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All my cheese-pressing so far has been done with rather in-adequate tools.  I always had to use Mom's cast iron lard press with stacks of buckets precariously balanced.  It was successful, but I am often reminded by caring brothers of the incident with the full 5-gal. bucket of water that fell when I was out of the house. 
Recently, since getting back into cheese-making, I have been acquiring a few more conventional tools.  I bought stainless steel cheese forms in sizes more compatible with the amount of cheese I am making, and, best of all, my brother made me a Dutch-style cheese press!
I found pictures and descriptions for him to get ideas from, showed him the style I was looking for, and was (somewhat) patient.
Just today he brought the nearly finished contraption in for me to use with the Gouda I was making.
The ease of use is incredible!    I am so happy with it.   Unfortunately I haven't completely graduated from the lard press set-up, but as soon as I get my cheese mats....

He used pine for most of it, except the arm and the feet, which he made from oak.  It isn't completely finished, but needs just a few more touches.

congratulation on both your press and getting back into the cheese making.

I like it

Looks like a winner! Congrats on your equipment upgrade.

Should be smooth sailing now...maybe an opportunity to help the 5-gallon water bucket incident fade into distant memory. 

-Boofer-

Thanks a lot!   

Looks good!  I had one of those 5 gallon water bucket incidents myself, then pulled myself up by my bootstraps, ate the resulting lopsided cheese fresh and made myself a decent press.

Sounds like you've got some pretty nice brothers.

Very elegant press, gouda.  Nice job, and congrats - it will be nice to have the process control of your new toy.

Yes, MrsKK, I do have  some pretty great brothers... 

Now I can use a lot more pressure for those cheeses such as Cheddar....looking forward to my next one!

how big of a difference do you get between pegs? (where the weight is placed)

can any kind of wood be used?  or does wood type affect flavor during long presses?

Ah a Cheese for you.  What a fine looking press and I do like the rustic charm of the old iron.  make a bit of a 'Old - New' statement.  Please forgive the Star Wars link but - Your Skills are complete....   Not only are we making our own cheese but the tools also to make cheese.  Bloody awesome !!

-- Mal

Quote from: GREYtownDWELLER on January 17, 2012, 05:55:13 AM
how big of a difference do you get between pegs? (where the weight is placed)

can any kind of wood be used?  or does wood type affect flavor during long presses?

The difference between the pegs isn't much, but I still need to do some experimenting to figure out exactly what it is.  I know with a two-pound weight, the difference between each peg is about a 1/2 pound.  The difference increases with increasing weight, but I don't know by how much.
The arm and plunger by themselves exert 8 pounds of pressure, without any extra weight.

I'm sure the wood would affect flavor, so I'm going to avoid direct contact between the cheese and wood.  It seems like the whey would damage the wood, so another reason to avoid contact.

Quote from: OzzieCheese on January 17, 2012, 06:33:08 AM
Ah a Cheese for you.  What a fine looking press and I do like the rustic charm of the old iron.  make a bit of a 'Old - New' statement.  Please forgive the Star Wars link but - Your Skills are complete....   Not only are we making our own cheese but the tools also to make cheese.  Bloody awesome !!

-- Mal

Thank you!
I too like the old-fashioned look of the iron...and the look of well-made tools.  Thankfully I have wood-workers in the family that can make me good-quality (and good-looking too!)  equipment. 

Hi Goudacheese, may I suggest an improvement?
When you use pulleys like in the attached picture of my press, the effect of the weight is doubled.

LOL I love it! And when your done with your cheese you can make cider!

Quote from: hoeklijn on February 26, 2012, 10:56:16 AM
Hi Goudacheese, may I suggest an improvement?
When you use pulleys like in the attached picture of my press, the effect of the weight is doubled.

Ah thanks!  I'm always open to improvement ideas! 

How much weight is being exerted by that bucket of water?  And how much does the bucket weigh?