I made a cheddar yesterday (stirred curd).  It all went very well, and I was anticipating a really great looking wheel of cheese out of the press this afternoon.  After a final press of 120 lbs for 26 hours, I attempted to remove my cheese from the mold. But it would not budge!  I then tried to pull out the follower, to no avail either.  After several frustrating attempts using various tools, I finally yielded to a hammer and 2 X4.  It took quite a while, and some rather heavy handed whacking; but the cheese finally broke loose and I was able to extract it.  I had to take a knife and cut the cheese away from the follower, which was somewhate imbedded in the top of the wheel.  This is going to be a very interesting cheese, to say the least.  I will say this:  it’s very well knit!

LOL, im envisioning broken large chunks.
Hope it works out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrEN-YKLBM

lol, did you use a cheese cloth? Will be easier I suppose. I had it once with one of my Kadova moulds and I was afraid that I would ruin the nets. But that wasn’t pressed with so much weight and for such a long time and I was lucky to free the cheese without any damage.

No, I customarily do not use a cheese cloth on the final press; but I’ve never had such difficulty in extracting a wheel of cheese.  I’m going to do some polishing on the inside of my mold and see if this prevents a recurrence.

Also maybe try oiling it lightly, even using butter etc..
The build-up of proteins is common and they can act like cement.