I have a few tampers but my favorite is this TORR tamper. The > than 90 degree angle between the base and the side has a cool vacuuming effect when you pull the tamper out of the portafilter. All the leftover grounds on the wall are sucked in. Love it!

5 Reg Barber handles (all tall and same shape)

7 Reg Barber stainless steel bases (C-Flat and Euro curve, but in different diameters for different baskets)

These are what I own but don't actually use everything or keep it all in rotation.

michaels wrote:Hi Joe, sure that Cocobolo isn't Zebra wood (or possibly bocote, hard to tell w/ lighting)?

It's actually Bocote (I misspoke).

michaels wrote:I've got a few burl tampers, a couple of Cocobolo, and some other misc. Benefit of being a woodworker, no?

Those Burl tampers must be quite nice!

doubleOsoul wrote:First off Joe,
My next question is the small chest of drawers beside the bubinga - where did you get that? It looks like stone fronts on the drawers. I'm mesmerized!! I must have one!

Honestly, I forgot where I got it. Either I got it as an Christmas present a very long time ago or it was my wife's before we got married. I think it the former.

mindless_fool wrote: Wow i really like that grey and red too... where did you get that wood???

I got that from a site that I get my pen making kit stuff called PennStateIndustries. The have a lot of cool looking wood. I believe you can get it at this link: http://www.pennstateind.com/store/PKEZLAM63.html

I have been using Bottle Stopper blanks to turn my handles. Still experimenting with different shapes.

Joe

Just different, I wouldn't say they are any nicer than yours (which are quite incredible too!)

I see espresso as being as deep a hole as woodworking has been (which has been incredibly rewarding and enjoyable as well )

Michael

I was surprised I was in the minority group with 4 tampers! Each one has a different shaped base; flat, c-flat, euro curve & us curve...found I prefer the Royal tamper from Cafelat. Here is a photo of a tamper display from EPNW.

I have 1.5 tampers. For years I used the plastic tamper that came with my La Pavoni Europiccola. I give it the 0.5 value for two reasons: 1. it broke in half years ago and I lost the smaller half, and 2. it's cheesy and doesn't deserve to be given a full tamper value anyway - it doesn't even fit my basket! It slops around and only sorta works using the NSEW technique (maybe I should give it 1/4 value).

I only discovered this site recently and immediately began lusting after the "HB" logo tamper shown on every page of the H-B site. Unfortunately, all attempts to find a supplier have produced dead ends. Sooo, I've been looking for a different tamper that talks to me. I've found several, but haven't made up my mind about which one to buy.

In the meantime I cobbled some parts together and built my own tamper #2. I call him "Fat Boy" for fairly obvious reasons.

I used a piece of steel I had laying around for the base that I turned down on my lathe to the 49.5mm dia. that fits my pre-millenium La Pavoni double baskets. For the top part, I used a knob I ordered from McMaster Carr (part #6185K28), and connected the two together with a double-ended, threaded steel rod I fabricated. It's doing the job, but I'm still searching for the perfect tamper to add to my "collection".

3 tampers for 2 different sized baskets.

I own two but only use the one one that's attached to my Mazzer doser.Works just great.

One Reg Barber with 58mm and 53mm base.

That's it.

Allthough I plan to buy a 58,4( ,6) for my vst filter baskets)