One of the advantages of being an amateur woodworker is that when things don't always work out, I am free to simply say, "Ah hell, it's good enough." Of course I strive for perfection but when things don't work out as planned, the recipients are none the wiser.
Every project I have ever made has had errors that I let slide. I think if I were a professional woodworker, I would go batty and lose sleep at night fretting over say, a gapping joint. As it is, I can pop the top off my Costco-sized bucket of wood filler, fill in those damn gaps and move on to my next project.
I made this tortilla press and posted the video on YouTube back in January. This is an example of a project with a serious functionality problem, not fixable with wood filler. I'm glad it was for me and not a gift. The problem is that somewhere on the internet machine I read that I needed an eighth-inch gap between the two plates of the press. The thing works great, but produces tortillas that too fat, more like gorditas or something. Tasty, but pudgy. And a large number of viewers were quick to point out this fact.
I really don't want to reset the hinges, and sometimes I like fat tortillas, so I've been toying with the idea of making removable inserts that would allow for multi-thickness tortillas. Hmmm...maybe I just invented a new product.
Love the simplicity of the press, my wife was just saying yesterday that she wanted to start making tortillas, I'll have to start this tonight after work as a suprise before she buys a press :)
ReplyDeleteI just build a press myself, pretty much same design just different details. you can see mine at http://sleepydogwoodworking.blogspot.com/ I also featured your blog as my Blog of the Month posting I hope that was all right if not let me know and I will remove the post.
ReplyDeleteJoey
If you want thinner Tortillas, just break out your rolling pin and roll 'em out to the thickness that you want.
ReplyDeleteDeep fried gorditas or Naan bread ftw! You're da best!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for the post. I made one of these for my wife, and it was a fun project. However, we are also suffering from "Fat tortillas". I have tried everything i can think of to get them flatter. I reset the hinges, and even added an auxiliary piece to make contact with the handle higher and provide some additional pressure, no luck.
ReplyDeleteAnyone have any ideas? Thanks.
Tim