Like Apple gadgets, Dazey churns (which have since become cherished collector’s items) weren’t cheap. In the 1920s a 2-quart Dazey churn sold for $2.30, which is about $27 in today’s dollars.

Vintage butter churn was a challenge, from rusted metal to a broken cast iron leg, but with the right tools, it was brought back to life. The rust was removed with a 2000-watt laser, and the ...

The Estate of Mary S. Slusser Notes Butter churn, considered a "tea churn". Churn is a cylinder made from long, wooden slats held in a circle by six metal rings, with a long metal rod/dasher inserted ...

There, sculptor Sarah Pratt works in a cooler where the air lingers in the low 40s, applying 600 pounds of butter over a metal, wood and wire frame to create a slick and fatty cow that's 5 1/2 ...

Wooden churns also were made in this upright dasher style and in rotating barrel styles. Usually made from cedar or cyprus, both moisture-resistant woods, they were banded in metal such as brass.

Though the butter tasted great (especially spread on fresh-baked bread with some sea salt), the churn has remained up on the shelf since the initial run. Still, it’s nice to know it’s there.

By Farhad Manjoo Nov 28, 20125:25 AM A woman churns butter in 1893 Photo by W. Braybrooke Bayley/Wikimedia Commons. A few years ago, on a lark, I decided to make butter.