# Restored an antique mill



## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)

Hey guys, I thought I'd share this. I'll post heaps of photos over a couple of posts as it's limited to 10 per post, but here is my journey of restoring an antique grain mill. It does everything from coarse for animals to fine for flour. I don't know what year it was made, but I know they were made for African villages and didn't really take off there. As you'll see in the photos before I got it it had been spray painted while assembled and it was sold to an old woman while she was in Africa and she bought it as she was a secret prepper. She had never used it and it sat in a shed rusting for years. She died 15 years ago and her elderly daughter sold it to me. I got the paint matched into spray cans, and some orange into a pot for doing the lettering. All of the bolts have been replaced with stainless. All of the silicone has been removed. It got sprayed with etch primer then 3 coats of paint. The handle was polished by hand and the coach bolt for the handle I had to make from a normal bolt as my local shop didn't have stainless coach bolts in that size. Oh, and all bolts now have washers and nylocks nuts. It weighs about 40kg would work better if it was mounted to something solid. If you've got any questions, I'm happy to answer. 

Thanks for looking. Adam


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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)




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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)




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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)




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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)




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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)




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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)




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## Vintage Engine Repairs (Mar 13, 2022)

That’s fantastic mate! What a great job you did. I know @trains will like this post, he mills his own grain too.


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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)

Vintage Engine Repairs said:


> That’s fantastic mate! What a great job you did. I know @trains will like this post, he mills his own grain too.


Thanks mate. I already had a hand ground stone mill which makes much finer flour, so I had no need for this.. but the project was a lot of fun. I better get baking!


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## Brufab (Mar 13, 2022)

Nice pics, cool project, great work!


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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)

Brufab said:


> Nice pics, cool project, great work!


Thanks mate


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## Backyard Lumberjack (Mar 13, 2022)

thanks for sharing. well done!!! back in service!!


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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)

Backyard Lumberjack said:


> thanks for sharing. well done!!! back in service!!


Thanks


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## trains (Mar 13, 2022)

Hey Adam,
Job well done mate, its come a long way, and your time effort and patience has paid off.
The raised lettering looks amazing, and the prep work you put into it will last the test of time.

Well done.


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## MagraAdam (Mar 13, 2022)

trains said:


> Hey Adam,
> Job well done mate, its come a long way, and your time effort and patience has paid off.
> The raised lettering looks amazing, and the prep work you put into it will last the test of time.
> 
> Well done.


Thanks mate!


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## MagraAdam (Mar 14, 2022)

Some bread made from the mill flour.


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## esshup (Mar 21, 2022)

That's pretty cool. Good job!! How many hours do you have into it from start to completion?


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## MagraAdam (Mar 21, 2022)

esshup said:


> That's pretty cool. Good job!! How many hours do you have into it from start to completion?


Honestly, not many. I mean it was a 1hr drive each way to pick it up, also a 45min drive each way to drop it off for paint matching and picking up the paint. I spent the most time just trying to strip the paint and removing the terrible silicone. Excluding driving time there's only a few hours in it. Actually I probably spent an hour making that bolt and another hour or more polishing the handle.


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## esshup (Mar 22, 2022)

Not a bad investment for a nice piece of history there! You did very well.


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