When Apple’s cider press arrived it was a mess, it had been neglected for many years, it was left out for several years, and it was deteriorating. The metal parts were rusting and some parts were no longer useful for their functionality. At some point the front legs were replaced by fence posts recently because they were 4X4 pressure treated.
The press was completely taken down; All metal parts photographed and numbered then shipped for sandblasting and powder coating.
We wanted to rebuild the Apple Cider Press as close to the original as possible. This turned out to be a real challenge; we couldn’t find a picture of how it was supposed to look when it was originally made. We had the date and the manufacture, but sadly we couldn’t find anything that came close to our Apple cider press. However, we had the wooden parts that I had come to imagine that whoever replaced the broken or worn parts hopefully made them as close as possible. We also had the owner who remembered it from his childhood days, who recalled that his grandfather used it to make Apple Cider.
So we started rebuilding it from scratch from solid quarter sawn white oak 2/4 to 8/4 thick. I built the two 6/4 front legs with the 8/4 crossbar through Mortised and Tenoned together. The platform the actual press would sit on was made of 6/4 and blind Mortised and Tenoned on the front cross member. The rear legs also have a full 6/4 groove in the platform the press sits on.
The apple sprout was built from 8/4 and the internal slats were hand routed out of the thickness. This was by far the hardest part of the entire build. 6/4 boards were broken and a skirt was made so that the apples would be caught. It is difficult to see in the photos, but the front is also cropped.
Then I had to build a bucket worthy of our new press without too much force. I cut some material to 1 1/4, set my table saw blade at an angle, and ran them all over the place. Next, I set the drill press centered on one hole and drilled them all. We made a custom piece of copper for the 1/4 X 1 straps. We drilled a hole to center all the slats and assembled our cube.
Finally we recover our freshly powder coated parts and assemble our press in all its splendor as seen in these photos (Click Link). A little gold leaf to highlight the writing in the press and you are done.