What the eff is this?

[Guest clsutton21]

So some guy gave this to my grandfather because we have a lot of older stuff hung up on the walls of our shop and we have yet to figure out what it is. The guy said it was in his family for 40 years that he knows of and he doesn't know what it is either. The number reads "182-1" The paddles are made of wood, but someone painted most of this thing gold for some reason.

It's not a paint stirrer, we tried that.

[Guest spoolie]

Ice cream churn?

[Chucktshoes]

Mixer for some type of masonry product like plaster maybe?

[tntnixon]

Looks like an antique butter churn that I have only this one is much larger. Maybe for large vats?

[dats82]

I was going to guess butter churn as well.

[jtluttrell]

Mixer for some type of masonry product like plaster maybe?

That's my guess.

[Guest jackdm3]

I don't think wooden paddles would handle the thickness of plaster.

But this would really find a home in Ghooge2008's Mancave.

[MacGyver]

With a surface area that big on wooden paddles, it's got to be for something with a really low viscosity. I'm guessing butter as well - even though, that's a lot of butter.

[Guest jackdm3]

I'm really starting to wonder now. A medium that is easy to turn-n-churn doesn't usually require enough force to bend the handle. Check it. However, it easily could have gotten bent if it fell over. I'm just sayin'.

[MacGyver]

A medium that is easy to turn-n-churn doesn't usually require enough force to bend the handle.

I noticed that as well, but wrote it off as damage due to age, transport or something like that. With something that old, one good forceful turn to try and unfreeze ages of built up gunk could have bent it. Who knows?

I hope somebody comes through with a definitive answer. The engineer in me wants to know.

[Garufa]

Not exactly the same but very similar...Butter Churn...Oprah-sized.

Edited December 18, 2009 by Garufa

[Guest jackdm3]

You haven't told us what the shop's business was. That could help. (That's the Sherlock in me!)

[MacGyver]

Found a pic of some antique churns. Paddle style is the same.

[hipower]

Found a pic of some antique churns. Paddle style is the same.

I vote for a possible commerical churn as well. I used some like these growing up with my grandparents. I would think it to be commerical or at least something like an old neighborhood milk service.

[Guest jackdm3]

Garufa found it. Is there a tightening bolt in the middle housing above the stem that broke off? Garufa wins! What does he get, Monte?!

[Guest KarlS]

Deleated my last. Saw jackdm3 ^ say Garufa found it. Nice investigative work! I'd still hate to turn that big bad boy by hand. That's like a six pack job for every lb of butter!

Edited December 18, 2009 by KarlS
problem solved!

[Garufa]

...That's like a six pack job for every lb of butter!

Glad to know I'm not the only one who rates the difficulty of a task by the numbers of beers it takes to complete.

[Guest jackdm3]

With Garufa's photo you'll see the retention bolt. You remove the paddle and axle, put the basin in place, re-install the paddle and axle, tighten the bolt, pour in your ingredients, put the two-piece boards over the top and go to town. Removal is the reverse of installation.

*Not intended to be used by children under age 12. This product is not UL Listed. Some assembly required.

[texfrazer]

Man, these early morning quizzes just leave me snoozing

We actually used a churn like this in 4th grade. Our whole class took home big hunks of butter.

[MacGyver]

The tightening bolt being broken off was the one thing that had me baffled. It would be a pain to lift that whole apparatus off of whatever medium you were mixing. Nice find Garufa.

[mcurrier]

I'd still hate to turn that big bad boy by hand. That's like a six pack job for every lb of butter!

That's why there were very few fat people back then. Daily work just to provide essential necessities of life (and to be able to eat all of that yummy butter) kept one in very good physical condition. That's why were are a society of fatties these days, the majority of us are no longer farmers, but couch potatoes.

[Guest jackdm3]

That's why there were very few fat people back then. Daily work just to provide essential necessities of life (and to be able to eat all of that yummy butter) kept one in very good physical condition. That's why were are a society of fatties these days, the majority of us are no longer farmers, but couch potatoes.

In the tone of Hans and Frans:

"Ya, you goes to the store and buys the butter."

"What a girlyman!"

"Ya, what a girlyman!"

"You need the (Flexing, flexing) Churnitude!"

Edited December 18, 2009 by jackdm3

[Guest clsutton21]

Haha. Thanks for all the help guys. We didn't even think of butter churn. For Garufa, your prize is a high-five. *high-five*

[Guest mosinon]

I think you'll find a really close model here: Metal Butter Churns

from the site:

"The butter churn pictured above we have seen labeled either as a Banner Churn made by the Standard Churn Company of Wapakoneta, Ohio, an Elgin (before WWII) or Farm Master (after WWII) churn sold by Sears, Roebuck and Company or as a Wardway Butter Churn sold by Montgomery Ward. This one is 4 gallons in capacity. It utilized a wood, four blade dasher similar to those found in glass jar butter churns. This butter churn first sold in the 1924-25 Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog under the Elgin brand for $4.15 and was available in 2, 3, 4 and 6 gallon sizes. Sears sold both this churn and the Holstein Butter Reaper for a few years but this metal churn quickly replaced the Holstein Butter Reaper. These same sizes appeared as early as 1922 in the Montgomery Ward catalog. The 1935-36 Montgomery Ward catalog listed the same sizes with a 4 gallon selling for $4.45 and in 1940-41 the same sizes appeared with the 4 gallon priced at $4.25. Sears was able to hold the price for the four gallon size under $4.40 throughout the 1930's. They were still sold in the 1942-43 Sears catalog just before the start of WWII. The 4 gallon size then cost $4.58 but the 3 gallon size had been dropped. This butter churn did not appear in the Sears catalog in the years following WWII probably due to a shortage of metal. It appeared again in the 1951 Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog, then under the Farm Master label, but only the 4 gallon size was listed and it was priced at $7.35. By the 1951-52 Sears catalog only the electric version of this butter churn was offered. Many of the early catalogs claimed this model would churn butter in 8-10 minutes. We suspect the Standard Churn Company made all these butter churns and labeled them for Sears, Wards or themselves."

[texfrazer]

In the tone of Hans and Frans:

"Ya, you goes to the store and buys the butter."

"What a girlyman!"

"Ya, what a girlyman!"

"You need the (Flexing, flexing) Churnitude!"

Awesome! I love Hans and Frans!