Easy to build cheese press, for cheap!

Yesterday I made a press for making hard cheese. I found that you can buy a press for around $300 but that really seemed like it would suck the joy right out of the experience. I've made one myself for $30. I assume 'most' people could do the same. It really is a breeze to do. No special skills needed. I followed a VERY EASY plan posted by the Fias Co Farm. I highly recommend this plan. Here are two pics of my (almost) final product.



This next picture is of how nicely small this press stores. The construction allows it to be disassembled with zero effort. The legs simply slide out through the bottom when you pick up the press. Brilliant.



I did not picture the top board because I didn't make it yet. However, this should take all of 2 minutes. Just means drilling four holes and that certainly was not difficult. You could probably get someone at a hardware store to do it for you if you don't have a drill.
It should also be noted that I didn't show the "whey catch/drain" made from the pie pan because it is unnecessary, but it does help to contain the pressed out whey. You could just as easily set this on a cookie sheet and achieve the same result.

The supplies I used were purchased at Amazon ($20 for maple cutting board, 12 x 16) and Lowes ($10 for stainless steel washers and screws, and the oak 3/4" dowel cut into 16" long pieces). I have to recommend the maple cutting board for two reasons:
1. It won't flavor or stain your cheese or cause problems with the acid and bacteria
2. The thickness of the board allows the legs to be held in a secure 90 degree upright position. I did consider using plastic board for even greater sanitation but the thin nature of plastic cutting boards would not have kept the legs upright.
One last note about the maple cutting board. It seems to me that the top board for this press could be made from any material that will not warp or bend since the top board will never contact the cheese. I'm going to use scrap plywood I have in my garage for FREE.

For the weights I've used freeweights from my neglected bench weight set. Also free. It seems reasonable that you could use absolutely anything you desire for weights as long as it is measured to be correct using a scale. If the weight is wrong your cheese might turn out very differently than you expect (drier, more moist, buttery, flakey, etc). Proper weight is very important.

Build time for this was about 1 hr because I was being EXTREMELY picky about precision. It's just my personality. If you simply go through the steps as decribed I'd say 30 min would do it. Don't forget the mineral oil for treating the wood.

Good luck!