American Wooden Ware, Toledo OH --Great Americana Advertising!

Butter Working Table that is 100% complete and ORIGINAL!  Has NOT been stained or varnished. All parts work! This is a very rare find and in excellent condition, found in Maine.

This is a butter worker (butter press or butter roller) made by the American Wooden Ware Manufacturing Co. of Toledo, Ohio. It is estimated the age is late 1800's, but could find little in my research of this item. I have seen plenty about butter churns in my research, but little is evident about the butter working trays. My best guess would be that it was made to work between 10 and 12 pounds of butter.

This instrument was used after the churning of the butter to separate the buttermilk from the butter solids. This phase was extremely crucial to the shelf-life of the finished product, as the butter would have the tendency to turn rancid if not "well-worked."

In order to separate the solid and liquid, the 6 'paddles' on a wooden roll worked the liquids out of churned butter while pouring cold water over the solids. One side of the tray is raised to tilt the tray in such a way to allow the liquid to accumulate towards the lower end of the tray and flow out the hole in the corner which still has the cork plug. The liquid would flow through the hole into a bucket below. What was not used in human consumption was often fed to the pigs. Salt was also added at this phase as a preservative and to enhance the butter flavor.

The outside dimensions of the wooden tray are about 18" x 32" (wider with the cast iron tracks, crank, and handle).

Condition: Overall, very good for an item of this nature and age. The stenciling is very well-preserved, crisp and easy to read. The cast iron gears/tracks are also in good, solid condition. The wooden paddles have experienced some shrinkage and there are age cracks in the wooden roll. Please view the photos for more details. Description and Photos illustrate the general condition and characteristics of the selling item as best as I am able.

This is a beautiful and well preserved piece of the home dairy. There are very few of these beauties that have survived, and even fewer that are original and in working order.

We will do our best to get the shipping costs down, and we may choose to remove the handle to fit it in a smaller box.  This item does weigh 31 pounds and will be shipped UPS Ground.

We are a smoke free home, accept Paypal and will ship to the lower 48 within 1 business day of receiving payment.  We try our best to be honest in our descriptions and take lots of photos to show you our items, but if you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us so that we may make it right.  If you have any questions regarding this item, please feel free to ask.