November 13, 2017 - 7:26am
Milling Granite for a Mill
This isn't really a challenge, just in the sense that I don't know what the heck I'm doing. So maybe it's just a challenge for you, then.
I have 6 months to a year to have this done and I don't want to mess it up. I'm growing about 100 feet of wheat starting in spring and need a stone mill, anyhow.
So, I've found pieces of granite countertop scraps enough for two 8" round wheel and two 5" wheel. I need a schematic, and I don't know where to look.
I was thinking there is enough here to cut some pillars for a two-inch roller mill at the bottom of a feed chute.
Ideas on what to use to cut it would help, too.
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Try here;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMaitNOnLa0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYx4UocjWQ8
(A little further editing)
As of 2011 Germany had only one person left to tend to millstones a one Wolfgang Strakosch of Zusamaltheim in Bavaria.
"Strakosch says that the basalt's porosity is also vital. "Air locked inside the stone created pores. When I work the stone, I cut the pores and this creates very sharp edges which help grind the grain and hardly ever become blunt," the thin, white-haired Strakosch told news agency AFP. "I used to work in a mill with millstones and I wanted to know how they worked," he says. "After a long search and speaking to lots people I ended up finding the last two millstone master craftsmen."
"But there is no written manual or textbook, Strakosch adds. "They told me they had learned the trade working with their fathers and grandfathers, and that this was the only way to learn."
https://www.thelocal.de/20110806/36785
I found this manufacturer of grain mills also lists their specifics;
https://www.getreidemuehle.com/en/shop/2101/
This site offers books on the subject;
http://www.spoom.org/cms-view-page.php?page=bookstore-prices-shown-are-for-us-purchases-only
Best of luck and keep us posted of your progress...,
Wild-Yeast
Wikipedia has some interesting info.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millstone
As for how to cut granite, I cut and polished granite tiles for a backsplash and when I inquired about the tools, I was told it cut and polished just like wood only harder. For small cuts, it can be drycutting. For larger cuts you need a wetsaw and diamond blade. It will chew through blades.
The first problem I see is that you need to have a granite that won't crumble stone bits into the flour as it grinds the flour. Not all granite is the same-some is quite crumbly. Check this out before putting a ton of effort into shaping the stones.
This is an interesting and quite ambitious project. Please post your journey on this-whether you cut stones or don't.
https://newengland.com/yankee-magazine/food/breads/on-the-rise/
The baker in this article designed and had granite carvers build his millstones. I know this is way beyond what you are contemplating but I suppose this baker started somewhere on that same "what if..." path.
Enjoy!
clazar123,
Very interesting article. My source for Local Grains information here in the Midwest is Spence Farm, who farm and mill themselves. It appears they sell their flour for Publican Quality Meats, who has their lot and for the life of me won't return my phone calls to staff me. I haven't been active on thefreshloaf in ages, but the quest continues.
My mother has this mill sitting in the cabinet. I've seen a steel plate grain mill from Victoria that is built similar to this, but it has a backing for the handle that holds it in place. On this one the image shows that the screw on the feed plate is what holds that in place, so if I can modify it to hold onto the two stones and cut them into shape this can be a motorized piece.