You can`t beat a good beater !

[roaduck]

The post from Pirate63 about Vintage USA made handtools reminded me of something I had in the shed and something hanging on the kitchen wall.
Somewhere on that wall rack is five cleavers, a bow bread-knife , a pizza slicer and four pairs of scissors - Oh
I forgot the two stainless palette knives and potato peeler that were buried underneath the clutter !

The first middle tool is an old English brace and bit drill from the 1950`s - 1960`s - no idea just guessing and two vintage English Skyline hand operated gear and pinion egg-whisks from the 1930`s - 1940`s ? no idea of real age.
They all work magnificently and will be brilliant when the proverbial SHTF - I especially like my egg beaters because the gear ratio is quite high ( so they spin fast ) plus they take two seconds to clean and are literally handy !

 

[Aardvark]

That eggbeater drill in the center is indeed a beauty. I have discovered, however, that eggs whisk better with a larger bit size, preferably a Jennings.

 

[roaduck]

That eggbeater drill in the center is indeed a beauty. I have discovered, however, that eggs whisk better with a larger bit size, preferably a Jennings.

Haha - Right thank you Aardvark - much appreciated for the tip ! - I used to make wooden children toys by hand and with an early CNC lathe in the early eighties so I used a lot of vintage handtools as well as a teenager - especially in the village blacksmith`s forge !
An electric food processor or powered whisk takes an age to clean and dry - a royal PITA.
I just bought a Makita cordless drill (not SDS) that will be lucky to last five years - such a shame that things don`t last anymore or can`t be fixed - the throw-away society is eventually doomed unfortunately; so so sad.

 

[Aardvark]

I have recently discovered (I'm old and slow) that an immersion blender is amazingly efficient, easy to clean, and you can often do the blending in the container in which you will be storing the leftovers.

Is that wooden tool hanging on the wall rack, a spirtle?

 

[David Mary]

Fascinating tools there. I'm pretty boring. I use a fork. Easy to clean, though.

 

[roaduck]

I have recently discovered (I'm old and slow) that an immersion blender is amazingly efficient, easy to clean, and you can often do the blending in the container in which you will be storing the leftovers.

Is that wooden tool hanging on the wall rack, a spirtle?

Oh the wooden thing on the wall Aardvark - erm it`s an Appalachian bow fiddle bread knife with a 1/64th (0.4mm or 0.015625" decimal ) of an inch thick scalloped blade off an industrial bread slicer - it is lethal - you only have to lightly touch it and you have a finger that won`t stop bleeding for days ! It must be 50 BESS points or something stupid like that !

That is why industrial bakeries use that particular blade design profile - it makes a normal knife look like an axe in comparison.

I have two bow fiddle bread knives and the new Chinese one below is better because it can do wider slices - both totally effortless on rock hard sourdough loaves or unripe pineapples - you name it.

A good one trick pony haha !

Thank you Aardvark - I`ll have to look up a spirtle - you learn something everyday - I love brainteasers !
I should have remembered - I lived in Scotland ( Foula - Shetland Isles and Aberdeen ) for 6 months - it`s a Scottish wooden porridge oats stirrer - I'm getting old.

The bottom one was bought in Liverpool , England and originally came with an original black carbon steel blade that was used continuously everyday from the mid seventies; I just swapped it for a no maintenance stainless blade even though it was still plenty sharp enough to slice any dough or fruit.
It is an Oscar`s handmade one from Oklahoma from 1975...ish.

All three knives have ten inch blades and the top white one is 15 inches in total length for scale.

 

[roaduck]

Fascinating tools there. I'm pretty boring. I use a fork. Easy to clean, though.

You are so right David Mary - when I was a poor student in Radcliffe , NW England in the mid seventies all i had was two old Sheffield dinner forks to make single cream into double thick cream - it took me ages - 15 mins ? and was a jolly good fun work-out to boot !
Simple is best haha !

As a kid in Wales I used to make full-fat raw milk into butter by hand as well - that was a long time ago - early seventies...eeeck !
My 18th Century Millers cottage home had two floors but no staircase ( rope ladder and climbing holes in wall ) no running water ( just a well in the garden ) and no gas or electricity either or inside toilet or bathroom - Happy Days !

 

[Aardvark]

Wow, I sure got that wrong! My father-in-law made me one of those bread knives out of purpleheart, and it is indeed lethal. Don't use it as often as I would like, since there is a dearth of decent, whole bread loaves. REALLY miss the German breads...
Been looking at Pullman loaves, to see if they are a decent replacement. Especially for use with English tea sandwiches.

 

[roaduck]

Wow, I sure got that wrong! My father-in-law made me one of those bread knives out of purpleheart, and it is indeed lethal. Don't use it as often as I would like, since there is a dearth of decent, whole bread loaves. REALLY miss the German breads...
Been looking at Pullman loaves, to see if they are a decent replacement. Especially for use with English tea sandwiches.

Oh lovely Aardvark that sounds like a wonderful knife and bread - My family is from Poland / Ukraine and as children my brother and I adored brown caraway seed and black bread from Germany, Poland and Russia - I can still smell it now just reminiscing - simply divine.
I can still get it from the Polish deli in Chorlton but it`s not really really fresh !
My favourite loaves were from the Hare Kryshnas in Withington - made with all Indian flour, herbs, spices and seeds and weighed 5 lbs each for a 15 inch loaf but wasn`t really hard or chewy - more like moist and very fragrant.

Bread prices have gone through the roof here in Manchester, NW England - a decent artisan loaf is $8 plus and just a hundred years ago you could buy a lovely brown loaf for a farthing which was a quarter of a penny because there was 240 pennies in the pound , you could buy nearly a thousand loaves for ONE £ pound - inflation has gone mental Aardvark !

 

[roaduck]

I have recently discovered (I'm old and slow) that an immersion blender is amazingly efficient, easy to clean, and you can often do the blending in the container in which you will be storing the leftovers.

Is that wooden tool hanging on the wall rack, a spirtle?

An immersion blender is brilliant Aardvark - all you need for most food processing jobs - I gave away a heavy 1/2 HP - 1950`s bowl blender because it took too much bench space and a Braun food processor because it was massive and a pig to clean and store in my tiny kitch.