Tune 2014 Mechanical Wine Decanter

Last year I attended the miniature school in Tune Denmark that took place in July. I finally had time to finish the tiny mechanical wine decanter that we made in Bill Robertson's class, it is made from brass and ebony. The decanter dates from late Georgian to Victorian times, the main idea of the decanter is to slowly decant the wine while the heavy bitter sediment you had in red wines back then stayed in the bottom of the bottle. We did all the turning ourselves on a metal lathe as well as the treading to make screws and nuts.

Since the class I had time to look at a few more examples of decanters on the internet and decided to change the cradle into a simpler design than that of the class prototype, of course simpler doesn't always mean easier as I discovered with this one. I made one out of cardboard first as it had to be pretty exact. I made it from one solid piece of brass.

The second thing I changed was instead of just using a pin riveted into the cradle through the supporting uprights I made tiny screws with little knobs to keep the cradle in place after I saw that on an antique french wine decanter, here are all the pieces ready for final assembly.

To lower the bottle you turn the handle and if it wasn't for the cork the bottle would be empty now :-)

I thoroughly enjoyed this class and learned a lot of new techniques that I have since continued to practice at home.

Have a blessed Easter everyone.