Antique Butter Churns

In the past, butter was made from a butter churn. The device would convert milk cream into butter, leaving a liquid called butter milk. Today we buy our butter off the shelves; very seldom do we make our own butter at home. Vintage butter churns have become collectibles, some of them fetching good prices in the antiques and collector market.

There are many types of butter churns, ranging from the old fashioned butter churns to the newer electric models. There are many varieties of old fashioned butter churns such as the dash churn, rocker churn, swing churn and barrel churn. They were usually made of wood; some of them were called primitive butter churns. They were fashioned out of good quality wood, such as maple or oak.

In the 1960s, glass butter churns were made, equipped with electric motors.
The churn jars were mainly made of glass, even during the early 1800s. The early churn jars came in sizes from one to four quarts. Later on, six and eight quart churn jars appeared, followed by the beveled edge jar types. Demand for home butter churns eventually contracted when people started buying butter rather than making it at home.

Old fashioned butter churners were equipped with wooden handles and paddles. They are popular collector items, and some of them are still operational. Except for some surface rust, missing handles or wear at the bottom of the glass jars, they can be used to churn butter. Given some cleaning up or a new coat of paint, these antique butter churns can be home decorative pieces.