Production of Butter CHURN

THE MAKING OF

A TRADITIONAL BUTTER CHURN

Making these things were largely done by hand, although these days you can buy them constructed largely from machined components. An original hand made one is often oval in section and may incorporate wooden parts which split either during manufacture or later. The rod section, or handle, did not always start out as a piece of dowel but instead as a reasonably straight stick. Later in the churns life, as the rod wore out and had to be replaced then it was often replaced with a reasonably straight branch - and adds a certain amount of charm to those purchasing them to adorn their houses rather than to use. The one which I measured up here was not particularly round, noticeably oval in fact. This does not affect how well it makes butter, of course, but any repair must take this into account.

The staves (the main pieces of wood which form the sides of the upper and lower piece) are made with a curve so that when they are together the internal and external shape is round, rather than being ten sided like some of the reproduction ones are. The whole unit is held together with thin steel bands made up of a strip with one fairly flat rivet to form a ring. When the churn is in use the wood has quite a high water content, but if it has been out of use for a while and stored in a dry atmosphere - say in someones house - then the wood dries out, shrinks and then the whole thing is in danger of falling apart. One should always handle one of these with care unless you fancy the job of putting a 3D jigsaw back together.

The exact dimensions are not to important, they come in a range of sizes and this is about an average sized one. The diagram is marked up in metric (SI) units for convenience and because that is the units the churn was made to. Click here to see the conversion chart with all the sizes used and their equivalents in inches.