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This is the second extruder I've purchased for use with fondant and gumpaste (clays of the cake decorating world). I originally bought the Makin's Professional Ultimate Clay Extruder. The crank handle was an improvement over the other push models, but it was cumbersome to use. Plus, it was fragile, and the metal was extremely thin to the point of being sharp. Though I was careful with it, the threading split during the second use. So I returned it and bought this Walnut Hollow extruder instead. It's superior in EVERY way: better, more comfortable crank with a pivoting handle, sturdier and more durable metal, all the same discs as the Makin set, AND it includes a nifty storage case so you don't have to worry about losing all those discs. Get this one. You won't regret it.
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I use this with primarily Premo brand polymer clay. I do not need to add any softeners to the clay, but it is best if your clay is warm and very well conditioned.Addressing the concern that it was leaving black marks--I suspected it might be like my pasta machine which comes with oil that needs to be cleaned out, and I ran the first three barrels full of scrap clay. They did indeed pick up a greyish oil on the first barrel, but seemed pretty clean after that. I'm not sure if this was what was experienced by others, or if they had a defective one, but I would run some test clay through until it's clean before you feed it good clay.
You are going to positively burn through the o-rings on this if you're using it with a firmer clay. Because of this, I wavered between three and four stars on this review. However, I would imagine that with fondant or air dry clays it wouldn't be so bad, and I've yet to find a (reasonably priced) clay extruder that doesn't have some issues. The o-ring is a cheap fix, at least.
If you let the o-ring shred and don't realize it, you'll get horizontal slices in the interior metal of the barrel, and your clay will end up pooling behind the plunger and making a mess of everything--check your o-rings regularly! I do have a number of scratches, as I didn't realize the first time I shredded the o-ring, but it doesn't seem to affect anything.
It takes #9 size o-rings, if that helps anyone, and they can be picked up for about $3 for a dozen at your local hardware store in the plumbing section. I have also found that putting a tiny bit of Pam or Armor-All around the o-ring each time I refill the barrel helps it to slide a bit better, and I get more use out of the ring, without having any problems with the clay itself (I've used both as mold releases, so figured it would be safe in this application).
I do find it helpful to roll a baby wipe and run it through the barrel and over the various pieces a few times to help clean it from time to time as well. It doesn't seem to need much more than that. Baby wipes--a clayers best friend!
All in all, I have used a number of extruders, including the makin's one, and the sculpey one--which work best when paired with a caulk gun--and I rather like this one better than the plunger style ones. It takes a bit more elbow grease to turn the crank than the plunger ones do when they are used with a caulk gun, but the barrel holds a lot more, and so far mine has lasted a lot longer than either of the others (which had a bad habit of having the caps split over time, since they really weren't meant to withstand the pressure the caulk gun put on them.)
Hope this helps!
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