When the Apple Cider Press arrived it was a mess, it had been neglected for many years it was left outside for a number of years and was deteriorating. The metal parts were rusting away and certain parts were of no use to its functionality anymore. At some point the front legs were replaced with fence posts fairly recently because they were pressure treated 4X4's.
The press was completely torn down; all metal parts photographed and numbered then sent out for sandblasting and powder coated.
Apple
We wanted to rebuild the Apple Cider Press as close to original as possible. This turned out to be a challenge indeed; we could not find a picture of what it was supposed to look like when it was originally made. We had the date and the manufacture but sadly could not find anything that was even close to our Apple Cider Press. We did however have the wooden parts that it came in with imagining that whoever replaced the broken or worn out parts hopefully made them as close as possible. We also had the owner who remembered it from his childhood days which he recalled his Grandfather using it to make Apple Cider.
So we began rebuilding it from scratch out of solid quarter sawn White Oak ranging in thickness from 2/4 - 8/4. I built the two front legs out of 6/4 with the cross member out of 8/4 through Mortised and Tenoned together. The platform in which the actual press would sit was made out of 6/4 and blind Mortised and Tenoned into the front cross member. The rear legs are also 6/4 full dado on to the platform to which the press sits.
The apple shoot was constructed out of 8/4 and the inner slats were hand routed out of the thickness. This was by far the hardest part of the entire build. 6/4 boards were ripped down and made into a skirt so the apples would be trapped. It's hard to see in the photo's but the front is also scooped out.
Next I had to build a bucket worthy of our new press not to hard I ripped some stock down to 1 1/4 set my table saw's blade to an angle and ran them all through. Next I set up the drill press centered a hole and drilled them all. We had a custom piece of copper made for the straps 1/4 X 1 Drilled a hole centering all the slats and put our bucket together.
We finally got our newly powder coated parts back and assembled our press to all of its glory as seen in these photo's (Click Link). A little gold leaf to make the writing on the press stand out and it's done.
1880's Antique Apple Cider Press Restoration
The Furniture Junction Same Location Since 1979 "If it started from a tree were the people to see"
If you would like to see before and after photos of this project please click this link.