Over the past few years, the tradition of hand-cranking home-made ice cream at the Mason Steam Show has been a huge and fun-filled tradition for us. It's helped build commendatory and friendships, and it's enjoyed by both young and old. Thee rules were quite simple, if you wanted ice cream, you had to take a turn at the crank.
Over the winter, several club members brought up the suggestion of a motorized ice cream maker, or at least a ice cream maker modified so that it could be operated off the PTO of one of our truse on actors. After months of discussion and debate, the club agreed to purchase a new ice cream maker, as well as the gears and parts to use on a motor. Andy Overton donated an old two-cycle Maytag motor, and with that it was just a matter of getting the time to put it together and get it running.
This past Sunday, several club members got together and put the motorized ice cream maker together. They were all surprised at how well their plans and ideas went together. And of course, we
HAD to try it out afterwards to make sure it worked.
And worked, it did! We made a batch of strawberry ice cream, and it was really good! With some tweaking here and there, we'll have making home-made ice cream in it down to a science in no time. Look for us to enjoy ice cream at all of our weekend events from now on!
(Photo credits: Toni Ramsey, Chris Coppernoll, Aaron Childs)
 |
| Chris Coppernoll and Dan Sager Sr. putting the wooden frame together |
 |
| Denis Heckaman, Don, Dan, and Chris Coppernoll talk washers and wing-nuts |
 |
| Dan helping (l-r) Chris Coppernoll, Chris Hudson, and Don Hudson line up the pulleys |
 |
| Chris Coppernoll and Don putting the frame together |
 |
| Don, Denis, and Chris Coppernoll adding the motor to the frame, while Dan and Toni Ramsey look on |
 |
| "But I'm not a big fan of Rocky Road..." Dan and Toni debating which flavor of ice cream should be made on the test run |
 |
| There was some vibration from the engine, and the guys were looking to see how they could eliminate it |
 |
| And now, the moment of truth... a dry run to see if it works... |
 |
| Our home-made ice cream expert, Jeanette Childs, came out to supervise the test batch |
 |
| While Dan watches, Chris Hudson mixes up the ingredients for strawberry ice cream |
 |
| Chris listens as Jeanette gives advice on adding the ice and salt to the barrel |
 |
| It certainly LOOKS like ice cream |
 |
| And Gary Childs says it certainly tasted like ice cream. SUCCESS!!!!! |
