Antique Bench Capper or new modern one?

Hey, I am about 3 weeks into my beer and realized I have no capper.. So, I thought I would hurry up and get one. I can get one of the new ones through my beer club for about $40-%10 for being a club member thats a bench capper btw. But I also have an interest in getting an antique that is still usable, and then cleaning it up, so I checked Ebay and found it might actually be cheaper, but wanted some ideas from you all first. The one im most interested in is this Everedy ones

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=Bottle+capper

Thanks for all input, and just in case it comes up, I dont mind soem rust, if its a nice antique, im willing to clean it up, but I wanna know if it will work or not with todays bottles, I have 12,16 and a few 22oz bottles (I think its what they are they are the German imports that are somewhat tall westhopf something like that)

The 18 Valve GALLON Bottle Filler w/ Capper FEDERAL Filler for $22,000 will work fine in a pinch

Any of those bench cappers will work just fine. The mouth size on bottles hasn't changed in a very very long time.

I have one fo those everedy cappers that a friend gave me many years ago. Works fine. It sometimes puts a dimple on the center of the cap, but I dont' mind that. It seals them up just fine.

The only problem I have with it, is that I use all kinds of returnable bottles, so they are all different heights. I usually keep the C-clip off the handle, so I can quickly pull it out and adjust the height of the capper. If you had all the same bottles this is not an issue. I'm not sure if any newer cappers would be easier in this regard or not.

I like it cause it was free, and I like older stuff and fixing it up. My wife says I'm a junk collector.

I have an old school one thats stamped 1920 on it that I got off ebay....works great! I can even cap twist offs with it (and do very often)

Plus SWMBO thinks it's cool so it sits on a counter as 'art' until I use it. We had a friend come over that thought it was the coolest thing ever. She was like "is that some old farm thing? Thats awesome!"

Here is what I have it down to..


15.99+shipping

Its at $9 to $16 shippping it might go up by auction end..

Any idea which is better.. Im leaning towards the second one once I clean it up I might paintit blue.. or jsut leave it in its original condition but cleaned up a bit.

I cant tell if I will be able to cap these bottles which I have a plethora of


Dunno what size it is

Also.. what is a C-Clip

Mine is more like the first one...for what it's worth...

It'll cap anything from 11oz stubbies to champain bottles...

Painting is up to you but I kinda dig the 'slightly rusted' look of mine

Here's the ebay pic from when I bought mine.....I trashed those weird caps....

Did you spring for any rubber on the bottom? IF I get that one, I will likely keep it in the state it is in, but if I get the red one, I might clean it up and color it blue.. It all depends on how it looks when I get it

Timber, I found a capper like pic #2 and will run a test right now on a German 20-something oz bottle...!

Nope, I just took it apart (it's just a few peices) and sprayed it down with carb cleaner....wiped all of the gunk off then sprayed it down with wd40 and wiped off the excess. Haven't done anything to it since....

I just tried my capper like pic #2 on a 16 oz German wheat bottle and it works fine, except:

- you need to press a bit hard -it has a slighty bend arm already, and
- it seems to grip the cap, so you have to wiggle a bit to free the bottle -cup needs cleaning, maybe?


Note that there is a way to adjust the "rack and pinion" to fit your bottle range, a detent lets you get the "pinion' part out.

EDIT: the cap seems to be on the bottle fine, after applying definite pressure... more than what I normally apply with my winged capper (subjective).

Thanks for the dry run test, Is that bottle only 16oz? It looked bigger, I have to admit im clueless what you are talking about with the Rack and Pinion thing... isn't that a car term?

Also still confused what a C clamp is

Timber,
Rack and pinion... yes an auto term.
Rack = long rod with teeth
Pinion = wheel with matching teeth
Rotating the wheel moves the rod, the plunger part in our capper device.

Bottles: I believe most if not all beer bottles take the same size cap, regardless of capacity (screwtops? don't know about them), and capper is height-adjustable (see below).

C clip: the poster was probably referring to a C-shaped retainer clip, which he pulls to release the wheel, letting him adjust the now loose rod. Capper in pic#2 (like mine) has a spring-loaded detent button to do the same thing..

Benchcapper came in, I went wit hteh one that looks like this


I noticed ther is no magnet inside the thing, how do you keep the cap in there? do I set the cap on the bottle then push it down?

So apparently there is no ned ofr a magnet in these (I was told I can superglue one in if I want to.

Im a bit confused as to how much pressure I put on it, I dont want to break the bottle, I put lots of pressure on a cap wiht a sam adams bottle and it didnt seal it. How hard should I be pushign down.

Anyone got some tips to clean this thing up a bit, Id like to keep the rustic look possibly but its got cobwebs and all.

One other thing, anyone know if I will be able to bottle Negra Modello bottles with this, they are a bit shorter?

Timber said:

So apparently there is no ned ofr a magnet in these (I was told I can superglue one in if I want to.

Im a bit confused as to how much pressure I put on it, I dont want to break the bottle, I put lots of pressure on a cap wiht a sam adams bottle and it didnt seal it. How hard should I be pushign down.

Anyone got some tips to clean this thing up a bit, Id like to keep the rustic look possibly but its got cobwebs and all.

One other thing, anyone know if I will be able to bottle Negra Modello bottles with this, they are a bit shorter?

Click to expand...

Can you adjust the height on the capper?

Timber said:

So apparently there is no ned ofr a magnet in these (I was told I can superglue one in if I want to.

Im a bit confused as to how much pressure I put on it, I dont want to break the bottle, I put lots of pressure on a cap wiht a sam adams bottle and it didnt seal it. How hard should I be pushign down.

Anyone got some tips to clean this thing up a bit, Id like to keep the rustic look possibly but its got cobwebs and all.

One other thing, anyone know if I will be able to bottle Negra Modello bottles with this, they are a bit shorter?

Click to expand...

If you can't get the capper to adjust low enough for the short bottles you can use round wood blocks and set the bottles on those to "make the bottle taller"

Yes, the capper is adjustable, just was hoping someone had an idea before I tried it myself. Still not sure if I am not giving enough pressure or something is wrong as I have not yet been able to cap a bottle..