get in touch with a guy just up the road from us, who has a metal/machine shop and see if he can sand or bead blast it for us to clean it up. Then we'll take it to my mom's to season it in the ovens in her canning shed. Our oven in the camper is too small to do so, even if it taken apart.

If any of you have one and use it or just have information about them, I hope you'll post here!

I'll update here as we go through the tearing down, cleaning and putting her back together proccess!

I HAD one that looked like that. ours had tinned steel basket But cast plates. The word "butter" on the plates Had us believing it was a butter press. The plates were the first to go. We had a 'modern' dairy with an easy clean hard surface floor. Drop a thin cast iron plate om that and they eiither cracked or shattered. About then we took on a small chain of grocery stores and he wanted 1 pound disks with the store name pressed in. He provided very nice molds/plates hand carved out of wood and his own press.
Our old press became a small cider press. I don't know id we ever seasoned the cast iron (or even if that would have helped) but the tart apple juice Pitted the press with pin holes. The tinned (not galvanized) like the old tin cans stood up well. we used it as a final strainer in the cider operation. Everything went when we lost the farm.
So I suggest that you keep an eye on the cast iron if you use it for a fruit press. ~gd

 

[Mr.Andersson]

Nice find

 

[Dawn419]

Ran across a blog article on restoring an old Enterprise and ours isn't nearly that rusted, so we may just use a wire brush and steel wool to clean her up.

The lady said that she seasoned hers to prevent it from rusting again.

Before reassembling the stuffer, I thought about how to season it so that I would never, ever have to worry about de-rusting on that scale again. I briefly considered a DIY enameling project, but decided on a simpler, classic method of seasoning: boil and oil. I dropped each piece (except the hand crank, which has a wooden handle on it) into a big pot of boiling water for a few minutes to remove any remaining rust or cast iron dust and ancient sludge (particularly on the rack screw), then popped those pieces into a 450-degree oven to dry completely. Once out of the oven and cool enough to handle (but still hot), I swabbed everything down with a vegetable oil-soaked paper towel (or Q-tips in the nooks and crannies), and popped each piece back in the oven for 20 minutes.

I'm thinking that it may be the route for us to go, too, since it is so humid here and it will be stored in the shed until we get the cabin built.

Thank you for your reply, ~gd! It was very helpful!

 

[cheepo]

very cool...find..
I am wondering..just guessing
if it would make a good cheese press...????

 

[Dawn419]

Hi cheepo!

We're wondering the same thing about using it as a cheese press. We figure we'll try it once (eventually) and find out for sure!

 

[lazyday]

Good find Dawn.....

 

[Hinotori]

That is awesome. I'm jealous!

Hubby doesn't like stopping at the flea markets and antique stores so i dont get to look for much cool old stuff.

 

[doc_gonzo]

hinotori,

i'm a vintage tool junkie, i love places like that. i guess dawn is lucky that way...... a buddy of mine at work gave me the heads up on the press, he saw it and thought i might be interested cause i talk about the wine making all the time. that thing sat there for 4 weeks after my bud mentioned it just cause it was beyond the budget until a week or so ago then the benjies were lined up and we snatched it up. funny side story, while we were oohing and ahhing over it an older fella (70+) asked us what it was i was kinda surprised , but i explained how it worked and he thought that was pretty neat that dawn and i would take such an interest in a piece of equipment that was over 80 yrs old.

doc