Restoring old enterprise

[Jonathon]

A long time ago glen gave me an old enterprise stuffer that was in need of some tlc. I said I’d work on it in my free time, but that has been hard to come by recently, for everyone, not just me. Well, this weekend my wife and my plans got blown up when she had to go into work. So, I finally put a little work into it! I basically got all the easy rust done, now the detail work begins and will probably take a good amount of time.

[Tex_77]

processhead I assume this is a cast iron stuffer and it would need seasoned to prevent rusting again? Or were originals painted on the outside?

[processhead]

Tex_77 said in Restoring old enterprise:

processhead I assume this is a cast iron stuffer and it would need seasoned to prevent rusting again? Or were originals painted on the outside?

Tex_77 The originals were painted inside and out, probably a lead based paint. The original paint on the ones I have seen were black with gold highlights on the lettering and high edges. Some of the later ones had some kind of a decal applied to the tub.
With the sanding and buffing that has been done so far on Jonathon s stuffer, I think it might be hard to season it at this point and have it come out with a uniform coloration. I think I would probably just repaint it at this point.

If he plans to use it, he would need to just paint the exterior and leave the interior surfaces that would contact meat uncoated and seasoned with oil. Maybe he can find some food grade powder-coat for it.

[processhead]

Jonathon You will have better luck with cleaning up the stuffer if you completely tear it down first.
It’s not difficult and it will help you get all the grunge off each piece.

[bocephus]

Jonathon You can find replacement parts on a few sites online. Looks like it has the small plate with the screen, you can get the large plate. I have one that looked a lot like this one before I cleaned it up and ordered a large plate. I seasoned the inside and painted the outside. Stuffed a lot of venison sausage before I semiretired it, still works very well.

[processhead]

Here are a few pictures of Enterprise 4 quart that I got a couple years ago. It still has the original paint and I chose to just strip and season the inside of the tub and leave the rest original. It gives you an idea of what the original paint job looked like.
I have 6 quart cast iron stuffer that I use for processing, so this little one will probably just be a shop decoration.

[Departing Contestant]

I may have posted this before, if so, mia culpa. this is a stuffer belonging to one of my customers grandfathers that he had restores and refinished with the original tubes

[processhead]

Departing Contestant said in Restoring old enterprise:

I may have posted this before, if so, mia culpa. this is a stuffer belonging to one of my customers grandfathers that he had restores and refinished with the original tubes

That is a design you don’t see too often. Nice display piece.

[Craig Rice]

Jonathon that looks like the one in the Butcher shop I worked in when I was young

[digidwain]

You can buy parts for some of the Chop Right stuffers at Allied Kenco. I had to get a nut to hold the stuffing tubes replaced for my dad. That is where I found it with other parts as well.

[cdavis]

processhead beautiful

[cdavis]

Departing Contestant awesome looking machine

[Joseph Hadacek]

Back in the day these units were referred to as lard press, fruit press and butchering on the farm were put to good use! Cooking down fat from pigs and then leftovers into the press you made cracklings ! A litte salt and that was just like eating popcorn . We used the press to make sausage links and baloney ! I have one which I used until it got to heavy to move around so I completely restored it and bought a new vertical unit! Parts are available on Google

[processhead]

Joseph Hadacek said in Restoring old enterprise:

Back in the day these units were referred to as lard press, fruit press and butchering on the farm were put to good use! Cooking down fat from pigs and then leftovers into the press you made cracklings ! A litte salt and that was just like eating popcorn . We used the press to make sausage links and baloney ! I have one which I used until it got to heavy to move around so I completely restored it and bought a new vertical unit! Parts are available on Google

Weight is one of the drawbacks of these stuffers, but the fact that there are so many still around is a testimony to their durability and functionality.
I retired my 8 quart Enterprise because of the weight issue, but I now use a 6 quart cast iron model with a cylinder that is removable from the frame, piston and gear drive. This is a huge improvement and makes cleanup much easier and is the design most of the modern SS stuffers are patterned after.
I also added a custom extended crank to mine which offers a lot of added leverage when stuffing snack sticks or other small diameter sausages.