alternative wood for wine press

You need to use hardwood for its strength. Soft woods, like pine, may shatter under pressure and pose a safety problem.

Tom S

Ash, hickory sapwood, or maple. Douglas fir is probably strong enough for the frame but not the staves.

Can you get an old wine barrel and recycle the wood?

I would use paraffin or beeswax to coat the base and the piston and any metal parts, and probably leave the staves untreated.

Bob

He isn't going to get hickory or Douglas fir in the UK.

Pine would have to be sealed with something *absolutely* waterproof. You

*don't* want the taste of pine leaching out into your wine. It isn't strong enough for this application anyway, so best to forget about that.

Ideally, you want a wood that is hard, strong, and either lends a pleasant flavor (e.g. white oak) or lends no flavor at all (e.g. maple or beech).

If I were in your position, I think I'd be looking at maple, beech, or possibly birch. Beech is probably your best bet: I don't think any of your native maples in the UK are anywhere near as hard and strong as the sugar and black maple that we have here in North America, but your European beech is very similar to our beech, and should be plenty strong enough for this use.

What about maple?

Probably not, but I don't know what is available in the UK. That's why I mentioned using wood from an old wine barrel.

Bob

As you say Oak is expensive but beech is also used this may be more available. Stephen SG

Thanks for all the advice. I will look at the beech option and compare prices. As my wife has said, oak may be expensive, but if you're gonna do it, do it right, so I may bite the bullet and buy oak. It will still be cheaper than buying a commercial job.

ZD

In message , Doug Miller writes

Hickory, no, but Douglas is quite feasible; there's some pretty large plantations of it here. But if we're after hardwood, what about beech?

cheers, robin

If you use oak, go with white oak and not red oak. Less off flavors involved there...

Steve

Doug, not to be contrary, but about 20 years ago I restored an old cider mill to use for winemaking. Running out of time, I used 1" x 2" (actually .75" x 1.5") pine furring strips for the 14" high basket. There was no resin nor smell, and the wood was left untreated in any way, beyond a thorough hosing & stiff brushing. Slats were held in place with 3/4" pan head sheet metal screws, from the outside. There was no detectable odor or taste imparted to any of the innumerable batches of wine & cider processed since then, and the press is still going strong for a friend. No decay, no breakage, no taint.

I am a long time woodworker, and have long observed that waterproof coatings on wood can hasten decay by trapping the inevitable moisture within the wood, instead of allowing complete drying. Think of your kitchen cutting board, wooden spoons, etc. These are often only bare wood, and last indefinitely, with frequent soakings. Note that wood is naturally somewhat antimicrobial, compared to plastic.

In a pinch, Zipadee Doodar could make do with almost any close grained, low taste/low odor wood, although some like beech, maple, cherry, poplar, might be a bit better. With normal sanitation, waterproof finishes are quite optional, IMHO .

Cheers,

Mike MTM, Cokesbury, New Jersey, USA

I'm currently planning out how to build a cider press. The basket will be round, maybe 14" across, and 14" high. I'll probably use ash for the basket just because I have some ash lumber I can rip into strips. I'll probably use pine or spruce to make the piston because pine and spruce won't warp as easily as dense hardwoods. I haven't figured out what to use for the base where the juice collects.

I almost bought an old automotive jack on eBay to use instead of a press screw, but I let it go without bidding because I never got a reply back about how much for shipping. Do you think this would have worked, or would I need something stronger:

I'm also having a hard time finding a source of steel banding. I'm sure I must just be looking in the wrong place. I thought about just hammering some 1/2" EMT conduit flat and using that, but that would be a

*lot* of work to form. What did you use? Or did the old press that you restored still have good metal parts?

Bob

I have a decent size press. I says 35 on it...

Oak cost me $35 to replace the basket

:)

Bob,

I think that jack would have been fine. I would have used one like it on another press I built, but had to settle for a 3' piece of galvanized standard thread rod. Used a connecting nut, sawed partway down, bent outward and bolted under the crossbar to mount it. It works well, but takes a long time to raise & lower.

For bands, you could use 1" x 1/8" flat iron barstock. Hardware stores or Home Depot carry it. Don't forget to allow for the thickness of the basket slats, when you cut the iron. Allow for about 3" or 4" of overlap and rivet the ends together so the rivets fall between the slats. If you bend a little dogleg into the outer end, your inner circle will be nice & smooth. Fine tune the shape & drill for screws or rivets after you've closed the hoop. If you choose, prime & paint the inner surface before attaching the slats, the outer surface after. Otherwise, moisture will rust the hoop behind each slat.

It's not a hard project at all.

On the old cider mill, I had to replace only the basket & juice tray. Crusher, press and frame just needed cleaning.

What did you use for a thrust bearing at the bottom of the threaded rod? I think I'll use a 2' piece of 3/4" threaded rod. I can weld a hex nut to a flat washer (on 4 sides) and fasten that to the underside of the cross member with a few screws.

That jack would have been a lot easier.

Bob

Sounds like a plan.

At the bottom end, I just rounded the end and let it turn against a large washer countersunk in a short 2x4 on top of the platen. A touch of "Food Grade Grease" (Vaseline) keeps it turning nicely. For a crank, I squared the sides a bit and drilled through for a steel bar, about 3/8". Welding something with a nut involved would probably be better.