Hand cranked blender

Has anyone here had experience using a hand cranked blender… such as the ones sold at Lehman’s?

Ooh, I didn't even know you could get such a thing! I've used hand beaters but not blenders.

There are several on the market, but I seriously question their value.  I suspect the lack of replies indicates a similar lack of purchases.

Hi Nancy,

Your post prompted me to look for one on the market.  There is none. Lehman’s used to carry Vortex.  I can find pictures of the hand cranked Vortex blender, but ebay is the only place I can find one for sale….$350.00.

I was thinking that we probably have threads on converting blenders to hand power.....

I found some hand crank blenders here:

We found three Amish conversion blenders to fulfill most of the off-grid applications. They are a ¼” hex shaft model, as priced, to use with a drill, an air-powered model, and a hand crank model......The hand crank is probably the most practical for heavy use but is also the most expensive because of the gearing mechanism.

the base model is $385 the hand crank mechanism nearly doubles that!

My mom discovered and fell in love with these Tupperware hand-crank food processors something like 25 years ago. She had one, she got us one, and she got one for her mom. I have parts from all three sets now since the two of them have passed.

I can't really say that I love them, but it is the tool I pull out to whip cream.

(Picture found at https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0417/17/tupperware-red-quick-chef-food_1_4f63ad5b52439dd15f17e93e7787d392.jpg)

I have never used a hand crank blender, but we have used blender bikes to teach 4-H youth how to make fruit/veggie smoothies. This one is on Amazon. I'm sure they have kits to add one to a bike.

https://www.amazon.com/Beach-Party-Blender-Bike-Stationary/dp/B0D1G26VJJ?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=A7AU71UTHK79C&th=1

A thought came to me about possibly adapting an old hand crank grinder for sharpening tools. the gearing on one of those may be about right.

John F Dean wrote:Has anyone here had experience using a hand cranked blender… such as the ones sold at Lehman’s?

I had a hand-crank food processor that would also whip cream and egg whites (in literal seconds). It was a Tupperware brand device. I absolutely loved it! It worked better than any electric food processor I'd ever had--until the plastic gears broke. I was seriously tempted to get a machinist to fabricate me a metal gear assembly so I could keep using it for as long as the housing and accessories lasted.
Not a blender, but would work for most things you'd put in a blender.

Amazon has something called a GSI outdoor blender.  It looks perfect for blended drinks on a camping trip, but you may have to really earn that drink with some hard cranking!  Looks like fun!

Those things wore my arm out!  If you don't blend anything frozen, and cut it all up very small, and include copious amounts of liquid, it's easier, but with the stuff I normally blend it really wears out my arm.  It's nice to have them just in case, but unless you've got buff arm muscles, it's hard work and often requires cranking, then resting, then cranking, and so on.  The bike blender like Carrie mentioned above is a much better idea, and something almost anyone can do even if you're older and out of shape.  I used a home-made version on Maui when we visited the "off grid" side of the island and stopped for smoothies.  They had customers pedal to blend their own smoothies, which was kind of fun.  The staff would do it if someone really couldn't.  The bike blender is what I'd choose if space and price were not major obstacles.

Several years ago as part of preparedness planning, I got a personal-cup-size battery powered blender that recharges using solar.  It works better for me than the hand-crank one, but still it won't deal well with frozen fruit chunks or really fibrous stuff.   To use a manual gadget like that, for my older arms, things have to be already as close to blended as I can make them with a knife or a grater, and completely thawed out if frozen.

We converted an electric blender to a bicycle-powered blender to make smoothies. It worked great, even with a very poor interface for transferring energy between rotation in one plane (the direction the bike wheel spins) and the plane perpendicular to that (the direction an upright blender spins). So, also no hand crank experience, but the hand crank designs we saw in our research had real bevel gears to do the work, so I imagine they'd work at least ten times as well.

It was proposed after the fact by a friend that we could have poached a piece from a right angle drill as a way to obtain some bevel gears. If you have a strong flea market around, you might be able to get a drill like that for pretty cheap (the flea market around us often has a drill or two where the key is lost or the splines for the key are damaged).

John F Dean wrote:Has anyone here had experience using a hand cranked blender… such as the ones sold at Lehman’s?

John, is this the Lehman’s blender you’re referring to? It’s the only one I can find there
Hand Crank Mixer: Little Dutch Maid | Lehman's - https://www.lehmans.com/product/dual-speed-hand-cranked-mixer/

Pricy! but looks pretty nice for the type of blending it can do.
I’m a long-time fan of Lehman’s and have been well pleased with the quality of their products in general

The first ‘blender’ that came to mind when I came upon this thread is the old fashioned egg beater type - I find it useful for blending soups, stews, etc. in their cooking pot when I want a smoother texture. Caution ! they can splash hot stuff onto body parts
- Mine (my grandma’s) has the handle on top but I found pix of versions with handles at 45 and 90 degrees from the vertical axis of the blenders that might be more ergonomic

Those Vortex blenders are quite appealing, too.
- I’m a pretty regular smoothie maker and having an ‘off-grid’ version would be very nice. While I’m ‘on the grid’, living out in the sticks we have numerous power outages, gratefully they’re usually resolved within hours - we did have one several years ago that lasted ten days! during an ice storm with sub-freezing temps - yee-ikes! that was a trip!

I’ve got one of those vortex blenders and it actually works quite well. I tried it out by making a smoothie with frozen fruit and it wasn’t particularly difficult. The main dislike I have of it is that the bowl or pitcher is rather flimsy plastic and I have my doubts about how long it might last under heavy use.

I also have that Tupperware food processor and love it. It’s a great manual resource for making mayonnaise.

Christopher Weeks wrote:My mom discovered and fell in love with these Tupperware hand-crank food processors something like 25 years ago. She had one, she got us one, and she got one for her mom. I have parts from all three sets now since the two of them have passed.

I can't really say that I love them, but it is the tool I pull out to whip cream.

I've had one for years and use it occasionally. It does an OK job. My biggest complaint about it, actually, is that the sucker things on the bottom don't hold it in place very well so part of the effort of using it is needing to keep it from moving around.

jeff Swart wrote:

John F Dean wrote:Has anyone here had experience using a hand cranked blender… such as the ones sold at Lehman’s?

John, is this the Lehman’s blender you’re referring to? It’s the only one I can find there
Hand Crank Mixer: Little Dutch Maid | Lehman's - https://www.lehmans.com/product/dual-speed-hand-cranked-mixer/

No blades, only a mixer, right? Or can blades be added?

I bought one for my neighbor when we lived in the Amish house. She loved it - especially for smoothies. She said it had no issues and did a wonderful job.

Found these as well while searching for a hand crank, or manual or non-electric blender.
https://www.bevrev.com/
https://cottagecraftworks.com/off-grid-non-electric-high-speed-blender-food-processor

Have never tried using one. Though I do use a manual food processor. I find this is one of the best for chopping, even meats.
https://www.amazon.com/Cambom-Manual-Chopper-Smoothie-Blender/dp/B09NZKCQFV/ref=sr_1_25_sspa?crid=37RAEUIVIOOMU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.P0-bNWRE7rY7khjnsQSQKW3u0Unu-0yoblCNmesiTg_Um3Q54N2S8cNWr_rBL2d7qWXWLL9_WFTVj307nvhnqIzDCcgdpn2LAk_z_Hawrto.pB2yyWnhJXT5MtI_5-98_tWm_szZPMbAu-sf7L8mQAI&dib_tag=se&keywords=manual%2Bfood%2Bchopper&qid=1745554770&s=home-garden&sprefix=Manual%2BFood%2BChopper%2BVegetable%2BCutter%2Cgarden%2C235&sr=1-25-spons&xpid=O-MQBj8h8iscl&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGZfbmV4dA&th=1

Christopher Weeks wrote:My mom discovered and fell in love with these Tupperware hand-crank food processors something like 25 years ago. She had one, she got us one, and she got one for her mom. I have parts from all three sets now since the two of them have passed.

I can't really say that I love them, but it is the tool I pull out to whip cream.

(Picture found at https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0417/17/tupperware-red-quick-chef-food_1_4f63ad5b52439dd15f17e93e7787d392.jpg)

I bought a second-hand one that looks like this one, not Tupperware but unknown brand. It feels like it can whip cream or make mayonnaise, maybe mix a soft-fruit smoothie. I wouldn't even try to do things with it for which I use my electric blender! (I think something would break then)

I ran a human-powered juice bar a few years ago as a summer pop-up stall. The stall had 3 GSI Vortex blenders, a manual citrus juicer (the kind with a big lever) and a hand-cranked juicer. My spouse and I both did the juicing and blending and I handled the sales and business side of things. We could handle a bunch of different fruit and vegetables, but never managed to blend bananas.

On the other hand, I bought a generic hand-cranked blender when I lived in India and it blended bananas perfectly. I haven't found it again after moving back to Europe, though.

Hope this helps someone.

Just an FYI, and somewhat ancillary to blenders, but Cottage Craft Works will also convert a KitchenAid mixer to crank drive (if uncheaply!):
https://cottagecraftworks.com/convert-a-kitchen-aid-mixer-to-hand-crank-off-grid

I've eyed it before, but this conversion eliminates the electric drive entirely.  It would be dandy to have a "dual drive" setup, but as best I recall, there are electric gubbins over the end of the motor shaft on the cap end.  Without end-of-shaft access, that is a pretty tall order.  It's been a while since I had mine (old K5 bowl lift) apart - which probably means it's high time to check brush lengths and clean up the commutator, slather a bit of grease in the proper places, etc. - so I may be mis-remembering.

On edit:  One way of doing the "dual drive" would be to convert as per Cottage Craft Works, then have a pulley to install in the stead of the hand crank, anda  separate drive motor with belt and speed control to drive it.  Maybe mounted up on top of the head housing.  But, that seems more feasible with a bowl lift model than a tilt head.  Again, way off track for the hand crank blender subject, so apologies in advance.

Lif Strand wrote:

jeff Swart wrote:

John F Dean wrote:Has anyone here had experience using a hand cranked blender… such as the ones sold at Lehman’s?

John, is this the Lehman’s blender you’re referring to? It’s the only one I can find there
Hand Crank Mixer: Little Dutch Maid | Lehman's - https://www.lehmans.com/product/dual-speed-hand-cranked-mixer/

No blades, only a mixer, right? Or can blades be added?

Evidently, no blades - they say “2 stainless steel attachments - twin beating whisks and dough hook” although there’s three attachments shown in the pix. I asked one of their “chat” reps if there’s a blade attachment - NADA

Ha! Just checked out the “Non-Electric Gadgets” thread at the bottom of this page. Thanks to Google’s image search I found two models that look pretty appealing - check ‘em out

- Weston Metal Tomato Strainer, 1 Gallon Hopper, Stainless Steel
https://www.amazon.com/Weston-07-1201-W-Tomato-Strainer-Stainless/dp/B07T7D1594/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_2/132-3873340-7376235?pd_rd_w=C5pbp&content-id=amzn1.sym.4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_p=4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_r=D09NNVB3HG4973BW6J9M&pd_rd_wg=2Vewt&pd_rd_r=3c5d6c02-fa5e-40d1-82b1-15fd2ffe5b2b&pd_rd_i=B07T7D1594&th=1

- Amazon.com: Johnny Apple Sauce Maker, Tomato Sauce Maker, Remove Skins & Seeds From Produce, Model 250 Clamp Based Food Strainer (Basic Strainer): Apple Sauce Maker: Home & Kitchen
https://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Strainer-Sauce-VICTORIO-VKP250/dp/B001I7FP54?th=1

FWIW Health-wise, “masticating” cold press juicers retain vital nutrients, enzymes, etc., better than other types of juicers. First (?) championed by the Gerson Institute, originally they recommend three, now only two brands. They’re only electric and standby to pay the piper big buck$

The current two are Pure Juicer and Norwalk Juicer and the other is Champion.

The Pure Juicer is an improved version of the Norwalk

Currently Norwalks are only available used
Champions are also only available used, although Champion still offers parts

PURE Juicer - https://purejuicer.com

Here's a pix of one of the Norwalk Juicers



Here’s a pix of a Champion 2000 Model

I have zero experience, but I am so absolutely going to have a rowing machine converted in to a blending base in the next few years. I'm absolutely convinced a rowing machine would work perfectly. We have a few gimmicky bike blenders hear in the UK.

jeff Swart wrote:

- Amazon.com: Johnny Apple Sauce Maker, Tomato Sauce Maker, Remove Skins & Seeds From Produce, Model 250 Clamp Based Food Strainer (Basic Strainer): Apple Sauce Maker: Home & Kitchen
https://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Strainer-Sauce-VICTORIO-VKP250/dp/B001I7FP54?th=1

I have this model, and absolutely LOVE it. Do yourself a favor if you get one and go ahead and get the accessories pack with it. You won't regret it. I have been using mine for several years and wouldn't go back to trying to crush and strain in the old metal mill style again.

Vickey McDonald wrote:
I have this model, and absolutely LOVE it. Do yourself a favor if you get one and go ahead and get the accessories pack with it. You won't regret it. I have been using mine for several years and wouldn't go back to trying to crush and strain in the old metal mill style again.

Thanks for the recommendation Vickey - one of the product videos on Amazon mentioned her grandmother had one, so it's been around awhile
Sure looks a lot easier than the "old metal mill style" which I use for a lot of things and could even replace my current electric juicing machine

Here is what I have; it cost a fortune.  It's good, but not sure yet it's worth the cost.

Forgot about a couple of obvious hand-mixers - not blenders per se
…sometimes the obvious goes un-noticed

Chop Sticks & Spoons (wood & metal)

I particularly like using a pair of chop sticks (held about a finger’s width apart) when adding herbs & spices on top of whatever I’m brewing (soup, stew, eggs, etc) - especially dry things that seem to adhere to spoons

jeff Swart wrote:Forgot about a couple of obvious hand-mixers - not blenders per se
…sometimes the obvious goes un-noticed

Chop Sticks & Spoons (wood & metal)

I particularly like using a pair of chop sticks (held about a finger’s width apart) when adding herbs & spices on top of whatever I’m brewing (soup, stew, eggs, etc) - especially dry things that seem to adhere to spoons

I do, too! I have a pair of long chopsticks for mixing.

jeff Swart wrote:Forgot about a couple of obvious hand-mixers - not blenders per se
…sometimes the obvious goes un-noticed

Chop Sticks & Spoons (wood & metal)

I particularly like using a pair of chop sticks (held about a finger’s width apart) when adding herbs & spices on top of whatever I’m brewing (soup, stew, eggs, etc) - especially dry things that seem to adhere to spoons

great idea!