8" Cocobolo Scottish Thistle 'turbo Muddler' Bar Masher Stir By Stephen Mines

US $22.50

  • Grant, Michigan, United States
  • Jan 31st
VERY PROUDLY MADE IN AMERICA!!! '...tomorrow's heirlooms...today" 'COCOBOLO WOOD' 'TURBO' MUDDLER prox: .875" X 8" ***Please Note: this listing is for ONE muddler.  The photos show more than one muddler for color and wood grain variation comparison and  for illustration purposes, but please be aware this listing is for ONE muddler.***   This TURBO MUDDLER is identical to the ones that I offer in Cherry wood, but these are turned from a true exotic: Cocobolo wood.  It will come to you ready to use.  This Cocobolo muddler is made without any added coloring or finish.  It is finely sanded (to 1500 grit) and then polished using only the oils that are in the wood itself.  Besides being cleaned/washed after use they are virtually maintenance free...even with daily use; a light treating with olive or mineral oil could be applied when they seem very dry after long use..    COCOBOLO is a beautiful, super durable hardwood and this TURBO MUDDLER will last a lifetime; they would make wonderful gifts for the urbane host and hostess on your 'please and impress' list.  At this sale I'm liniting this Cocobolo Edition to only four in the 10" length and four in the 8" length (the 10" version is being offered in another listing.  Now, what IS a muddler???   My friend, Ian MacGregor, asked me to make one of these for his 'Scottish Thistle set'.  Well, I'd never heard of it!  But I made it to his direction and he is very pleased...so I thought I'd offer it as an addition to the matched thistle-top themed sets that I make. Here is a brief description of it's use:  used by bartenders to macerate condiments and fruit (think: some spices, mint, lime, etc.) to release the oils and properties in them to enhance particular drinks (MOJITO, OLD FASHIONED, ETC); for more info, GOOGLE: MUDDLERS...there is a LOT of information on the subject.   THE OLD FASHIONED                Old-Fashioned glass                  Turbo Muddler              2 oz. Bourbon whiskey                2 dashes of bitters                  1 cube of sugar                  1 orange wedge                1 maraschino cherry                 1 splash of water Place sugar, bitters, orange and maraschino cherry in Old  Fashioned glass. Muddle the ingredients until juices are released. Add bourbon, water and ice, then stir. There are endless variations on an Old Fashioned. Some like it with a little fizz, substituting water with 7-UP or ginger ale. Other whiskeys are often used instead of bourbon. Using brandy creates the Brandy Old Fashioned. Many recipes don't call for the maraschino cherry or the orange to be muddled, but for obvious reasons, we don't condone those recipes!             THE MOJITO              16 oz glass            1 Turbo Muddler            2 oz. light rum            1 oz. simple sugar            6-10 mint leaves               1/2 lime            Ice and club soda Place mint leaves and lime wedges in 16 oz mixer glass. Gently muddler the mint and lime. Add rum, simple sugar and ice.   Fill remainder of glass with club soda and stir. There seems no shortage of opinions on making the Mojito. We use this one be- cause it is very refreshing, the ingredients are readily available, and it makes a great-tasting drink every time.   (A copy olf the TURBO BACK STORY (below), with recipes, will be included with each muddler set/order) TURBO BACK STORY:  HOW THE 'TURBO' DESIGN CAME ABOUT: A good friend, Rick, is a bar owner/bartender (has a real nice club called The Cabo Connection in a little college town near here) and he is a nice, affable, but VERY high-energy guy.  When I first made the Scottish Thistle Muddler (several months ago) I took one to Rick and said, "Show me how this works...I'll buy one of what you make with it".  Rick made a MOJITO (good!) in about 5 seconds and I asked him if he'd critique/review the muddler for me.  I left a 8" and a 10" with him, said I'd call in a few days.  When I called he told me that the 8" was fine for single and double orders that he makes in a 16 once mixer glass; the 10" version was the right size and worked well for him on multiple orders that he made in a 28 once stainless bar shaker/mixer.  I HAD to go over to see them in action.  When Rick made the large batch in the 28 oz container, he was so fast that the adding of ingredients, mixing, mashing, setting up glasses and pouring were kind of a blur. HE is an artist and a showman and puts on quite an act for his customers, complete with witty dialogue and humorous patter...an entertainer.  He had one complaint:  he said the mint and other ingredients tended to work up and stick to the side of the shaker as he worked...had to keep pushing them down with the muddler...AND with more ingredients he wished the muddler end was a bit more 'cutting'.  I watched him closely (and took a video with my phone) as he made another batch: he mixes and mashes by moving the muddler up and down, twisting it to the right with each down stroke, mashing against the side of the shaker as well as the bottom, stopping to push pieces stuck to the side back to the bottom.  My first thought (like a light bulb turning on!) was he needs an Archimedes screw, a vertical, rotary conveyor! Such a thing would automatically push the ingredients down with each stoke/twist. Back at my shop I watched the video several times... and the TURBO (as in turbine) MUDDLER is my solution to Rick's annoying problem.  He tried the prototype(s) (and we made changes: added one more spiral flute and changed the lead length twice) until it worked to Ricks satisfaction. As finished the muddler has five two inch long spiral flutes (with a 7" lead length (lead length is one full turn of the helix/twist/spiral); also, at the bottom (business end) the flutes wrap slightly around the end creating a 'cutter' action. Rick has also been using the top end (18 flute Scottish Thistle representation) for some arcane use in his process of crafting drinks.  I asked him what he used that end for and he winked and said, "Let me have my secrets, I'm a professional!" He bought a half dozen and put them to use, showing his three other bartenders the routine.  Two weeks ago he called and placed an order for 2 DOZEN!  Seems his customers (including two professors) saw them in action, and they wanted one! He now has a shaker on the back bar full of TURBO MUDDLERS and sells them for $20 each, more than doubling his investment, WHILE making a fortune mixing drinks with them!  WIN (Rick sells drinks) WIN (Rick sells muddlers) WIN (I get to make AND sell muddlers...makes me smile and keeps me off the street!!).  EBAY member Barnaby Biggs, a master bartender at YOLO, (YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE in Portland, OR) bought a Deluxe Turbo Muddler recently (Feb 2012). and has kindly given me permission to use his unsolicited feedback on my Muddler listings:   "FANTASTIC MUDDLER! I BARTEND IN A HIGH VOLUME CLUB AND THIS TOOL IS THE BEST!!!"   In an email Barnaby went on to say: ...Really great product for sure. I have been in the night club business for 18 years and we tend to be a particular bunch. I have used different muddlers including making my own out of broken pool cues and yours is the best I have ever used. I show it off to anyone in the know when I am at our club which is YOLO (you only live once) lounge in Portland, Oregon. Thank you again. - barnabybiggs2010    That's the back story...what I'm offering here is   ONE (1) TURBO MUDDLER 10.25"  X 1" dia prox as described and field tested (!) under actual combat conditions YOU MAY TRY THIS AT HOME! and remember, your results may vary! These muddlers are shipped in sealed poly bags (see last photo) with a copy of THE STORIES (see below) enclosed.     A little of my background:     I'm a woodturner by vocation, making almost any and all kinds of turned wood objects on my lathes. I've made things as small as push-pins and as large as columns (26 feet tall for a government building in California). I'm often responsible for designing and crafting architectural turned parts such as stair balusters and newel posts, furniture parts such as legs, pedestals, stretchers, lamps and lighting fixtures, spindles of all sorts, simply turned or embellished with flutes, spirals or other ornamentation. My wood turning ranges from the mundane (such as tool handles) to the artistic; seven of my 'lathe art' works are in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and other institutions as well as many private collections. Because I thoroughly enjoy what I do, I'm constantly looking for new turning opportunities...these spurkles and honey dippers (also hiking sticks in my eBay store) are perfect examples! I'm creating something fun, decorative and useful for people to enjoy, making a little green to stay on the planet, and having a whole lot of fun in the process. The 'Scottish Thistle' spurkles, honey dipper and muddlers I'm offering in my eBay store have a distinctive Scottish flair: the top end represents a THISTLE, national flower of Scotland. After being crafted from the best Cherry Wood available, they are totally immersed in the finest, most pure food-grade oil for 48 hours to prepare them for an active life... so they come to you ready to use! Besides being cleaned/washed after use they are virtually maintenance free...even with daily use...perhaps a light oiling with olive or mineral once a year (or when they seem very dry). Besides the SPURKLES listed here, I can create these in custom sizes of your choosing, from very small to large enough to stir a cauldron! (email with specs for a quote). IN ADDITION to this 10"TURBO MUDDLER,   my Scottish Thistle themed cooking aids are offered as:  SET OF THREE 8" spurtle 11" spurtle 14" spurtle   SET of FOUR  8" spurtle 11" spurtle 14" spurtle   Bee Hive honey dipper    SET of FIVE 8" spurtle 11" spurtle 14" spurtle  Bee Hive honey dipper 8" DELUXE TURBO muddler   MASTER COOKING SET OF SIX 8" spurtle 11" spurtle 14" spurtle Bee Hive Honey Dipper 8" DELUXE TURBO muddler 10" DELUXE TURBO MUDDLER  AND all items are offered individually: spurtles: 8", 11", and 14" and honey dippers: traditional and bee hive, and muddlers, (standard and turbo).  You can purchase individual pieces in all the sizes, by going to my eBay Store STUDIO WOOD PRODUCTS The sizes I'm offering have been arrived at after advice from my local all-things-Scottish go-to-guru, Ian MacGregor, mentioned above (Newaygo, MI) who remembers spurtles from his childhood:   "At my grandmother's house we had the good spurtles hanging on the wall...the ones that us little kids stirred with every day were very used and  battered, sometimes just well formed natural sticks. . . and they didn't last too long, we used 'em up!  I recall the short ones for the smaller pots were kind of fat, the better to mix and stir with, whilst the longer ones had to be thinner so us little kids could even move them in the larger pots!  It was a responsible position, stirring, and we vied for the dubious, 'gruelling' honor of manning the spurtles for what often seemed like hours at a time; I now think that the fare on the table always tasted better (to us little ones) for the labor we spent on it!"  With that thought, here are a couple of fun reads: How to Make and Eat Porridge the Scottish Way By Ian SG Smith  There are many traditions to porridge-making and porridge-eating in Scotland, and some of them may seem quite ridiculous to a foreigner, or someone from England. As an example it must always be stirred when cooking with the right hand, clockwise. The stirring is done with a straight wooden stick, like a wooden spoon with the spoon cut off, known in various parts of Scotland as a spurtle or a theevil. Porridge is always spoken of as 'they', and an old custom demands that 'they' are eaten standing up. It is usually made with oatmeal, but in Caithness, Orkney and Shetland bere-meal (a kind of barley) is often used. Porridge has various names in different parts of the country: Gaelic brochan in the Highlands; milgruel (Shetland) and tartan-purry is thin porridge made with the liquor in which kail has been cooked. Traditionally porridge was eaten from a birch-wood bowl with a horn spoon. It is served with cold milk or cream, sugar or, more often, salt; and as with all foods, the fresher and better the oatmeal, the better the porridge. Many Scotsmen like a glass of porter, stout or beer with it. The following recipe should be used to make a traditional porridge, and is based on the needs of one person only, but it will make a large portion. For this you will need 1 &1/4 ounces of medium oatmeal, roughly a quarter of a cup., plus one cup of water and a pinch of salt. Firstly boil the water in a saucepan, and when it is bubbling add the oatmeal in a constant stream with the left hand stirring all the time with the right. When it is all boiling regularly, pull to the side of the heat, cover and simmer very gently for 10 minutes, then add the salt and stir. Cover again, and simmer very gently for about another 10 minutes; the time cannot be more precise as the quality of the oats varies in cooking time. Serve piping hot in cold soup plates, and dip each spoonful into individual bowls of cold milk or cream before eating. This is the method which has been used for centuries.  Porridge can also be made in a double boiler, which prevents any fear of burning. Porridge served in Scotland is much thinner than in Ireland or England, and much the better for it. Also the large flake oatmeal used in other countries is nothing like so good as the medium-size variety in Scotland. AND THIS:  By any of a number of names, the spurtle, spurkle, spirtle, thivel, thevel, thibble, and at least a dozen variations on this word is still a Scottish stir stick! Coming to us in the 21st century from at least the 1500s, the thing remains pretty much unchanged. It is a dowel peg average 14" long. Traditionally these days, it does not have the spatula at the bottom as it did many centuries ago, but retains this peg end all the better to get into the curves of the pot for mixing. Most have some decoration at what is the handle end to keep the thing from sliding into the porridge pot. Most commonly, the Scottish Thistle design. Why a dowel-peg shape? Because in days before the ease of processed oats, the grain had to be boiled a long time to render it chewable, let alone digestable! The mess tended to gum up a mite, so one thrashed the thibble about in the porridge pot to make the oats eventually a smooth palatable, desirable edible. The cylindrical shape was more effective and less tiring than other configurations. There are a great many recipes for porridge and most of these include some sort of special tradition about what direction is best to stir it, what vessel best to eat it in, and what kind of utensil to properly transport it into your mouth. There are even strong traditions about what one should put on the porridge, in it, direction to stir it, as well as how to stand when eating it. World-wide validation of porridge and spurkles comes now from the annual Golden Spurkle Competition held in Carrbridge, Scotland, wherein the winner of the fierce competition is awarded a golden spurkle. (each shipment will contain a copy of "THE STORIES" above) NOTE: the following pertains to my regular line of Cherry Wood products: About Wood Variations:   I'm dealing mainly with CHERRY WOOD for these items and this wood can vary considerably in color (from blond/light to a rich, dark red) and density (grain can be very tight to loose ( from slow winter growth to faster warm weather expansive growing). When I choose the individual pieces to make up a set I actually start at the sizing of the blanks... sorting by general color and weight.  ...And I'm often fooled by what happens to the wood in the dip tank!  By the way, the Cherry Wood is ALL Natural colored: no dyes, no stain, no artificial coloring of any sort.  So, the final choice is made just before shipping, and I do my best to make up a pleasing, compatible group.  Also, I do not discriminate against small tight knots, pin knots and other interesting variations...I consider them 'character marks' and very pleasing and distinct individual touches to the utensils.  IF, HOWEVER, for whatever reason, you might object to finding such variations on your bought items, please know that I will certainly honor your feelings by exchanging that piece for another, following my general 30 day return policy.    International Buyers – Please Note:       Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges.     These charges are the buyer’s responsibility.     Please check with your country’s customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying.      These charges are normally collected by the delivering freight (shipping) company or when you pick the item up – do not confuse them for additional shipping charges.     We do not mark merchandise values below value or mark items as ‘gifts’ - US and International government regulations prohibit such behavior.     All packages are subject to inspection by local custom authorities possibly causing a delay in delivery time.  Studio Wood Products has no control over transit times and cannot be held responsible for possible delays. Thanks for looking!   Please check out the other items in my eBay store! Orders ship within 24 hours of receipt of funds! HAVE A GREAT, GOOD DAY!! Powered by eBay Turbo Lister The free listing tool. List your items fast and easy and manage your active items. FREE! Sellers: Add a FREE map to your listings. FREE! Powered by eBay Turbo Lister The free listing tool. List your items fast and easy and manage your active items.
Condition:
New: A brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging (where packaging is applicable). Packaging should be the same as what is found in a retail store, unless the item is handmade or was packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging, such as an unprinted box or plastic bag. See the seller's listing for full details. ...
Brand STEPHEN MINES
Exotic Wood Cocobolo Exotic Wood Cocobolo
Model 8" DELUXE TURBO MUDDLER

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