Fox Run Flour Sifter, Stainless Steel, 8-Cup

Just what I needed, good quality, good size.

The 8 cup fox run flour sifter is probably fine for sifting flour, but worthless for roasting coffee. I've been using flour sifters for stove top roasting for more than 3 years and normally buy two or three sifters each year. The fox run sifter is different from every other I've bought in that it has a flat bottom--no elongated, narrower extension. Fox Run is on the right in the pic and my old sifter is left. That flat bottom puts the fox run screen only 7/8 in. above the flame. The old sifter is 1 5/8 above the flame. I thought it still might be okay by just lowering the heat on my gas range. But additionally, I cannot configure the beaters so that they rotate the beans. Beans get stuck at the screen rim making it impossible to turn. I always elongate the holes on sifters where the crank rod goes thru using a rotary file and then secure a metal strap to raise the beaters off the screen and get a bit more life out of the mesh. I've done this with every sifter and never had a problem before, but this one just will not work with coffee beans. Very disappointed with the purchase, but it is a flour sifter, not a coffee roaster, so.......can't really fault it for its proper use.

Update: This would be 5 stars if I had received a functioning item the first time. Made 100 sugar cookies and icing with it for xmas. This thing is a workhorse.The sifter was broken when I received it. The 4 wire agitator was not welded together. Haven't taken the time to attempt and fix it. Even if the thing worked, I have no doubt it wouldn't be good. The agitator doesn't even seem like it fits the strainer mesh.

I bought this to roast green coffee beans on top of a Presto Poplite popcorn popper.This was purchased after reading experiences from Arlo, Socman, and others on Sweet Maria's Forums.It is used in conjunction with an aluminum 4 to 3 inch reducer.Pros:It allows me to double my roast size to 1 cup of beans.It is easier to dump the beans from the sifter to a cooling bowl that it was from the popcorn popper.Can control heat of beans by lifting higher off the popper.Price is great.The quality is better than the squeeze sifter's at local big box stores.Cons:Handle comes off and slips while spinning. I fixed it coming off with loctite.Wires catch beans while turning, but that's really because it's designed for flower.I think, for the price, it's a nice little roasting sifter. I may adjust the length of the sifting wires to help it spin with less friction on the wire mesh at the bottom.

This Fox Run 4 cup sifter is a very nice, small size sifter. For the low price of $10.57, when purchased, I was surprise at how well made it is. The opening at the top is 4 1/2" wide, it is 6 1/2" high, which includes a 1/2" high extension at the bottom. This extension curves inwards, reducing the opening to 2 3/4" wide, and funnels the sifted flour coming out. The extension doesn't show in the angle the product photo was taken.The sifter has double wire hoops attached to a shaft/crank handle (with a nice turned wooden knob). This shaft is about 5/32" thick, the hoop wires are right under 1/8" thick; all four hoop wire edges make contact with the fine mesh sifter screen. These double hoops are also centered on the shaft inside the sifter. This sifter makes fast work of sifting flour. You have to tap it a little when the sifter is almost empty, to get the last bit sifted, but that is the same as any sifter I've used.I haven't had this Fox Run long enough to know how well the stainless steel will hold up against rusting, but it seems like a nice quality. I am very happy with this purchase.

This sifter appears to be a robust piece of kitchen equipment, and if rated for construction alone it would have received 4-5 stars. However, there are two design problems. First, the agitator is a curved reel that is supposed to scrape the surface of the curved screen. Because the curvature of the reel wires differs from the screen curvature, it only scrapes the screen center. Second, the screen mounting creates an interior ridge around the circumference, just above the screen. These two factors cause the flour to build up along the sides and not fall through the screen.When you rotate the reel, the flour in the middle of the sifter falls through, but flour remains stacked around the sides of the screen. To make the flour fall through you need to strike the sifter against the heel of your hand to dislodge the flour, and then operate the crank again. Flour is still stuck to the side of the screen and the ridge, so you again hit the sifter against your hand, and repeat the above operation until all the flour has been discharged. So two stars for poorly executed design.Sifters with flat screens and flat agitators don't have this problem to the same extent.

Everything about it is solid. The handle has screw caps on either end, which is a nice touch. The crank is solid and not going to bend on you. The only thing I don't like is that the rotating basket only brushes the mesh in the center, and not across a wider portion of the arch of each blade. As a result, you have to do a little side to side shaking to get the flour tossed around. It does run through a full 3 cups in short order, and I found operation to be smooth.For rice flour, it would be better to have more contact area, since rice flour is quite difficult to sift when slightly damp. However, this is the only style which reliably sifts damp rice flour. The squeeze models are useless. This does work, but it has that minor flaw in construction. Not sure I could ask for much more at this price point though.

Decent quality sifter with some flaws. Sturdy, does reasonable job. Would be better if the mesh screen was finer. Also sifting loops only contact center of screen, so you have to shake it to dislodge lumps. According to some reviews does not hold up to heavy commercial use. But should be durable for home baker.The really annoying part is that the sifter has a large label on the front. The first time you wash it, half of the label washes off. No problem so far. But while the label pretty much washes away, the uber-aggressive, gummy adhesive residue doesn't. Solvents like rubbing alcohol and acetone don't do much and you have to either destroy the shiny finish or put up with the gummy residue long term. What were they thinking?

Fine product, type you turn are much easier to use than squeezy handle ones.

Looks good. Haven’t used it yet other than testing that the handle works. Design looks to work very well. As far as cleaning, these things are never easy to clean, but thats the nature of this product.

Arrived with a minor dent in the side but cosmetic only. Worked very well at sifting flour. Gently tapping the side helps to dislodge anything that gets stuck.

Love this ... works well