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Rocking-Stool Churn: Rock the Churn, the Dashers Ride With It
A churn worked by a dasher or crank needs a strong arm for half an hour.
Enoch Thomas of Harrisonburg, Virginia, received US 753, dated 30 May 1838, for a rocking churn: a rectangular or curved churn of tin or wood fastened on a stool with four legs resting on rockers, two dashers "perforated with holes, or ... made in the form of a balustrade" set in grooves so they move with it, and a vent or wire gauze over the opening. "A small child or adult may then rock the churn as an amusement, and the butter will be quickly produced."
This rung works out the rocking pace, then prints the perforated dashers and gauze vent, builds the churn on a rocking stool, and makes butter.
Beginner
About 3 hours, plus printing
Instructions
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Butter yield and rocking pace
Butter yield and rocking pace
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
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The churning it does
The churning it does
The embedded blueprint makes butter by agitating cream. Thomas lets rocking do the agitating.
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Read US 753
Read US 753
"Among the many advantages which my churn possesses over others is, that it gathers the butter sooner and more easily than any other churn. This cannot be done, however, so well with dashers immovable. They must be taken out in order to collect the butter and one inserted in the middle."
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Print the dashers and vent
Print the dashers and vent
Print two perforated dashers (/uploads/blueprints/rocking-stool-churn-dasher.stl) and the gauze vent (/uploads/blueprints/rocking-stool-churn-vent.stl). Print in PLA at 0.2 mm layers, 30 % infill, 4 walls; wash before first use.
Materials for this step:
PLA Filament1 pieceTools needed:
FDM 3D Printer5
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Make the churn
Make the churn
Take a food-safe storage box about 180 × 90 × 110 mm. Glue pairs of plywood strips inside both sides at one and two thirds of its length as grooves for the dashers. Cut a 26 mm hole in the lid and press the vent into it.
Materials for this step:
HDPE Storage Container1 piece
Plywood Sheet1 piece
Silicone Sealant1 pieceTools needed:
Coping Saw
Hole Saw Kit
Cordless Drill6
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Build the rocking stool
Build the rocking stool
Make a plywood stool top the size of the box on four legs 50 mm long, and screw two rockers cut to a 400 mm radius across the legs. Strap the box to the top.
Materials for this step:
Plywood Sheet1 piece
Hardwood Block1 piece
#8 x 1" Wood Screw1 pieceTools needed:
Coping SawCordless Drill
Drill Bit Set
Screwdriver Set7
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The build in 3D
The build in 3D
FreeCAD model of this build, not of the patent: the churn box with two perforated dashers in grooves, the lid with its gauze vent, and the stool on rockers.
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Rock and gather
Rock and gather
Let 500 ml of heavy cream stand until it reaches about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer. Pour it in, fit the lid and rock steadily; time until the butter comes. Then take both dashers out, set one in the middle, and rock slowly to gather it, as he did. Pour off the buttermilk, add cold water, churn a few turns and pour off again until it runs clear; work in a pinch of salt and weigh the butter.
Materials for this step:
Heavy Cream500 ml
Coarse Sea Salt1 piece
Water1 pieceTools needed:
Leave-In Probe Thermometer
Stopwatch
Digital Kitchen Scale
Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl (Large)9
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A churn that tips, splashes or will not come
A churn that tips, splashes or will not come
Rocking-stool churn troubleshooting.
Flow
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History and honest limits
History and honest limits
**Enoch Thomas** of Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia, received US 753, dated 30 May 1838. If the churn is small, one dasher may suffice; the lid may be left off for air, or the top made flat and covered with wire gauze to keep out flies; the churn is easily cleaned by pouring off the buttermilk, throwing in water and rinsing. He claimed the gauze covering.
**Honest limits.** A storage box and printed dashers stand in for his tin or wooden churn. FDM prints hold food in their layer lines, so wash well and replace when worn. Your times and weights are the result.
Materials
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Tools Required
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Design Files
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