Rolling Pins – Colin Wise

Club Meeting: 4 June 2015
Report by: Bill Alden
Photos: Ross Johnson

Rolling Pins can be traced back to the 9th Century. Commercial production of them started in the 18th Century and were made from Pine, probably a harder wood than we are used to. They were also used for crushing Oats. In the late 18th Century JW Reid patented a rolling pin with a central rod handles on each end which could be held firm in use. In the USA 650 to 700,000 are sold pa. They are made out of a wide range of materials. Some are patterned to leave an impression in the dough.

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They can have handles or be just a straight cylinder with many different diameters and lengths. Smaller ones are used for icing sugar. A French rolling pin has a taper from the centre to each end.

Colin demonstrated some beading with a bead cutter on a small pin in order to pattern the dough. Black Maire is a good wood as it is heavy and turns well.
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We discussed ways of keeping the cylinder equal along its length. Sight the tool rest with the bed and follow that, another method is to Part down to a given size using callipers slightly larger than the required finished diameter.

Thank you Colin for an informative evening.