need help refurbing a old cider press

[beerman]

I have my grandfather's cider press and it is about 35 years old. There is no finish left. So I'm planning to sand it down but I don't know what kind of finish to put on it. I don't want to impart any flavors to this falls pressing of course. Recommendations?

[lafinfil]

What kind of wood is it ?

We had a press when I was growing up and I have seen old ones in use at orchards and I don't
think that they had any finish on them.

If it is white oak or other similar water resistant wood then it likely didn't have a finish to begin with
or possibly something like mineral oil (used on butcher blocks)

[Harbourmaster]

What Phil said...

[Paul F.]

Some form of butcher-block oil (a mineral oil) comes to mind first...

My second choice would be a THIN application of a polyurethane finish... I don't know for a fact about any flavors, etc, with a poly finish, but it would be a durable one if applied thin.

Tung/Linseed oils would almost certainly impart a flavor or chemistry to things, as they are "non drying" finishes.


First things first; make sure everything is CLEAN, and sand down the wood... maybe even use a weak bleach solution (with plenty of rinsing afterwards) to help clean things up.

How are you planning on treating the metal?

[lafinfil]

[quote Paul F.]Tung/Linseed oils would almost certainly impart a flavor or chemistry to things, as they are "non drying" finishes.
Linseed and tung oils (as well as varnish) are actually drying oils - also called penetrating or hardening oils. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drying_oil

Non-drying would be mineral, vegetable, olive, corn, peanut, safflower etc ... and are edible but except for
the mineral oil (food grade) are prone to going rancid.

I would be that most presses have never had and finish on them. Take a close look and see for sure.

[GuyGene]

Instructions I read for wood butcher block said to use mineral oil, which is what I did. Must be food grade I think. Cider press...sounds good.

[Paul F.]

'Fil;

Far be it for me to contradict Wikipedia, but that kinda contradicts my experience finishing rifle stocks... Linseed in particular is notoriuous for never really drying, just thickening.
Tung oil may be a different animal.. so might boiled or modified linseed oil...

For beermans use;
For utility, I'd go with the mineral oil..
I'd consider the urethane with some more research on toxicity when dried.

[lafinfil]

"drying" is a bit of a confuser -because as you say it does not dry in the sense that it evaporates.
It is more to do with the penetration vs no penetration.
You are correct in that they do not really dry (evaporate) even though they are "drying oils"

Anyway - not food grade so a moot point.

Here's what I was able to come up with from the gobermint http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:kUy...ood+finish&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=safari

[Paul F.]

I don' trus no gubmint doc-you-ments.... :-)


(thanks for the link )

[M>B>]

I have a friend who has two presses, both oak and both have no treatment on them at all.

If anything it should be Mineral Oil.

I would be more concerned about using dropped apples as they almost always have worms in them. More protein though!