Early apple parers made in the late 1700 to mid-1800's are often referred to as primitive apple parers. Many are made of wood and include some hand forged metal parts. The most common design includes a crank to rotate the apple along with a hand-guided paring knife. These early parers exhibit an amazing diversity of designs that is well illustrated in the book Apple Parers by Don Thornton.
The word primitive is perhaps a misleading term as many of these parers exhibit mechanisms and workmanship that anticipate and even surpass the mass produced cast iron apple parers. Furthermore, some of these early designs were popular enough to be produced in significant numbers. |