Curd Cutter - Making With Wire

[Amatolman]

I'm hoping to make a batch of hard cheese in the not to distant future. I have a large ss pot to make it in but I cant afford a proper curd knife so I have been trying to think of cost effective solutions.

I was thinking stringing some fishing line between 3 dowels might work. Then i could just place the middle dowel in the center of the pot and run the outer dowel around the outer edge and I should get a uniform cut curd.

I will have to of course find a line that is safe for immersing in acidic liquid with out breaking down and releasing anything toxic.

So if anyone has any comments on why it wont work or ideas for making it better I would welcome the feedback!

[Alex]

This is a great idea. I would only suggest to make a completely closed frame, so all the wires may be tensioned.

[Amatolman]

That's a great point Alex, I would lose tension in the middle without dowel at the bottom.  Now I just have to figure what is the thinnest dowel I can use with out it flexing too much.

[BigCheese]

I am hoping to begin making my cutter today. You should really search the forum for curd cutters, there are a lot of pictures, ideas, and considerations.

Here are a few things to consider:
You do not want too small of a dowel that the tension of the wire would start to bend it.
I ordered SS trolling line from Cabela's I think I got the .18 size. It was $8-ish for 230ft.
How will you attach the wires, consider if you tie them, for example, the risk of bacteria growing in the crevices of ties.

The consensus here seems to be that putting a grid of wires (as opposed to just one direction) in one cutter is not good as it will be too much resistance pulling against the curds. I personally think it might be okay, depending on the cutter and the wire gauge.

Also, if the cutter pictured above is the only one your going to make, remember all you will get with that is like cubic rings that go around inside of the pot. From there you can cut it with a curd knife but it will be difficult to get super-even cubes because you are cutting into a bunch of rings. I hope that makes sense.

Maybe I will have a picture of my setup soon, assuming it pans out. It is going to be two pieces, one that pushes straight down into the pot and cuts columns of curds, and another to spin on the inside to cut the levels.

But I really suggest reading all the posts about curd cutters.

[Amatolman]

I am hoping to begin making my cutter today. You should really search the forum for curd cutters, there are a lot of pictures, ideas, and considerations.

Here are a few things to consider:
You do not want too small of a dowel that the tension of the wire would start to bend it.
I ordered SS trolling line from Cabela's I think I got the .18 size. It was $8-ish for 230ft.
How will you attach the wires, consider if you tie them, for example, the risk of bacteria growing in the crevices of ties.

The consensus here seems to be that putting a grid of wires (as opposed to just one direction) in one cutter is not good as it will be too much resistance pulling against the curds. I personally think it might be okay, depending on the cutter and the wire gauge.

Also, if the cutter pictured above is the only one your going to make, remember all you will get with that is like cubic rings that go around inside of the pot. From there you can cut it with a curd knife but it will be difficult to get super-even cubes because you are cutting into a bunch of rings. I hope that makes sense.

Maybe I will have a picture of my setup soon, assuming it pans out. It is going to be two pieces, one that pushes straight down into the pot and cuts columns of curds, and another to spin on the inside to cut the levels.

But I really suggest reading all the posts about curd cutters.

Wow Nitai  thanks for that great post! You gave me a lot more to think about.  Two different cutters one circle one for the vertical and one (like my original idea) for the horizontal cuts. I never though about the bacteria growth where the line is tied on, I will have to think about that . . .  would a brush and vinegar water solution  be able to take care of that?
I think if the wire gauge is low enough it should cut the curd with out tearing but I will have to do some tests.
If possible please post picture of your building processes I would love to see that.
I will check out the previous threads on the subject!

[Cartierusm]

I make professional cheese making equipment and we discussed this idea years ago and came to the conclusion that making a single cutting with cross wires as well as up and down wires on the same cutter is a bad idea. Mainly because the tests we did, the cutter required way too much pressure to move it and trying to force everything through a uniform opening damaged the curd releasing more whey than is wanted.

Don't get me wrong I'm all for experimentation and I'm in no way discouraging you just thought I'd mention the work I've done on this type of design.

[MarkShelton]

Yeah, no need to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Personally, I want to copy the design of Wayne on his curd cutter.

[Amatolman]

@Cartierusm That is exactly the kind of feed back I'm looking for. If something has been tried and didn't work then I do not need to be repeating it!

@MarkShelton Ya I saw that design. I just need to figure out how to make something like that with the materials and tools I have on hand.  I might try thin dowel and very thin stainless steel guitar strings.

[BigCheese]

Sorry I never posted pictures of the process of mine. I have taken some and will try to get them up today. The snag I ran into was connecting the stainless steel. Solution: after some hours of research and talking with people, and deep contemplation, I found a very nice local fabricator who is happy to weld my frames in trade for various dairy products! Problem solved and welded frames will be far far better than any of my other options. I am taking them to her on Mon and hoping to get them back by Wed. In the meantime it has been a lot of paneer and fromage blanc.

[Cartierusm]

As far as the wire there are generally two ways to go. First off don't use stainless guitar wire unless you have a whole bunch lying around, trust me even at $3 a string it will get way too expensive.

Look on amazon or go to a local fishing shop and buy stainless wire for fishing, it comes in different gauges and is way cheaper, you can also use stainless mig welding wire. That's really cheap when your talking about about 20 feet or so. You can't really buy that little so go to a local weld shop tell them what you're doing and see if they'll see you 20' of .023" stainless welding wire for $5. Or call up welding supply shops and see if they have any small spools or broken ones they can't sell.

[BigCheese]

Cabela's has a wide range of SS wire gauges, I got mine for $7-ish for 223 ft.

[Amatolman]

I found this:

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_8582____SearchResults


.014" DIAMETER seems pretty good.

[humble_servant7]

Wayne's design is exactly the one I want to go after also.

But I'm just trying to wrap my head around what is holding his wire in place at the bottom of his knife and how he attached the wire to his eyelet hooks and --most importantly, how they stay attached like that without coming loose.

The pictures dont give much detail.

[MarkShelton]

This was a little further down in the thread:

Actually, I ran t he wire from one eyebolt down, then back up to the next eyebolt.  So i never had to terminate them.

I wonder if the whole thing can be strung with 1 wire, and only 2 eyebolts. It might take a bit to get it tightened up with all those bends, and if it breaks, it would be more of a hassle to replace, but it would "clean up" the design a little.

[BigCheese]

Perhaps someone can clarify for me: On Wayne's thread his curd-cutter seems to only make vertical cuts. What about horizontal? I am building two pieces one to make vertical cuts and one to make horizontal, how could just one be sufficient?