Guess what I'm making... ;-)

[Danbo]

Woodwork... Guess what I'm making (it's cheese related)...

[Danbo]

Guessed it? Build myself a new press...

It's a Sturdy Press.

Danbo

[Al Lewis]

My first guess was shredded cheddar but then I remembered you use a low angled block plane for that.  LOL  If it's half as strong as the original you'll love it.  Sturdy Presses are the best presses on the market in my honest opinion.

[smolt1]

WOW, I'm jealous!

[Al Lewis]

WOW, I'm jealous!

LMAO!!!

[nccheesemike]

Great looking press right there!! Well done Danbo!! You have some definite woodworking skills. I hope it presses some great cheeses for you!!

Mike

[Al Lewis]

Yeah, with design skills like that you should go into business!  LMAO  Really, great job buddy!!  SMOLT1 you still make the best press on the market, bar none!  And that's from someone that designs nuclear tooling for a living.

[Danbo]

Thanks! :-)

It is a humble copy of Bob's (Smolt1's) legendary original Sturdypress. Thanks for your help with plans and good advice Bob!!

I'm very happy with the result. I had to use my electric power planner to reduce the wood thickness from 45 mm to 35 mm. A lot of work but worth it...

The press really is STURDY... Bob, you've designed a monster press!

Danbo

[awakephd]

Definitely deserves a cheese!

[Danbo]

Thank you Andy. I'm looking forward to testing Bob's Sturdypress-design when making cheese this comming weekend...

[reg]

While on the topic of presses thought I would post a photo of the press I made when I first started making cheese. Oak is very common here so that is what I used, the mold is an 8" water pipe and the followers are 1/4" lexan cutting board

[awakephd]

Reg, that will do the job! When there is room for a wall-mounted, long-lever press, it is about the simplest and yet most effective of designs.

[Danbo]

Looks effective!

It looks a lot like a press I made in my basement for pressing cheddar. It is about 3 meters long (my wife is very tolerant) and it goes up to around 700 kgs before the wood squeeking gets too scary...

The problem is that the lever is so heavy that it initially press too hard for cheeses that does not require brute force...

[reg]

Thanks Danbo and Andy. In the picture the arm looks long but it is only 40" long. There is also three pivot points that we can't see in the photo so if you wanted to press with10 lbs or 100 lbs there is no problem. The room itself is a dedicated room for cheese making and meat curing. After all these years I finally have what I wanted

[Danbo]

I also build a small dedicated cheese kitchen in our basement. It's great to have my own space where all the cheeses are born...

I'm certainly not the best cheesemaker in here but it's still one of the best hobbies I've ever had. It calms me down (almost every time). And when not making a new cheese in the weekend there are always cheeses to give TLC during the week.

And this forum is just great! I get wiser every day...