Homemade stone mill idea

[Wheel Gun]

In the cooking thread, I mentioned that I had no way to grind flour. I lamented over the inefficiency of the el cheapo grain mills and the price of the good ones. So that I won't derail that topic, I moved this discussion here.

So, why can't I make my own traditional stone mill? Check out the photos below. For centuries, people have been grinding flour/meal between two stones. How about this idea? Just down the road, I've got a granite countertop outfit with a big scrap pile. I'm sure they'd love for me to take some of that off their hands. I should be able to cut some scrap granite into rough circles using a diamond grinding blade. I could then make two heavyish wheels by epoxying some round pieces together. A diamond bit/cutter should be able to make some holes for a handle and a feed hole. These mills have a pattern of grooves on the working side.

A 12" homemade flour mill should produce enough fine flour for the two of us. Thoughts?

 

[subprep]

I like it alot.

 

[candrpotts]

keep posted on progress. Sounds like it might be a really good idea

 

[tran]

Where did you find the stones?

 

[Wheel Gun]

Where did you find the stones?

I haven't made anything yet. That's just an internet photo of what I might attempt to reproduce, using countertop granite.

 

[okietom]

All you need is a large round rock you can hold in your hand and a big flat rock that will eventually take the shape of a bowl and grind it by hand.

 

[dennishoddy]

Its called a mortal and pedestal. Been in use for centuries.

 

[subprep]

actually an aunt of mine has a really cool rock on her property, its more like a giant L shaped boulder imagine the L is on its side ___l <--sorta like that, with a natural slab style seat and you can see an wearing indentation in the top of the stone where people used to grind something, im doing a terrible job of describing this really cool thing...

 

[subprep]

I re tell jokes that Ive heard and liked the same way....

 

[BadgeBunny]

I re tell jokes that Ive heard and liked the same way....

You are not alone ...

Hey, EdmondMember ... Did you do this? How'd it turn out? I'm on the verge of ordering one of these ...

https://www.lehmans.com/p-45-diamant-grain-mill.aspx

Although I must admit that these intrigue me ...

http://www.lifegrains.com/home.asp?goto=prod

Price is not an obstacle, quality and ability to perform without problems is ... So ... I'm really leaning towards biting the bullet and getting the Diamant, because I'll be milling a lot more than just a little flour here and there ...