Butter Marking

Kia ora katoa

a couple of posts ago I published some photos of a large wooden screw-type thing; we now know that it is a butter auger. Curious indeed - what does it do? Well, a butter auger came  into it's own towards the end of the process - once the cream had been churned and the butter formed, the whey was drained off and the butter fell into a large funnel where the auger was situated. As the auger turned, the butter was pushed along and out into a mould. It was then marked with a textured rolling pin-type device like this:

Thus labelled as being an example of New Zealand's finest, the butter was boxed up and packaged for export.

The rolling-pin butter labeller we have in our collection is very worn in places, attesting to a long and useful life and, no doubt, much scrubbing at the end of every shift so it was clean and ready for the next day's work. 

I have to say that I am very impressed with all these wooden tools that were used in the dairy industry; it must have taken a lot  of work to create them and  to keep them clean and hygenic. My hat goes off to the man who carved this particular beauty; it is so detailed and evenly cut, yet retains a  freshness of design. Tools that suit their purpose and that work well are a joy to the user, and this is one of them - enjoy!