Hello, my friend and welcome back! Today we are going to look at how to build a hand powered butter churn for SHTF. While there are many different ways to churn butter, we are going to make a traditional butter churn. Now grab a cup of coffee my friend and have a seat while we visit.
First off, let me say this post has turned out to be a little harder than I had anticipated simply due to lack of information. I have searched the web high and low and found only one bad video on how to make them. It boggles the mind that there is such a lack of information on a subject that was at one time a main appliance in every home in America and the world as well. Now there are tons of information on the process of making butter, but not making a butter churn. I have however managed to hobble together enough information to guide you in making one. I hope to actually make a YouTube video in the future to help fill this void.
Building on the information from my previous post on how to make a wooden Bucket to create a butter churn I hope to arm you with what you would need to build one. If any of you do build one, please post the information and let me know where, so I can share it with my readers.
If you have a plastic 5 gal. bucket, ( be sure it’s food safe.) and a lid for it, then you have the makings of a butter churn. You see, heavy cream as it is known which is the cream that floats to the top of the milk is full of fat globules. By agitating them in any way, you can get them to start sticking together which is how you make butter. Cut a hole in the lid for the bucket and place the handle of a wooden adjutator through the hole. and move it up and down and sideways. Just keep it moving and butter will eventually begin to form
OK, so how do you make a wooden adjustor? That is the easy part. You need a wooden handle about 3 feet long with an 8 inch round piece of wood firmly attached to the bottom of it. In some designs, that I have seen, many just two crossed boards ant the bottom as to form an “X” shape. Any design will do as long as it helps thoroughly churn the cream.
The issue I see is what if you don’t have a plastic bucket to make one out of, or you don’t have a lid? The issue of a lid is easily remedied by using either a wooden cover for the bucket or some other material to make a simple lid and cut a hole in the middle of it for your churn handle to pass through.
We all know that as time goes on, that plastic bucket will eventually wear out or crack and you will need another container to churn your butter. Something to think about is that in an SHTF world, the butter will be a highly valued object for bartering, so make plenty. You will need to have your own animals to produce milk like cows or goats or make a deal with someone where you trade some of the butter you make for the milk. Because making butte requires a certain amount of labor, some people will rather buy it than make it themselves. This will provide you with an opportunity to prosper.
A point worth mentioning is that you must be in a cool place to make butter. If it is too hot, the butter globules will not stick together. cool the cream as much as you can before starting to churn it and it will take much less time to make it.
OK, so how do you make a wooden Butter churn? By using the information on making a bucket to create a very tall bucket if you will you can create a butter churn. Remember that to calculate the angle on the edges of the boards, you take 360 and divide it by the number of boards you will use. I would recommend making it about 12 inches across on the inside for easy access. Another tip I picked up was to coat the inside of the churn with melted beeswax. It helps keep the churn from leaking and makes it much easier to clean when you’re finished.
I would try not to make it too tall like the one above because you will need to reach the butter, so plan ahead. As I said in the beginning, butter can be made in almost anything, so just use your imagination and you will be fine. If you only need a little butter or only have a little cream, you can simply put it in a glass or plastic jar with a lid and shake it for about 20 minutes and you will have butter. Many people have many different recipes where they mix fresh herbs with their butter to give a different taste like Thyme.
Once the butter is churned, use wooden paddles to gently squeeze any remaining milk from the butter, then rinse it in cold water. The wooden paddles keep the butter from sticking to your hand and melting while you’re working with it. Trust me on this, after spending all that time churning the butter, you will not want to waste a drop of it.
Well, that’s it for today my friend and I hope this will help you when the time comes. I’m going to include a short video below on how to make one, however, I must warn you that the quality of it is lacking. Until next time my friend, stay safe, stay strong and stay prepared. God Bless America!
-Sarge-
