Wood handles/knobs on espresso equipment, do they hold up?

[cannonfodder]

I have been thinking about turning new handles for my PF's and for the handle on my lever machine (chriscoffee post showing the new Elektra with the wood handles and knobs just underscores the point). My concern has been how the wood would hold up under the constant heating/cooling and exposure to moisture. Even with a good coating of sealer to close up the pores on the wood, I would think that the constant heat cycling would cause warping and cracking.

Does anyone have experience with wood handled equipment?

[framey]

I'm 99% sure the everything that looks like wood on the Elektra is Bakelite.

These guys use a variety of woods for pf handles:

http://www.tamper.dk/shop/default.asp?SetLng=27

[Teme]

The handles shown on tamper.dk are manufactured by http://www.cafe-kultur.com

The La Pavoni that I will be babysitting for a week is five years old and still has the original wood handles - they are in beautiful shape (almost flawless).

Br,
Teme

[cannonfodder]

I know that Pavoni has put wood handles on their PF's and the pull lever for years. My concern was more about my Isomac. The PF on my Factory gets hot, but not like the PF on my Isomac. After an hour of heating, the PF gets quite hot. The steam and water knobs would be easy to cut with a scroll saw. The PF handles would be just about as easy to turn. The hard part would be the female threading in the handle. But I could always cut the OEM handle open, remove the threaded metal sleeve and glue it into the wood handle. I have not unscrewed the handles on my Isomac PF's, so if I am mistaken as to their construction, please correct me.

You would have to use a fine grain, dense wood for durability. My kitchen has oak cabinets and trim so red oak handles would look good. I could turn a matching handle for my tamper as well.

[Teme]

The guy running tamper.dk (Soren) has a Zaffiro with a wooden PF handle and knobs. I do not know how long they have been on the machine but the machine itself looks well used and the wooden parts, including the handle looked like they are standing up well to the test of time (and heat/moisture).

Br,
Teme

[bigsoccermomma]

since the handle on my silvia snapped about six months ago i have had a maple handle--works great no problems! You do have to seal them--waterlox works great. I would like to have my hubby make one out of a dark wood--walnut or stained cherry.

anyways

tracey

[cannonfodder]

Sealing the wood is not a problem. My dad is retired and has quite an extensive wood shop, even did a stint working for ShopSmith after retiring from the police department. I was thinking of using red oak but the more I think about it the more I want an exotic wood. After all, if I am going to go through the trouble to turn everything, might as well make it special.

I was thinking of striped ebony or cocobolo for my factory. I have it sitting on Gagga's black stand with the built in knock box. So the dark wood will complement it. Still haven't decided on the Isomac parts. Something darker but not as dark as walnut, with some nice grain, Birdseye maple is very nice but light and staining a beautiful piece of wood is a crime. I will have to go to the hardwood store and check out their turning stock. I will post some photos of the finished product. Anyone out there have a suggestion for the Isomac? Something of medium hue, in the range of cherry or rosewood, but a bit more exotic.

[bigsoccermomma]

Mahogany? There's sapele--african mahogany. Curly koa? Wonder if you can see the beauty in such a small piece. There are so many different species to chose from. wonder how they do on the lathe??


tracey

[cannonfodder]

Mahogany? There's sapele--african mahogany. Curly koa? Wonder if you can see the beauty in such a small piece. There are so many different species to chose from. wonder how they do on the lathe??


tracey

Those are two of the big questions. With such small parts you can loose the beauty in the grain. I don't think the PF handles would be a problem, but the small knobs may be. I am rather amateur at lathe turning, but the old man is quite good. He turned some ink pens for me out of African Purple Heart wood. Some woods turn better than others. Unfortunately, the nice swirling grain of some woods makes them prone to chunking out while turning.

I took the handle off my Isomac PF. It is exact opposite of my Gagga. The handle contains the stud, not the PF. That actually makes things easier. I just have to get a stud with the same thread. I can use a combination of screwing it into the handle cavity and glue it in place. I am actually kind of excited about giving it a try.

[cremacafe]

I have been using wooden handles on my Elektra for quite some time. Here's a link to a pic of my machine (http://www.thortamper.com/pagefour.html). They are also made of Cocobolo. Make the machine look like a million bucks compared to the Bakelite. I'm also excited to see some other Ohio folks here. My cafe should be opening the doors in another 2mths, so I'll invite you folks over for some treats.

[cannonfodder]

Nice machine. I like my Factory, but if I did it again, I would get the Elektra. I just love the looks.

Grove City is about an hour from home, half hour from work (Springfield). There is nothing in Dayton. There is one Cafe in Huber Heights. I had very high hopes, especially after meeting Tony and enjoying some shots at Metropolis.

This was a nice place, bad espresso. On my first visit, the PBTC (person behind the counter) pulled the PF off the machine, hopes rise, grind and dose from their Mazzer, hopes are soaring, swept level with the basket and did a light tamp in their lever tamper, ow my, I think I am in love, then picked up an aluminum tamper and proceeded to whack the hell out of the PF. That poor tamper looked like someone had been driving nails with it, I went from 7th heaven to the pits of hell in seconds, ow well.

If you need a Ginny pig I will volunteer.

On a completely non-coffee point, is that your English bulldog?

[cremacafe]

All I did for my PF handles was find a nut the appropriate size and thread to fit on my lever/PF, tossed it in the mail, and Les fit it into the handle. He must have inserted it when he bonded the two woods together since there is no trace of it looking at the female end. Looks good though, and feels great in my hand.

I went to college in Springfield, Wittenberg University, so I'm very familiar with the area. My girlfriend and I are actually taking a bike ride today from Sprinkletown to Yellow Springs. She's only been there once, so I can't wait to show her around.

I would love to have you down as a tester......it's hard to find people who KNOW what espresso should taste like. I'm heading out now to try out my 2-day old Black Cat espresso everyone is raving about.

And yes, that is Gerty, my 3.5 yr old English Bulldog. Check out my old courier website, it only has three pics on it now, all of her.
http://www.personalcourierservice.com

I'm good friends with two other cafe owners here in columbus, Cafe Du Mondo, and Cafe Brioso. Both have good espresso, best I've found in town, and we are all looking into starting an espresso club. Held at different shops each month, just offer little discussion groups and give out tons of free samples. We want to make all of our customers coffee geeks, so by holding free fun events that are also informative, we hope to draw in more addicts.

Kevin

[cannonfodder]

Good to hear. You will have to drop a line when you are open.

Black Cat is good, I personally lean toward Redline from metropolis, northwest Chicago, but 99% of the time I home roast.

When my last Bassett hound died, I wanted to get an English bull, then I found out how much they were . So I settled on Charley, yellow lab, nice dog and he likes coffee beans.

[KarlSchneider]

All I did for my PF handles was find a nut the appropriate size and thread to fit on my lever/PF, tossed it in the mail, and Les fit it into the handle. He must have inserted it when he bonded the two woods together since there is no trace of it looking at the female end. Looks good though, and feels great in my hand.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

I just ordered handles for my Elektra from Les. Mine will be made out of a dark Rosewood from Madagascar. Should look great on my chrome Micro Casa a Leva. I saw yours on Les' site and could not resist.

Let me know when you open. I live near Yellow Springs and would come to Columbus for good espresso.

[wookie]

Wood can standup remarkably well for years, even with exposure to moisture and heating cycles. Of course you have to seal the wood, but the real secret is to use the most dense wood you can find. Don't expect good results if you use softwood or even many of the commonly available hardwoods. Try to find a piece of rosewood or much better one of the 'exotic' African hardwoods, ironwood, etc & you should be in fine shape. Do make sure that your lathe bits are very sharp though when you go to turn them.

[cannonfodder]

This simple project could not have gotten much more complicated. My Gagga and Isomac use the same size stud for the PF and handle, M12. Since the stud has to go into a wood handle you have to have an insert in the handle for the stud to go into. So, a friend is going to turn some brass bar stock to create the insert that I will be pressing into the handle. Unfortunately, his equipment will only cut standard, not metric. So, he is going to take a threaded M12 bolt, turn one end down to a standard thread to fit into the standard sleeve he is going to turn out of the brass bar stock so I can press and glue them into the handles I turn that will fit the PF's for both of my machines. Now my head hurts.

I am going to use cocobolo for my Gagga, haven't made a decision for the Isomac yet.