After painstakingly picking popcorn kernels off the cob by hand our first year growing our rainbow popcorn blend, we decided we needed to find an affordable small-scale corn sheller to make the job easier. We had been keeping an eye on Craigslist and FB Marketplace for an antique corn sheller, when we learned that my father had his grandparents’ corn sheller on a shelf in the shop. Better yet, it was still functional! So my dad taught us how to use an antique corn sheller and we were on our merry way to crank out some delicious popcorn.
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History of the Corn Sheller
While there is some debate over the precise origins, most people consider the 1839 patent of Lester E. Dennison of Connecticut to be the first corn sheller. Soon after plenty of other inventors began modifying and improving the original. We don’t blame them after doing it by hand ourselves for just one year. We can’t imagine having to shell corn by hand every single time you wanted to make cornbread, grits, or hoe cakes!
We love bringing our joint farming and homesteading heritage back to life. But using the very tool my Penland great-grandparents used for their sustenance takes it to a whole new level! Antiques are beautiful, but even more so when used for their intended purpose. History made tangible. There are plenty of times we appreciate the modern homesteading tools, but sometimes the classics work just as well!
How to use an antique corn sheller
Assuming you have a hand-crank corn sheller similar to ours, it is not attached to anything. You should see a hole for a bolt or screw to attach it to a box or bin of your choice. We attach our sheller to our bean threshing box. If you like to build your own threshing box like ours, we have free plans available that we’d be happy to send to your email.
Make sure you have the kernel output area over the box or bin and the cob shoot angled to eject the cobs into a pile for the outhouse. 😉 After you have it securely attached to your box, you are ready to start shelling!
Operating an antique corn sheller
The opening at the top is where you drop in your ear of dried corn. When you crank the wheel the kernels are popped off by two toothed gears that allows them to fall into the box, bin, or bucket below. Then as you keep cranking, the emptied cob will pop out the side. It’s that simple!
Except, not all ears of corn are created equal. Sometimes you will need to do a little trouble shooting or run an ear through the sheller a second time. With some of our smaller heirloom corn ears, the toothed gears aren’t able to get all of them off in the first go. Also, occasionally a cob will get stuck in there and you may need to reverse the wheel to try and loosen it up.
Word of Caution
Antiques were not made with all the safety features of modern contraptions. While a simple hand tool, it can still crush or skin your hand or fingers. Operate with care and common sense.
Winnowing
After shelling you’ll have a pile of kernels in the base of your box that need a little winnowing. Winnowing is just an old fashioned way of saying blowing off the flaky dry bits that we don’t eat aka chaff. We like using our kitchen strainer to gently toss a batch of kernels and blow away the chaff. You could also set up a fan to blow the papery bits of cob or dried corn silks away.
Happy shelling
Hope you’ve enjoyed this quick overview of how to use an antique corn sheller to save you hours of time (not to mention your hands!) shelling corn for popcorn, grits, livestock feed and more. If you’re sold on the idea of a corn sheller, but haven’t found a good antique one yet, here’s a cheap DIY sheller project to tie you over until you do. Happy shelling!