How to Construct a Butter Churn Dasher

Dashers are used to agitate cream in a butter churn.

A butter churn is the key tool for making butter at home, with the churn itself containing the cream -- and ultimately the butter and buttermilk -- and the inserted dasher agitating the cream into butter. While many homemade butter churns omit the dasher altogether, opting instead for systems like shaking the cream in a jar, constructing a dasher is actually fairly simple. And using a butter churn with a dasher can be easier on tired muscles than shaking a jar, as the butter churn can rest on the ground while the dasher is vigorously moved up and down.

Things You'll Need

• 18-inch-long-by-2-inch-thick wooden rod
• Two 1-inch-thick-by-2-inch-wide-by-5-inch-long pieces of wood
• Sandpaper (optional)
• Hammer or electric screwdriver
• Nail or screw (3 to 4 inches long)

Instructions

1. Trim the paddles (the 1-by-2-by-5-inch pieces of wood) to the appropriate length, if necessary. They should be shorter than the diameter of the churn you will be using.

2. Sand all the pieces of wood, if desired. This is often most necessary for the handle, if your wood is rough; wood that is insufficiently smooth can leave splinters in the churner's hands. You will also want to sand the churn paddles if they are splintery, to avoid leaving wood chips in your butter or buttermilk.

3. Center one paddle over one end of the wooden rod; balance or hold it in place. Place the other paddle over it, also centered, but arranged so it creates a cross or X shape on top of the rod.

4. Screw or nail the pieces together, taking care to drive the nail or screw directly into the center of the rod. Work slowly to ensure that the nail or screw goes straight -- not at an angle -- into the rod, connecting the pieces.

Tips & Warnings

• Practical Kitchen recommends constructing a child-sized butter churn using a dasher made from kids' toys. Popular brands of snap-together building toys often feature pieces with spokes emerging from each side, intended to serve as connecting pieces for crazy constructions. Attach a straight handle to one of these pieces, and it becomes a perfect, kid-sized dasher just right for making butter in a small jar.

• For a decorative accent, use a drill to create a screw hole in the top end of the rod. Screw in a decorative knob or drawer pull, like those found at hardware stores.

References

• Norris Chambers: Butter Was Hard to Make
• Old And Interesting: Butter Churns -- History of Domestic Butter-making
• Web Exhibits: Ways of Churning Butter
• Backwoods Living: Make a Butter Churn
• Practical Kitchen: Making Butter