Rebirth of Vintage Maytag Wringer Washing Machines

Wringer Washing Machines were once the mainstay of virtually every household during the early 1900s. While several companies produced wringer washing machines, Maytag Wringer Washers long outlived the competition and were still being produced up until 1983. These old relics were very well made with heavy-duty parts. They were being made in the US during the error of when quality and longevity matter long before the idea of planned obsolescence was introduced to manufactures. 

Wringer washers began to fall out of favor when the automatic washers with a spin cycle took hold.

Maytag wringer washers are still widely being used in the Amish self-sustaining communities. They are used in many other non-Amish businesses such as garages and car washes that need to frequently wash rags, coveralls, and shammies. They also are still used in many homes as either the main source for clean clothes or as a garage washing machine for worker clothes that the wife doesn’t wish to use in her main washing machine.

An interesting phenomenon is occurring with the rebirth of refurbished Maytag Washing Machines mainly due to the introduction of online replacement parts by Cottage Craft Works.com

Many of the older Maytag Wringer Washers were retired when parts became obsolete and couldn’t be obtained. Many were turned into a flower planter and antique store display or sent to the junk pile.

Cottage Craft Works.com is a unique general store whose sole mission is to search the back roads of the Amish communities and find old-fashioned reproduction products or parts to fix vintage farms and household implements and appliances.

As the industrial revolution and the introduction of electricity to the common homeowner transpired the common off-grid items began to no longer have available parts. The Amish self-sufficient culture is still stuck in those time periods and relies heavily on this vintage equipment.

As part supplies began to dwindle Amish owned machine shops and foundries began to reproduce the replacement parts. Many Amish companies purchased the molds and patterns from the original manufactures so many of the parts are just like they were when originally made.

Cottage Craft Works.com online general store offers all the Amish parts to refurbish Maytag Wringer Washers from replacement, castes, transmission parts, to replacement rollers and wringer parts. Most all the parts are brand new, but they do have sources for some of the used parts as well.

Cottage Craft Works can also source, DC and air-powered off-grid motors as well as gasoline engines to run Maytag Washers off-grid.

Paint can be sourced through local hardware stores Rust-Oleum Specialty 12 oz. Appliance Gloss White Epoxy Spray Paint #7881830

Maytag was very consistent in the parts they made from 1940s-1983 so most all the parts cross over to the various models with some exceptions between the older round tub and more modern square tub models. Along the way, they also made some improvements with rubber tub gaskets replacing the older cork gaskets.

Since the introduction of the available parts by Cottage Craft Works many have been searching for and refurbishing these vintage washing machines. Several have committed they are returning the wringer washing machines that they grew up with because they reportedly clean better. Others have become frustrated in having to spend the money every few years on a new machine because the ones they were using just wore out and were too expensive to repair of couldn’t find anyone dependable to fix them.

Cottage Craft Works.com offers a full line old-fashioned general store from sewing cabinets, kitchen wares, stoneware pottery, vintage replacement gunstocks, and hunting equipment.  Replacement parts for vintage International Harvester, John Deere, and New Idea implements are also a specialty.

New Energy Efficient Dishwasher Dries Poorly

It’s a fact, new energy efficient dishwashers no longer produce the drying heat of older models. In order to comply with new appliance Federal Energy Efficiency Guidelines manufactures have reduced the heating capacity that once dried all types of dishes.

This results in plastic food storage containers and nonstick coated pans still dripping wet when the dishwasher completes the drying cycle.

Many owners who have replaced an older dishwasher with a new energy efficient model believe their new dishwasher is defective.

Drying and spotting agents do have a significant impact on the drying, but some items that don’t absorb heat like plastics and nonstick kitchen wares just can’t hold in what little heat is produced and then finish the drying at the end of the cycle.

Placing wet dishes into cabinets, especially on the bottom of plastic drinking glasses and coffee cups will start breaking down the cabinet finishes. Both raw exposed wood and wet dishes then harbor germs and bacteria.

So, what is one to do?

You can revert to old-fashioned dishwashing techniques such as hand drying with a dishtowel or air drying on a dishrack which, begs the question of the little girl on the dishwashing detergent commercial “So, what exactly does the dishwasher do?” Dish towels can also harbor bacteria and should be changed frequently with fresh ones.

We have found that an old-fashioned kitchen sink drainboard has become a modern-day necessity to finish air drying plastics and nonstick dishes. However, the ones being sold in stores are just not very adaptive to newer style kitchens. They don’t drain well, leaving countertops wet, are bulky to store away, as they are just ugly to leave out on nice countertops and kitchen sinks.

We use this Amish made stainless steel kitchen sink drainboard from Cottage Craft Works.com.  The stainless-steel fits nicely with our high-end stainless kitchen appliances and goes nicely with our country farm sink.

The size is perfect for holding a standard stainless dish rack leaving space to dry long spoons on the side. Oversized commercial pots and pans can be air dried with or without the dishrack just like they are done in a commercial kitchen.

Best of all the positive drain slope of the drainboard doesn’t allow water to pool underneath and damage the countertops.

These drainboards are used by large Amish families who do most of the cooking at home without owning dishwashers.

The drainboard has also forced us to become even more energy efficient as we find it’s just as easy to now handwash the big pots and pans, as well as plastic freezer containers and then air dry them on the drainboard saving critical space in the dishwasher for standard dishes.

You can expect to pay around $100 for the drainboard and shipping. It’s an investment that will last a lifetime to be passed down to generations. Considering the number of dishes washed in the average household in a year the payback is rather quick.

Cottage Craft Works offers two styles, a closed lip back across the back edge and an open back edge.  The open back is more economically priced as it takes less labor to make than the closed back.

We prefer the closed back style as it allows us to use the drainboard as an extra prep area where we can use the spray hose to wash out vegetables in a colander on the drainboard.

Cottage Craft Works also offers powder coated decorator style drainboards in black and granite style finishes for those kitchens using newer black appliances and decorator kitchen sinks and countertops.

 Custom sizes are also available for different uses for home and commercial kitchens. 

Pressing Tinctures, Herbal Oils, Extracts, Using A Hydraulic Press

Get the maximum extract from your tincture mixes from herbs and plants for medicinal as well as flavor enhancers. 

When it comes maximizing the fruits of your labor and squeezing absolutely every droplet form expensive herbs and plants only a hydraulic tincture-herb-oil press will give you commercial duty results. The more tonnage of pressure the more dryer pulp plug known as the “marc” will become allowing the most potent tinctures to be squeezed out.

Hand screw presses just don’t apply the types of pressure to bear down on the marc thus as much as 20%-40% of the most beneficial tincture is left untouched and eventually thrown away with the marc.

The self-sufficient Amish probably understands the concept of getting the most benefits and usefulness of the manual labors and tools used in order to sustain their lifestyle.

Extracting essential herbs and oils is a large part of the Amish way of life for making homemade flavor enhancers, soaps, candles, medicinal salves, and tonics.

The Amish also grow most all their herbs and hand-collect wild plant leaves and roots to make their own tincture brews. They want to make the most of the hard work it takes to do so.

Thus, when it comes to making functional items to get the job done, they tend to do an overkill above anything else on the market both for long term use and the maximum output. They tend to use substantially thicker raw materials in the metal parts and overengineer the construction.

While most tincture hydraulic jack presses use a 6-Ton bottle jack the Amish step it up and use an 8-Ton or even a 20-Ton jack. While most use just any imported bottle jack the Amish use only a well-made USA bottle jack built in ISO certified factories.

CCW USA Amish Tincture Press

Time is important and to support the extra-large families most everything they make must be oversized as well. So, instead of making a ½ gallon press the Amish made tincture press has a one-gallon capacity.

The extra pressing power with the heavier construction and capacity places this tincture press more on the level of a commercial lab press.

Aside from pressing tincture and essential oils the Amish also use this tincture press for other uses such as pressing cheese and fruit juices.

You will only find the 8 & 20 Ton Amish USA made tincture press online at Cottage Craft Works.com

Cottage Craft Works is a unique general store that works closely with Amish cottage based shops to bring old-fashioned USA quality made products to the general market place.

Empanadas | Hand Crank Empanada Maker | Restaurant Commercial Grade Empanada Maker

This heavy commercial grade empanada and pie maker is priced within reach for the family who enjoys making these wonderful empanada meat pies.

Similar hand crank pie machines of this quality are priced over $2000. It’s called The Little Pie Maker and it’s priced under $500.

It’s made commercial grade using heavy cast metals with polished aluminum pie dies. What’s rather unique about this machine is that it was actually developed and is manufactured in the Amish self sufficient communities.

The Amish just build things to last a lifetime and on into the next generations.

While the Amish do enjoy foods from many different cultures the pie maker was actually made to make fried fruit pies for large Amish events.

It's also makes perfect empanadas; it will, cut, and seal just about any other pocket dough like empanadas. The Pie Maker works just as well on calzones, and other similar pie pockets.

The ideal thickness of the dough should be rolled to right a 1/8” thick. The ideal size of the dough is a 6” round to make a perfect 3” x 5” pie.

The Pie Maker will crank out up to 200 empanadas per hour. For a restaurant or commercial kitchen this pie maker will be better enhanced with a commercial dough or pasta roller to keep up the pace in a busy restaurant kitchen cranking empanadas.

For a family, The Little Pie Maker makes a good reason to pull together an extended family to make a large batch of pies for each family to take home and restock the freezer.

Empanadas are a stuffed pastry that is believed to have originated in Spain. They are a main menu item in Latin and South American companies extending into other countries with different variations of the meats, cheeses, vegetables, and fruits used to stuff the dough pocket.

From a culture that thrives on seafood to cultures using meats and cheeses the name empanadas is used in many different languages and menus.

There is even a possibility that the empanada also influenced the development of other meat filled pies such as the calzone or the Cornish pasties. Because of the same shape of the dough pocket The Little Pie Maker will also make these as well.

Whether you use The Little Pie Maker to make empanadas, calzones, pasties, or fruit pies this little machine can crank out a perfect sealed pie pocket ready for the oven or deep fryer.

The Little Pie Maker is only available online at Cottage Craft Works .com

International flat rate shipping is available outside of the United States.