In the case of small farms, threshing is done by beating or crushing the grain by hand or foot, and requires a large amount of hard physical labour.
Threshers can be made in a number of ways using simple tools, and can be used in the harvesting of maize/corn, rice, wheat, sorghum, pearl millet, and any other grain or seed that must be separated from a stalk.
Plans have been developed to build the attachment and the wheel-stand out of pieces of metal, including a large wheel that can be screwed to the crank section of the thresher (see External links).
[6] Introduction of machinery to the threshing process, and the way that the pedal-powered thresher is used have conflicted with cultural beliefs or practices in some cases.
[6] There are physical dangers involved in introducing machinery into a farming process; one of these is injury to hands and arms when feeding the stalks into the thresher.
[2] When building the thresher, creating a higher hood/chute cover helps stop the operator’s hands from contacting the machine, but does not entirely eliminate the danger.
If the thresher is well-suited for the size of the grain and stalks, it should have fewer broken seeds than beating or stomping.