# Hocking Valley Corn Sheller-- A fun restoration



## wdkits1 (Jan 16, 2009)

Here is a restoration of a circa 1900 Hocking Valley corn sheller that I was commissioned to do.
When I first took on this project I had my doubts whether or not I could get it to work. After doing a bit of research and finding some good photos of the original corn sheller it was obvious to me that this was going to be a fun little project which would test many of my skills. The only thing that my client wanted was for me to make it functional but I did talk him into letting me do the original paint job as I thought would really add a lot to the over-all looks of the project. These are a couple of pics of what I had to work with. Most of the original wood was either rotted away or was missing completely and what was left is full of post beetles, but I did have enough to get most of my measurements.



















I began by building the frame using the same mortise and tenon joinery as the original paying attention to every detail knowing that tolerances were very tight on the original.










Dry fit frame










Because all of the parts for the sides were a full 1”thick I bought a nice piece of 5/4 poplar that I used to get all the pieces to complete the rest of the woodwork










I ordered square headed nuts and bolts like the original and even had to order the flat head slotted wood screws. Between the original pieces that I had and some photos that I found I had enough information to do the paint job. Photo of an original Hocking Valley Corn Sheller.










So Here is my version of a restored ” Improved Hocking Valley” corn sheller. I haven’t tried an ear of corn in it yet. but the mechanicals seem to work pretty good.





































This was a fun project and I will soon be posting a link to a video showing the operation of the "Improved Hocking Valley" corn sheller


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

Very nice. :thumbsup:


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

Shucks............That's purdy! :yes:

Great job! Paint is awesome!


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## smitty1967 (Feb 24, 2008)

Mike that is absolutely spectacular. Its just like I imagined it would look. Red paint seemed to be a favored color of that generation. Very well done! Good on you! 

smitty


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

I have to say, that when this thread started, I wasn't sure what to expect but I sure as heck didn't expect something THAT nice. That is absolutely awesome. I love it. You have managed to capture that "new" look while hanging on to it's antique appeal. That is just great.
(I'm a little disappointed that no intarsia was involved, but what do I know?) :laughing:
Ken


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## RDR (Feb 8, 2010)

That looks great. I am looking forward to a video of that thing in action.

-Rich


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## del schisler (Nov 5, 2009)

nice job i remember those I ran a few cob's thro their and saved the cob's guess what those were used for ??? give up ? I bet some old timers know You got to use the cob the right way haha


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## junkhound (Nov 6, 2009)

Very nice restoration. I like to see old things saved.

Junkhound


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## jdixon (Nov 21, 2007)

Mike that is some spectacular work. I with Kenbo, waiting for the intarsia version now. Awesome job.

John


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## skymonkey (Apr 12, 2010)

Sweet restoration. Believe it or not I have one of those. It was my grandpa's. My dad got ahold of it and repainted it and installed an old washing machine motor and belt to make it electric driven and used it a lot. But it still looks great. Not as nice as yours but still nice.


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