Make sure to see the Star #18 page with some before/after photos.
Update 10/03/2001: This page will be re-engineered soon, as it takes forever to load on a dial-up line. You can see tonight's big score right here -- a Star #15, dating to about 1878. What can I say? Missing the receiver tray and hopper, but that helped me get the price down on it. It came out of Illinois from a defunct commercial apple orchard that's being bulldozed to make way for a housing development. The owner claimed that it been with the orchard "forever."
Update 09/20/2001: Added pictures of the Enterprise #12.
Update 08/30/2001: New photos and stories of acquired mills at the bottom of the page.
Update 10/22/2000: Pictures and witty dialog towards the bottom of the page, including an unidentified mill that you might be able to educate me on.
Update 09/24/2000: Here's a few quick pics of the Enterprise #5 I got over the weekend. Notice the severe lack of money lying around in these photos....
It's hard to say which I enjoy more, clocks or coffee mills. I have a large number of both. But I think the nod goes to coffee mills, because they are a little less common, and a lot less practical. I readily admit that collecting is a disease, and I've got a raging infection.
I should also note that I've added 9 more mills to the walls since I took these pictures...
Update 2005: If you come over, you won't see these mills covering every square inch of wall and floor space any longer. I've nearly doubled the size of my collection, but moved most of them to the basement. I'm now trying to get them all photographed and seeking web hosting so I can display them on-line for all to enjoy.
If I ever decide to turn Amish, I'll sell the mill you see below because it's an electric mill made by Holwick. It's the only electric mill I own (besides the Braun mill I use every day). This mill would probably have been used at a grocery store, hotel, or restaurant. I bought it at a flea market and had to carry it about 1/2 a mile back to my car, which was not a trivial task, considering that it weighs about 60 lbs. I have since purchased a wagon capable of hauling 350 lbs.
Some of my favorite "lap" mills are seen below.
I recently picked up the one you see below at a local auction -- a Parker double grinder with the original label. Not a common mill by any means.
Update 10/22/2000: Here's a mill I have never been able to identify. It has a brass medalion on top with (what appears to be) a woman with a sack of coffee on her head. It's either that, or a really crazy hat that women wore prior to the turn of the century. There are no other markings on this mill anywhere. Judging from the construction, I'm putting it at around 1870. If you can identify the mystery mill, email me.
Update 08/30/2001: I've landed some great mills lately, including some project mills that I picked up CHEAP. On with the show:
Here's a "No 1" (literally, no one, as I can not determine the manufacturer)
side or grist mill that I picked up for $18. It's in outstanding
shape, and simply needs a paint job and an attractive display stand.
Next, I found this later model of an Enterprise #5 mill that some Martha Stewart wannabe turned into a lamp. The bonehead responsible managed to drill three holes (two in the lid, one small one in the back of the bowl) which I can easily repair. But it does mean that I'll need to repaint this one, strip the drawer of its black paint, and replace the porcelain knobs. I normally avoid mills that are so horrifically altered, but I paid less than $200 for it. I now have an early model #5 (top of page) and the late model.
Moving up the desirability ladder, I offer these pictures of my Enterprise #14 prior to its full restoration. The restoration will include: 1) The grind adjustment knob has three of its four spokes broken off. I can turn replacement knobs on the lathe and thread them in. 2) The wood handle is missing, but the handle bolt is there. That's a quick wood lathe project. 3) The hopper and receiver need to be fabricated ($$$). 4) Full paint job (ug, not again!). What a dramatic mill this will be when completed next year!
I finished it in October of 2004:
And finally, if that wasn't enough, I landed the "big trophy" a few weeks ago: an Enterprise #10. It's also in need of a full restoration, but the that's not a problem. It's all there, and everything about it is great.
I've also got a restoration underway on an Enterprise #60 mill and my Star #18 B mill right now... If you look carefully, you can see the painstaking process of body filling. Fill and sand, fill and sand. Then prime and hope the surface is smooth. If not, fill and sand fill and sand. A grinder restoration is a tedious thing measured in terms of months. I hope to be painting soon.
Update 09/20/2001: Here's an Enterprise #12 with a belt pulley I just picked up. It needs the full paint restoration and a fix to a break on the belt pulley. I'll hook it up to the Farmall H and do some serious bean grinding next year! UPDATE: I finished it in October of 2004. Picture doesn't do it justice (I'll work on that). I had to replace the belt pulley, because it could not be saved -- economics of repair were poor. For example: lock-n-stitch of the cast iron is the right and only way to make a functional cast iron repair. Estimated cost: $450. Cost of a pulley off an old McCormick grain thresher? $25. I spent the $25. The pulley was never marked as "Enterprise" anyway.
September 25, 2005. Here are some other recent finds:
An ultra-rare Swift Model B:
A complete Crescent #9 mill totally original, right down to the original receiver. No damage, nothing missing:
And I've had a number of requests about electrolysis as a rust elimination/conservation method when a repaint is necessary. Electrolysis is much more preferable to sandblasting for removing paint/rust. All you need is a big tub (or plastic swimming pool), a battery charger, household lye, and a sacrificial anode. I use old stainless steel pots under 2 amps and 12 volts. Nothing works better. Here's a picture of me taking off black paint from a Fairbanks Morse #9. It also had some severe corrosion. After 36 hours of electrolysis, the rust was gone, the paint was gone, and the parts that had corroded together were free and serviceable again.
I picked up an Enterprise 2 1/2 today as well. First one I've owned in all these years.
