How I made a giant wooden screw

[george wilson]

Folks,please comment. It takes effort to post these things. I thought these items were in the FAQ section,but they are not. Do an advanced search: type in "A large cider press" and George Wilson,and you can find it among the posts that will come up. Then,you can see the completed cider mill and cider press.

My boss had gone to England and had become very impressed with a giant cider press and apple mill he had seen at a cider maker's establishment in Sommerset. He had been after me for 2 or 3 years to figure out a way to reproduce these things.

Cider making was a very important occupation back then. Cider was their soft drink,and their hard drink,if they fermented it. They grew something like 3 dozen different cider apples at a nearby plantation back then. Anyone who was anyone kept a large keg of cider in their basement.

This was about 1983,and I was still the musical instrument maker,with a shop to run,and employees to look after. This was a major project,and I was not wanting to spend a year hand cutting threads for a screw this size. Threading the hole was also a very big hurdle.

I contacted the largest machine shop in Hampton,Va. about doing this job. They decided they wanted to make the nut with an INSERTED thread. That would look very unauthentic,and no doubt would crack to pieces and fall out.

I came upon a smaller,country machine shop that was in Gloucester at the time. They agreed to help with the job. I bought a beechwood log and had it taken there. You'd be surprised how crooked an apparently straight log can be,when it is gotten into a lathe! So,I got a log over 2' in diameter to be sure it would clean up at 16" diameter,which was the diameter of the large bulb on the end of the screw.

It is not possible to buy a dry log. No one lets them lay around a lumber yard long enough to get dry,as there is no money in it. They are soon sawn into lumber,and the lumber is then dried.

How do you keep a green log from splitting open as it dries? That was the big question.I decided that logs split open because the wood in the center of the log has no place to go as the log shrinks,getting smaller in its outer regions. It eventually pops wide open .There was much discussion about this problem with a few master craftsmen and the boss in his office. I decided the thing to do was drill a 2" diameter hole right down through the center of the log. In the years hence,this strategy has worked. The screw has never split open. I also coated the exterior of the FINISHED screw with liberal amounts of bees wax,leaving the center hole uncoated,so the screw would cry mostly from inside,keeping the threads from splitting.

I don't know how to get the pictures in order. In the first picture,you see I had sawn the end of the log square. This was so it could be gotten into a big 4 jaw chuck. In the 3rd picture,I had to chop the other end of the log down to a smaller diameter. The lathe would swing the log over its bed,but not over the cross slide. After we got the log onto the lathe with a fork lift,I had to make an initial very deep cut down the length of the log,so it would clear the cross slide. They had some very large,very old hand forged lathe bits that came in handy,and I was able to take a 4" deep cut just ahead of the cross slide. Then,I turned the log down to the 12" diameter of the threads,and freehand operated the cross slide to produce the large,curved,16" diameter bulb at the end.

In the closeup of cutting the threads,there is a router with a large,straight cutter clamped at a 45º angle cutting the 2" wide,6 thread per inch screws progressively deeper till the completed thread shape was made. Fortunately, proper wood threads(which are seldom found these days in wooden threads) are cut at 45º,making a 90º thread,rather than the 60º thread which you always see now,but which is really a metal thread type.

During this turning,the chips got about 2 feet deep,and I was actually working on my knees while controlling the lathe. I asked several times for the owner to get a guy to dispose of the chips. He finally did after about a week. By the time the screw was finished,as you can see,the chips had piled up again.

The picture of the screw standing vertical on a machine is a horizontal boring mill where I'm drilling two 5" diameter holes at 90º to each other,where tommy bars will be inserted to turn the screw in the press.

I am finally finished in one picture,giving a British salute.

This is as many pictures as I can post. I will have to post another thread on making the nut.

[george wilson]

Bump,to keep this together with the nut thread.

[Dave Beauchesne]

George:

Impressive indeed!

Looks like you are a southpaw - must be where your creativity comes from.

Dave Beauchesne

[Leigh Betsch]

Pretty cool stuff. I've been thinking for a few years about mounting a router to my lathe to make a few wooden vise screws but this thing is over the top.
I bet those machinists thought that your were a crazy nut case, untill you got it done..

[george wilson]

They were close enough to Williamsburg to expect oddball stuff. A larger company wouldn't have been as cooperative,or as cheap to let me use their lathe,etc.. Then,there was the apple mill,which had 2 gears in it about 16" in diameter,which they fabricated. It would have been cast. After being around a while,they were all brown,so you couldn't tell.

[george wilson]

Bump to keep these threads together.

[daniel lane]

George, that is astounding, and very, very impressive. I've always enjoyed your posts, the creativity and craftsmanship are inspiring, but I particularly like how you discuss the problems you considered or ran up against and how you addressed them - I learn a lot and get to see some great stuff - please keep posting!


daniel

[george wilson]

With over 130 views,and 3 replies,I wonder if it's worth it.

[Leigh Betsch]

It's worth it for some of us at least!

[Sean Richards]

Keep posting George! Your log splitting argument seems pretty sound - and it has worked in practice which is always a bonus!

[Marko Milisavljevic]

Awesome posts, is it just that most of us have nothing useful to add and just read in amazement, which is probably why you are seeing no replies. Please keep posting.

[Bob Vallaster]

George,
Since you expressed frustration over the absence of replies, I am prompted to write for the silent majority.
I joined in 2007 and soon settled on six topics to view regularly; Neander is one of them. As an economy for time, on each visit I scan the list of active threads for subjects of interest and look as well at who opened the thread.
It didn't take long to recognize your name as one to follow. Your mastery is evident in every photograph, whether musical instrument, tool, presentation keepsake, jewelry or cider press.
But what most engages me is your patience to describe material & tool choices, sequence and method. Even though I am unlikely to ever attempt making a monster press, I have learned a bit today about making a wooden screw and nut (accompanying post) which I can apply to a someday project like a leg vise. And so I learn in each of your posts and the Q&A that follows...
The Japanese have a tradition of recognizing living masters in various arts and crafts which are a part of their culture; those masters are honored as national treasures. If we had the same here, you would surely have my nomination.
In the meantime, I interpret the view count as that many admiring followers stopping to take another lesson from the master.

BobV

[Joe Bailey]

I have to second Marko's comment - I'm speechless. You have to realize that most of us never dream of attempting such things, let alone successfully execute them. You have apparently assimilated vast amounts of knowledge from interrelated fields. I humbly suggest to you, that you might view your posting efforts as getting your body of work "out there in Cyberspace" for posterity..

[David Martino]

Pretty danged interesting -- the woodworking but especially the interesting and unusual problem solving you describe. Did the cider press work? Is it still in operation? And do you have any idea how they would have made the original?

Like many others here I look forward to your posts and the photos of your amazing work. I appreciate your taking the time/effort to share them, and post whenever I feel I have something useful to add to the discussion... i.e. never! I do enjoy learning from them, though, if that counts for anything. Please keep it up!

[Tim Davis 1947]

George,

I'm speechless...please keep posting as I always learn from your posts.

Tim

[Rick Lapp]

George, I admit to being a serious lurker; I don't want to post a comment just for the sake of repetition. I think you ought to consider the # of views as more representative of the interest in your post. That being said, I always look at your post when I log on. Like everyone else, I am amazed by you talent and prolificness, but even moreso by the shear variety of your output. This post and the 'nut post' are real cases in point; keep 'em coming please. Rick

[Ryan Mooney]

Holey crow that's HUGE. I can't even imagine the press!! For comparison I made a person sized hi-lift jack operated press and can run out ~50g per day with it pretty easily (I did ~700lbs this year which works out to about 70g+- and figure I could have done it all in one day if we weren't lolly gagging around poking at tools instead). This is at least 10x bigger (I think perhaps even more).

Keeping this beast fed would have been the work for a small army - did it ever run at full production?

I'm guessing it would have take ?two? people to run it down (at least)?

I can't seem to find the post on the finished press in the faq, if someone can post the link (or just PM me for an idiot) I would be very grateful, I really want to see the whole thing :D

edit: I second the please keep posting sentiment. Mostly I just file away the information in the hopes that I may someday become qualified enough to give it worth and keep plugging away at lesser tasks in the meantime. If I don't have anything new to add.. well.. I figure its kind of like the guy who hangs out in your shop who never does anything but always has an opinion - I tend to learn more if I keep my jaw closer to the top of my cranium unless I have something specific to ask.

[Matthew N. Masail]

You know George, it's hard to type when your jaw hits the floor !

[Joe Leigh]

With over 130 views,and 3 replies,I wonder if it's worth it.


I happen to think your work is awe inspiring, though well outside of the realm of the vast majority here, myself included. Perhaps that is why there are so few comments/critiques...

I've seen a few of your posts and they all carry the same attitude. Your posts take no more time and effort than anyone elses to produce.

If you are posting for the educational and informative value, then bravo.

If you are posting for attention and adulation, then perhaps your time is better spent elsewhere.

[Scott T Smith]

George,
Since you expressed frustration over the absence of replies, I am prompted to write for the silent majority.
I joined in 2007 and soon settled on six topics to view regularly; Neander is one of them. As an economy for time, on each visit I scan the list of active threads for subjects of interest and look as well at who opened the thread.
It didn't take long to recognize your name as one to follow. Your mastery is evident in every photograph, whether musical instrument, tool, presentation keepsake, jewelry or cider press.
But what most engages me is your patience to describe material & tool choices, sequence and method. Even though I am unlikely to ever attempt making a monster press, I have learned a bit today about making a wooden screw and nut (accompanying post) which I can apply to a someday project like a leg vise. And so I learn in each of your posts and the Q&A that follows...
The Japanese have a tradition of recognizing living masters in various arts and crafts which are a part of their culture; those masters are honored as national treasures. If we had the same here, you would surely have my nomination.
In the meantime, I interpret the view count as that many admiring followers stopping to take another lesson from the master.

BobV

George, let me add my comments to Bob's well thought out response above. There are a lot of great contributors to this site, a great many of which I respect and have learned a lot from. You though, are in a class by yourself.

With your background in both wood and metal working, your extensive history in tackling unusual and extraordinary projects, the superb craftsmanship that your finished projects exhibit, as well as what has to be an innate genius regarding all things mechanical; for me your posts are always amazing, inspiring, and enjoyable.

There are times when adequate words fail me, so I don't always comment on your posts. I do, however, always enjoy them.

I too echo Bob's comments about "a national treasure", as you are surely one of SMC's "treasures". Please continue to post and to share your unique and wondrous background.

Scott

[Todd Burch]

Folks,please comment. ...

How do you keep a green log from splitting open as it dries? That was the big question.I decided that logs split open because the wood in the center of the log has no place to go as the log shrinks,getting smaller in its outer regions. It eventually pops wide open .There was much discussion about this problem with a few master craftsmen and the boss in his office. I decided the thing to do was drill a 2" diameter hole right down through the center of the log. In the years hence,this strategy has worked. The screw has never split open. I also coated the exterior of the FINISHED screw with liberal amounts of bees wax,leaving the center hole uncoated,so the screw would cry mostly from inside,keeping the threads from splitting.

Awesome tip!


I don't know how to get the pictures in order.
When you are viewing the attached pictures dialog screen, right after you upload them, in the bottom left corner, just click and drag the pictures into the order you want.

If you want to post images inline with your text, first upload all your pics, then, again, in the bottom left section, uncheck all pics, then just check the pic(s) you want to insert inline, and then click (on the bottom right) "insert inline", and then "Done". Type more text into your post, and then click "manage attachments" again, and repeat the process for the next pic(s). Click "Preview Post" to make sure you get it right. Also, when you see the [attachment] tags in your raw text, you can cut and paste it to move it around manually. For posting pics inline, the thing to remember is to make sure your cursor is where you want it when you start the process.


In the closeup of cutting the threads,there is a router with a large,straight cutter clamped at a 45º angle cutting the 2" wide,6 thread per inch screws progressively deeper till the completed thread shape was made.

I think you meant... 2" wide, 6 threads per FOOT...


Fortunately, proper wood threads(which are seldom found these days in wooden threads) are cut at 45º,making a 90º thread,rather than the 60º thread which you always see now,but which is really a metal thread type.

Another great tip!

These are great post. I would like to see a section of SMC devoted to your posts.

Todd

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Wow. That is amazing. When they made these "back in the day", did they turn them as well, or just have a lot of guys spend forever carving the threads?

When my boss asks me to accomplish something impossible, I no longer feel like I can complain - he's never asked me to to make a screw out of a tree.

By the way - I think if you hit the picture limit for one post, you can simply reply to that post with more pictures to keep everything in one thread, rather than starting a second one like you did with the nut thread. But maybe I'm wrong.

[george wilson]

David,I mentioned in the text that these big screws were made by specialist gangs of men. If you ever saw the Woodwright's Shop,Roy used a wooden device with a steel tooth sticking up to thread a hole for a clamp sized screw. I believe they did the same sort of thing,except on a much larger scale,and with a bunch of men and horses. The wet log for the screw was very,very heavy. Figure out the weight of nearly all water in a cylinder 24" in dia. and about 8' long. What's water? about 62# per cu.' ? I am sure the nut must have weighed about 3000#. It strained the forklift getting it loaded. So,these large masses took a lot of men to handle.

The screw could have been carved after turning in the old days. But,I have seen even larger screws that had quite smooth threads. They might have been turned and threaded on a special purpose wooden lathe. This is only speculation on my part,though.

My job was to make this screw and nut by whatever means I could devise.

Yes,the screw and nut still work. My plan of drilling a hole down the center of the screw worked,and using a drier nut did keep the nut from binding as they eventually dried out together.

[Jim Underwood]

I happen to think your work is awe inspiring, though well outside of the realm of the vast majority here, myself included. Perhaps that is why there are so few comments/critiques...

I've seen a few of your posts and they all carry the same attitude. Your posts take no more time and effort than anyone elses to produce.

If you are posting for the educational and informative value, then bravo.

If you are posting for attention and adulation, then perhaps your time is better spent elsewhere.

I happen to disagree with your last statement. Forums are about learning from one another to be sure, but in a real sense they are about community. And in a community, not only are knowledge and ideas shared and generated, but appreciation is expressed. And do not we all like to be appreciated for our time and effort? One does not get paid to participate in these forums after all...

Imagine doing an excellent job day in and day out, and getting no reward for it- and then told that if you want to be paid, perhaps you should go elsewhere. Be realistic; no one is so altruistic that they post just to help everyone else, with no praise at all.

[george wilson]

Well said,Jim. I do want to educate. I was lucky enough to have a career where I was able to do these jobs,and could dig up the problem solving ways to do them. I certainly do hope the woodworkers here appreciate the work I can show them,and not just gloss over them. This post was not about artistic skills,but about problem solving. I really doubt that you'd get this information elsewhere,because few,if any I know got the opportunity to take on this challenge.

When I look onto a woodworking magazine and see an article beyond the usual "how do I cut my first dovetail",I am very pleased,and read it. And,I don't think bad thoughts about the author.

Your comment disappoints me,Joe.All my other posts do not carry the same attitude. Since you say you have seen a FEW,maybe you should have seen more before commenting. I have had plenty of praise,but I'd just like to know that folks are being entertained and are learning from these posts. When there are 1 or 2 responses,I can't tell if anyone is reading the article,or just glossing over it,like advertisements in a magazine. It took me about an hour to make this post. I am not good with computers,and am a 1 finger typist. Please stop sneaking into my computer to see how long it takes me to make a post!!

[Brian Kent]

This is in reference to your use of dried wood for the nut and green wood for the screw.
When I first started playing with wood before it was a serious hobby there were a lot of times I was doing something impossible that I thought I could keep doing enough and get better - like using a buck brothers plane against the grain and through knots without sharpening the blade, or trying to match up dowel holes freehand and wondering why the angles weren't perfect, or wondering why the wood changed shape when it dried, or understanding why stress with the wrong grain direction makes things snap in two. I love the fact that so much of your experience and creativity are about the understanding of the nature of wood and other materials. It is a matter of awe, wonder, and education to watch you take these issues as central building blocks of making an idea work.
Thank you.

[george wilson]

Brian,fortunately,the threads were so LARGE,I could allow for some slop in them as they dried out. The screw was fully green,and I'm estimating that the nut was about half dried when the project was done. They do still work,and this job was done in 1983. The screw,at least,should have dried by now. The nut? Maybe still drying ? Nothing ever split open,at least.

I noticed years later,when up in the wheelwright's storage room,their elm hub blanks all had a hole bored through the center,too. And,some of them looked quite old. None had split.

[Will Boulware]

Simply put, this is amazing. As someone who never received any manual training of any sort, everything you do inspires me to at least learn a little about that aspect of craftsmanship. Thank you for your contributions and I hope you continue to share with us!

[Justin Green]

That's awesome. I need two of those (with nuts) for my next bench!

So why did the screw need to be that long? How many apples or mash or whatever were they putting under the press? Did they make watermelon or pumpkin cider, too?

[Ryan Mooney]

So why did the screw need to be that long? How many apples or mash or whatever were they putting under the press? Did they make watermelon or pumpkin cider, too?

There are some historical pumpkin based (or at least supplemented) brews and people have made watermelon wine (although imho its pretty bleh tasting). Generally you can bet if it was fermentable someone was fermenting it. Pumpkin by itself is relatively low in sugar (you can convert some by cooking it and more by mashing it with malt, but the yield is still miserable in relative terms.. ditto potatoes but they grow denser). I wouldn't call either of those "cider" per-se.

The yield/acre from apples is really quite good compared to most competitive produce. I'm really curious about the press itself in this case as this is ~2-3 orders of magnitude bigger than any press screw I've ever seen. Most of the presses (around here on the left coast at least) were much smaller local farm affairs and even with those you can press out a HUGE amount of cider in a few days. I'm guessing that this size of press would have been used for a more commercial sized central operation where farmers from the outlying areas would haul in fruit.

Amusing historical tidbit - the temperance movement actually followed John Appleseeds wanderings a bit over a generation later as the ready availability of cheap hard cider led to increased intoxication rates in those areas compared to folks that depended on other sources.

[Kevin Lucas]

That is just HUGE! I don't know of any thing you have posted that has not made my jaw drop. Multi-talented and a craftsman. I love reading your posts!

[jamie shard]

Thanks George, you've mentioned the press before but these pictures really make me understand. Amazing!

[Chris Griggs]

That's awesome. I need two of those (with nuts) for my next bench!



New and improved Moxon vise???? For dovetailing barn walls together....

[Jack Curtis]

Gorgeous and huge. Is this lathe/router solution much like what's called oriental turning? And you said the threads were 90°, 45 + 45? Is that 90° total inside each thread-to-thread depression?

[Jim Underwood]

Amusing historical tidbit - the temperance movement actually followed John Appleseeds wanderings a bit over a generation later as the ready availability of cheap hard cider led to increased intoxication rates in those areas compared to folks that depended on other sources.

This helps confirm my observation about our propensity for self-destructive habits... While somewhat amusing from our vantage point, I'm sure those families whose livelihoods were destroyed due to their provider becoming the town drunk, weren't at all amused... Johnny Appleseed must have rolled over in his grave...

[Jack Curtis]

I think prohibition, the drug war, et al, some of the most destructive things that have happened to our nation. They make criminals out of most of us just because a few can't handle it, so a certain sector just has to prohibit.

[Tim Offutt]

George,
In the background of a couple photos I see an American Pacemaker lathe. Boy that brings back memories for me. I used to own one and it was a superb machine. Thanks for jogging my memory,
Tim Offutt

[george wilson]

Some answers: 1. Yes,the threads are 45+45=90º That makes it a lot easier when routing them,and is historically correct if you look at Diderot illustrations.

True,most farmers have smaller presses,but at least they use metal parts.We used to have a farm behind our house that had a small press. It was pretty clever,and went through about 3 gear boxes before it turned the steel press screw.

The thread is so long because it is a close copy of the old press in Somerset,England. I have seen pictures of presses with larger screws than this one!! Some I saw(supplied by the boss),had 16" diameter screws. Mine was 12". Funny,those pictures also showed a smaller winch that was used to pull the tommy bars harder. With 6 threads per foot,you are losing a lot of mechanical advantage. I wanted to build the smaller winch to go with it,but for some obscure reason,the director thought that was ridiculous,and wanted nothing to do with it. I guess he thought that just because the press was BIG,it must also be powerful.

[Mark Roderick]

I'll just add to the chorus. George, your work is timeless. I don't care how many views there are, you should think of this forum as a way to save your work for posterity.

[george wilson]

I guess that's what I'm doing,Mark.

[Ryan Mooney]

This helps confirm my observation about our propensity for self-destructive habits... While somewhat amusing from our vantage point, I'm sure those families whose livelihoods were destroyed due to their provider becoming the town drunk, weren't at all amused... Johnny Appleseed must have rolled over in his grave...

Agreed - most humor is just tragedy twice removed. On the flip side there was a lot of good done by the brewing community as they literally (and I mean literally) saved untold numbers of people by providing a safe beverage (in relative terms) to what was otherwise available. From our modern perspective it seems backwards but cider was stronger than a lot of the daily beer. Most beer was "near beer" and under 3% (sometimes as low as 1% or 2%) and in contrast the cider was a "hard drink" at 5%-6% - contrast that to some of the modern beers that hit up to 14% and 6% is common and its easy to see how you could slide off of the wagon (this is not to say there weren't strong beers back then, there clearly were but they were much less frequently consumed).

Also consider that the apples he planted were almost certainly intended for cider production. They were largely planted from seed and would bear little resemblance to the sweet eating apples you enjoy today having more in common with the bitter/sour crab and cider specialty apples that are sadly getting rarer and rarer (I enjoy eating those as well, but most find them overly tart). With this in mind I'm unconvinced we can fully know what his reaction would be but given his religious leanings I'm thinking he would at least mourn the loss of industry.

I certainly didn't mean to derail the thread, but I do find it interesting to consider the social environment in which some of these tools were used as you can sometimes obtain an deeper understanding of how and why they were made the way they were (other times its just all twaddle :p).

Back to woodworking..

[Jonas Oster]

George, as others have said, but I'll say it again: there are a lot of mostly silent readers in this forum. Some, like me, may feel that their lack of experience makes it hard for them to add anything of value, or even to ask sensible questions; some may have other reasons not to post, but I think we all enjoy and learn from the forum in general and especially your posts.

[george wilson]

Thank you,Jonas,and all the others. The apple mill will be next.

[Ryan Baker]

WOW George! That is spectacularly cool! What fun it would be to make that!

I've heard you mention this big old press screw a number of times on the forum. It's great to see the beast being made. Thanks for posting these.

Where is the world do you get a beech log that size? How did you bore the 2" hole down the middle? Did you do that on the big lathe?

Just another thought on the post count. Many of the people running up the "views" count are actually not members of the Creek and are not able to post replies, even if they wanted to. A lot of the rest of us aren't around during the day and need a little time to catch up with the threads. I am often (like today) late to the party, but I still love seeing new posts from George ... you know they will always have something spectacular in them. We appreciate the effort it takes you to post these, and you sharing your knowledge with us one little bit at a time.

[george wilson]

I hadn't thought of that,Ryan. I got the beech log from a former lumber mill near town. Too bad,the lumber mill no longer makes lumber. Just sells kitchen cabinets and stuff,and the machine shop closed too. They re opened elsewhere as a pretty automated shop,stamping out light fixtures. Not what it used to be.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

This is incredibly cool. I would love to see the whole thing in action, being turned and creaking and smelling of apples.

[Jim Koepke]

A bump to put the two giant wooden screw and the nut together.

jtk

[Lowell Smith]

I hadn't thought of that,Ryan. I got the beech log from a former lumber mill near town. Too bad,the lumber mill no longer makes lumber. Just sells kitchen cabinets and stuff,and the machine shop closed too. They re opened elsewhere as a pretty automated shop,stamping out light fixtures. Not what it used to be.

I want to see pictures of you hucking that log around! :D Holy cow!

I just want to say that your post are so rich in content (and possibilities for expansion) that often just one idea/sentence leaps out at me. For example, your comment on drying the log to avoid splitting. I'm quite sure I would have gone my life time without discovering this for myself. Right now I'm trying it out for myself, albeit on a much smaller log!

Thanks.

[Joe Fabbri]

Hi George,

That was really some impressive job there. I've never seen a screw that large out of wood. Thanks for doing the post. I only glanced through this posting briefly the other day, but I just read it more carefully now. Anyway, the idea of drilling out the center makes a lot of sense, and then only coating the outside of the wood with the wax. It's interesting to know that that works.

I'm curious, from your research, how did they contain the splits and twisting on old screws? Did they ever bore the centers out, or did they simply have access to logs that were well-dried? Or maybe they didn't worry about the splitting.

Joe

[george wilson]

I think that in the old days they planned well ahead. Wood was an important resource to them,more so than it is to us. We use metal for screws today. I know that they put logs of boxwood into a pile of manure and let the whole thing dry out for many years before using it. Boxwood is one of the worst woods to warp from being full of stresses. That's why they dried it so slowly for future generations. Most likely for their own family businesses.

Today,no one dries logs. I called several lumber yards and they said there is no profit in letting logs lay around,which is true today. We don't use big wood today like they once did.

[Hunter A Keller]

Wow. That is just amazing. Is this press on display somewhere George? I may be one of the few Creek members who actually live close enough to be able to see it someday.

And yes, I'm one of the daily readers who hardley ever posts. Guess I'm just afraid of getting e-blasted for saying something stupid.

[george wilson]

Hello,Hunter. As far as I know,the cider press and mill are still in the warehouse. It may be given to Mt. Vernon.

[Trevor Walsh]

If it makes a difference George, I read at least the initial post from every thread you start. Sometimes I ask something and follow the whole thread, sometimes I snapshot snippits of the image and corresponding text to re-read if I don't have the internet somewhere.

[george wilson]

Trevor,I am glad to hear that you are keeping track.It does take me a long time to make some of these posts. I have to search for the slides,scan them,get them from I Photo into my "folder"( I have a Mac). Then,with the long,descriptive posting if information it takes,in fact,well over an hour to make a post like this one. About 1 1/2 hours,actually,as I'm a 1 finger typist. So,it is good to know that the posts are being enjoyed.

.

[Joe Fabbri]

Yeah, I figured that was probably the case, George.

I'm still amazed when I think of their drying boxwood out for years and years in manure (one of the more interesting pieces of information I gained from your threads). While it was a necessity for them to wait that long to achieve certain results, I think that mentality is probably mostly gone nowadays. To think, for instance that masons and other tradesmen would start cathedrals and other projects which they knew would never be finished in their lifetime, is fascinating.

Joe

[george wilson]

I suppose it was what we call job security!!

[Joe Fabbri]

There you go! Haha.

Joe

[george wilson]

What about the Chinese with their "100 year" eggs??? I faintly recall they would bury eggs in a certain way in the ground to ferment for years. I'd pass on the offer to eat one of those.:)

[Jack Curtis]

What about the Chinese with their "100 year" eggs??? I faintly recall they would bury eggs in a certain way in the ground to ferment for years. I'd pass on the offer to eat one of those.:)

I thought it was 1000 years.

[Todd Burch]

I thought it was 1000 years.

And who would remember? lol

[george wilson]

I googled it. Must have been ancient Chinese hype. Most of those eggs were no more than 100 DAYS old.:) GROSS!!

[John Coloccia]

I knew them as Century Eggs and Forever Eggs when I was in Taiwan. It's really just a pickled egg except the pH is raised instead of lowered (i.e. it's basic, not acidic). They're really not bad. The texture's sorta funny, and the color is...well...unique...but it tastes like an egg.

[Jack Curtis]

And who would remember? lol

Yeah, but in a 4000 year old civilization, lots can happen. :)

[george wilson]

John,you are more adventurous about food than I am!!!

[Joe Fabbri]

I googled it. Must have been ancient Chinese hype. Most of those eggs were no more than 100 DAYS old.:) GROSS!!

Oh, well 100 days, now that's a different story....

[Stewie Simpson]

Wonderful work George. The scale of the work must have been quite a challenge to master.

[john brenton]

I'd eat a 1000 year egg over baloot any day of the week.

George, we've been waiting a long time to see this photo gallery! Thanks for sharing. I ran across this wooden screw while taking a quick look through Underhill's book at the library. The dimensions of that thing are amazing.

What would be cool is to go back and measure the size of the hole you drilled through the center of it to see what's happened there.


John,you are more adventurous about food than I am!!!

[Don Orr]

You're amazing George. I appreciate all your posts even if I don't respond to all of them. I don't get on this site as much as I used to so it's fun catching up with your incredible projects. It must have been a blast doing some of the things you have done. I'd have liked to hang out with you for a while back then. The things I could have learned.

[Steve Branam]

That is just incredible, yet another in a long line of spectacular things you've made, George! I'm glad this topic got bumped back up, I had missed it first time around.

[maximillian arango]

I know I am very late to the party so pardon my resurrection of a dead thread after searching on ways to make a wooden screw I find myself having trouble picking my jaw off the floor at his. I feel like I am going to be visiting a lot of your threads and I am going to be spoiled with readings for the next few days hopefully weeks. No words would do justice for how awesome this is.

Thank you
~max

[Leigh Betsch]

Keep bumping them up. I like to see them again. I might get some inspiration to try something crazy too.

[george wilson]

Glad you guys are enjoying the big screw. It was really a back breaking job at the time. I did enjoy the challenges of doing new things that came up in the unique situation I worked in. Where else would you have to build a harpsichord and later on a fire engine,and then a giant press ?

[Jack Curtis]

Glad you guys are enjoying the big screw. It was really a back breaking job at the time. I did enjoy the challenges of doing new things that came up in the unique situation I worked in. Where else would you have to build a harpsichord and later on a fire engine,and then a giant press ?

I've read this thread a couple of times, very interesting. I've been thinking of making a press screw in the distant future, to print some of my woodcuts (very basic so far, just starting), somewhat smaller than your cider variety. :)

[Robert G Brown]

So very interesting. Glad the thread was brought back. Was that 2" diameter hole drilled all the way through the log? And if yes, I can not imagine how? A belated thanks for posting this George.

[george wilson]

Yes,the 2" hole was drilled clear through the screw's center,using an auger that was used to drill propeller shaft holes on oyster boats. The hole was then used as the center of the screw to be. I put one end of the hole against a bullnose center on the tailstock. The other end,I centered in the large 4 jaw chuck by looking through the hole in the spindle,adjusting the chuck till the screw's hole was centered on the spindle's hole. Visual accuracy was all that was needed,also known as eye ball gauge.

[Jim Koepke]

Visual accuracy was all that was needed,also known as eye ball gauge.

Where I used to work we called that "using a well calibrated eye."

I even wrote a short training exercise on how to "calibrate one's eye" using a pile of shim washers and a caliper.

jtk

[Jonas Andersson]

Well that's the biggest screw I've ever seen! Incredible. Makes me wonder if one could use it as some sort of ladder/elevator by standing on the nut and make it turn :).

[Patrick McCarthy]

Jonas, welcome to the forum. I ALWAYS enjoy seeing Creations by George, and when these old threads come back around it is always as good as the initial view. WOW