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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: talesofthesevenseas on September 23, 2010, 10:30:45 AM
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Time for me to address the chopper, and maybe the lemon squeezer. I'd like to use the chopper in my kitchen for food prep, but the lemon squeezer I may leave alone. Not sure yet.
The chopper is in darn good shape. The blade is still sharp, the handle is tight and sturdy. The handle is riveted to the posts and the blade is marked very faintly with "R. JONES". The blade just has some spotting and light surface rust and I think it could clean up nicely and become useful again. KC, I think you said you're using a couple of old choppers/pastry cutters?
What do all of you recommend for cleaning something like this that is going to be used for food prep? I am thinking I'd use the naval jelly to remove the rust, then just give it a VERY thorough cleaning with dish soap and water, then lightly oil it with olive oil to inhibit rust, taking care to leave the wooden handle as it is, just giving that a little mineral oil.
The lemon squeezer is pretty heavily rusted. I'm not even sure if it is cast iron or steel. I think it is steel as there are one or two spots of silver showing through the black crud and rust. It is too heavily encrusted to know if it has any markings yet. I'm thinking naval jelly first to get the worst of the rust off, then see if it really is steel or cast iron, then if it is cast iron it could go into the lye bath setup that I have if needed.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/KitchenTools.jpg)
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I like the chopper. I have two old ones I could use but opt to use an ulu knife instead. I would use a Dremel with a wire brush on the juicer to get rid of any loose rust. Naval jelly is good but I would imagine a film of chemical would be left that needs to be really cleaned to get off. I just do not like unknown chemicals in contact with food prep items, especially with a somewhat porous cast metal. I think it is cast iron rather than steel. It may have been nickel plated originally and that is what is peeking thru. Steel and cast iron would both rust equally. The specific mineral contents determine what is 'steel' and what is 'cast iron'. I do not know the difference in make-up specifically. The juicer was cast in a mold and that is why I think it is cast iron. Later juicers were of some type of white metal alloy or aluminum so the acid did not affect them as much.
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OK sounds like I could use the lye bath for the juicer then as I did for the cast iron pans. I hadn't thought of a wire brush and the dremel for the chopper, I guess a very soft wire would be in order so that it doesn't scratch. I'll take a look at what I've got in my dremel kit. I'll also try just plain ol' soap and water on the chopper blade to see what comes off with that first.
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You should have a brass wire brush and probably a steel wire brush in your Dremel kit. I would use the brass first as that is softer.
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OK thanks, and if I don't have the right one they are readily available at the home improvement stores by my work.
I have been looking for the "R. JONES" mark and so far I'm not finding much. There was a Robert Jones in England who marked items this way, but he seems to have mostly produced corkscrews and they date to the mid 1800's and I don't think this chopper is that old. My guess is 1900 to 1930-ish.
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I would clean with Dremel first. I had heard of two others carried down through the family.......so I searched and found instructions for them as well.
Using lemon juice and vinegar
http://www.ehow.com/how_4517674_remove-rust-utensils-clean-effectively.html (http://www.ehow.com/how_4517674_remove-rust-utensils-clean-effectively.html)
Using cola
http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6722197_clean-rust-kitchen-utensils.html (http://www.ehow.co.uk/how_6722197_clean-rust-kitchen-utensils.html)
For small spots of rust I remember they would take a very potent onion and rub all over the affected area and let it sit on it for a while then wash off. It worked!
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I had heard of using white vinegar for rust removal and had forgotten about that. That was recommended on that cast iron Griswold and Wagner forum, but you can't leave it for too long or it can actually eat away the metal. It sounds in the Ehow article that it happens pretty instantaneously, so I'll give it a shot and see what happens, then wash thoroughly afterward.
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All I can say is "Wow!" I used only white vinegar with a scrubbing pad and the rust and years of stains came right off the chopper! No Dremel or lemon juice needed. After the vinegar I cleaned it with soap and water, then mineral oil on the handle and a light coating of olive oil for the metal surfaces.
Here's the result. It's quite pitted but in great shape otherwise and you can see the "R. JONES" mark clearly now:
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Chopper1.jpg)
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Chopper2.jpg)
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Wow, what a beauty!
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Great kitchen items! Vinegar is my best friend, I use it to clean everything. Always works great for me on rust. I also use it on my vegetables, removes herbicides and pesticides very well. But I mostly buy organic now.
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Nice job! Isn't it amazing how so many of the basic items we have had around for years still is the best?!!!!!
I keep a large gallon container of it around for cleaning and cooking purposes. Still safe, non-toxic and my family hates the smell! LOL But better than toxic chemicals!
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Well this is interesting. I put the lemon squeezer into the lye bath and at the end of the day I started seeing silver colored metal coming through so I pulled it out and finished it off with vinegar.
It looks like it is cast steel or aluminum, with trace remnants of nickle plating... I think? Opinions anyone? It feels too heavy to be aluminum, so I am thinking it must be steel? It does look to be cast, but I can't locate a gate mark, I suspect it would have been ground down?
It is completely unmarked. I went over it with the loupe and although one of the photos shows something that looks like a number 2, it is actually just pitting on the metal. It is very pitted on all surfaces, looking through the loupe. The hinge is rivetted. Here's the photos after cleaning. This will at least inhibit further damage and deterioration from rust and corrosion.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/LemonSqueezer3.jpg)
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/LemonSqueezer4.jpg)
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/LemonSqueezer1.jpg)
5(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/LemonSqueezer2.jpg)
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/LemonSqueezer5.jpg)
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Talesof , what does your magnet say ?
I like functional & hevi-duty kitchen stuff like this !
My first guess , when I saw your juicer posted , was that this is a cast-iron item , which would have been nickle-plated .
Heck , I'd try it out & if it didn't squirt me in the eye , I'd consider having it pickled & nickled .
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I like 'em too! Definitely looks to be pretty old, although I'm not sure how old it really could be.
The magnet sticks, so it's not aluminum. It would be steel then, right?
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Well , it's got iron in it for sure .
I'm curious to know if the holes were bored , or cast into it ...?
Another possibility is that your item was 'tinned' (with tin) , rather than plated .
Although it's way more easy to tin copper kitchen-ware , it is possible to do with steel & iron items (that are not used with heat) .
In the event that this do-dad is forged steel , it also may have been (shudder) galvinized .
I remember drinking lemonade that was 'stored' in an insulated galvinized (inside & out) beverage cooler , at pic-nics in my childhood .
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I remember those coolers as well!!!!!! Ahhhhhh, the memories! They would sweat like crazy from the cold beverage inside!
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I think they are cast. I don't see any sign that the holes were drilled through, but I could be wrong. Looking with the loupe again, the sides of the holes are pitted too, so there's no way to see if there were any drill marks originally. The positions of the holes are irregular if that tells us anything. I can't tell if the irregularity in the hole shapes is due to them being puctured through a sloped surface (resulting in an eliptical rather than round shape) or if they are actually made with different size objects. I put it next to an old 1850's patented cast iron pan and I think you are right, there is a lot of iron in this, it is kind of a dark silver, but not quite black like cast iron usually is. The plating is quite bright and light colored, what's left of it that is!
No worries, I'm not planning to use this one for food prep. The cleaning was because I wanted to stop the deterioration. I have a nice 1940's juicer that I use.
This is about the best picture I can get of the holes, it's taken with my Droid, my camera went belly-up yesterday.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/LemonSqueezer6.jpg)
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Thanks for the extra images , talesof !
I like the off-kilter holes in the juicer , myself .
The whole unit looks sturdy enough to drive nails (almost) !
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Reading and watching this post brought a few question in mind about a Chopper I have, I just posted it again for the third time on Ebay, have got watchers but no bids. First do you think I should clean it like tales cleaned hers? But what I want to know the most is about the style of handles. You have wood handles, but mine is Metal and red. I have seen many kitchen gadgets with this style handles. At what point in history did the metal handles become the fad of the kitchen? And any ideals of maybe what I should post the value at? Then of course any thing else that might enlighten the Forum.
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I think I would clean the blade and aim it at the retro kitchen crowd. The color on the handle is great! There are a lot of red/chrome retro kitchen items like blenders that the chopper would go great with.
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Just wanted to comment that the old food chopper has become one of my favorite kitchen tools. I can't believe this design ever fell out of favor! It is great because your fingers aren't down where the chopping is going on, it does thin, fine slicing and the curved blade lets you do a rocking/chopping that produces a very finely chopped result. Hubby helped make dinner last night and was quickly raving over what a great little gadget it is. If you see one in good shape, grab it!
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Try a good ulu knife, you may be equally impressed.
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Go to this site for some excellent representations of older kitchen items.
The choppers are 3/4 way down.....
http://www.lonehand.com/antique_utensils.htm (http://www.lonehand.com/antique_utensils.htm)
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Great site, KC, I was almost expecting to find the scissored scoopy thing there :)
I particularly like the Nutbrown Veg Chopper
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Very cool. I particularly liked that wooden grater.
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I picked up two more kitchen gadgets today. One is a flour sifter, which I'm finding that vinegar isn't working too well at removing the rust. I'm hoping to use this one, my modern spring-loaded one broke so no more pies for hubby until I get the sifter issues resolved!so I guess I'll keep at it with the vinegar. I have a light coat of olive oil on it now, hoping to soften it up a bit. I used a whole bottle of white vinegar and its still rusty!
The second item is a really cool ice shaver. I thought it was aluminum, but when I got it home I found that a magnet sticks to it. So I guess it is steel, since it is dull silver color and not black like iron. The inside of it is very bright silver, which makes me wonder if it could be coated in tin and might have a high lead content. So I'm going to pick up a lead test kit before I use it to shave ice. This one still had the blade in it. The blade has two edges, one was used and rusty, the other was brand new and still sharp! I'm hoping this one will turn out to be useable. It was really clean and in phenomenal shape. I love the art deco style decorations on the outside of it.
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I really like the ice shaver and your chopper as well.
I have a chopper (like ironlord's) and wooden bowl that were my grandma's that I use to this day for tuna fish. Actually, I stopped using the wooden bowl because it finally got a big crack in it.
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I like the wooden bowl that I have too. I've been planning to use mineral oil on it to rehydrate it a little, because I am concerned that it might crack, since most of the old bowls you see do have cracks in them. But I've been holding off on doing that because I'd really like to try to find someone who could help me date it first (we decided here that this needs a hands-on inspection) and it seemed best to let that person see it just as I found it. But I don't want to wait too long. I keep looking at it and worrying that it is dry.
I totally like that candy mold you posted today. VERY cool. You could make some neat desserts with that this Christmas! Maybe make chocolates to go on the top of a round cake!
I'm really hoping that ice shaver doesn't turn out to be toxic. I was imagining how I could freeze a block of ice and scrape it and have really nice shaved ice for drinks, snow cones... all kinds of stuff!