Hand-cranked flour mills are preferred by people who wish to conserve electric power in any way they can to help the environment. Others simply want to go on grinding even with power outages. If you are one of these people, consider the Schinitzer Country Hand-Driven Flour Mill.
Deemed by Schnitzer as their best manual grinder, this beautifully-designed hand mill is made of a combination of beech wood and stainless steel frame, aluminum hopper, and a grinding stone of Naxos-Basalt and magnesite. A shaft connects the grinding store to a long handle that activates grinding.
The hopper has a capacity of one kilogram. Grains in the hopper fall directly to the self-sharpening millstones. Depending on the setting of the adjustment knob mounted on one end of the stones, the mill can produce either fine flour suited for baking, or coarse or cracked grains for cereals. Grains as small millet or as big as corn, and everything in between such as wheat, barley, oats, or rice, can be processed by the Country Hand-Driven Flour Mill. Oily seeds such as flax and sesame seeds can even be ground if the mill is on a coarse setting. If you want fine flax or sesame seeds, mixed them with wheat or rye in the same amount.
Manual hand mills will always require some effort, but with the long handle of the Country Hand-Driven Mill, you will find that such effort is not that great. With every revolution of the millstones, you can produce a gram of fine flour. Usually, in one minute, you can have 80 revolutions, or 80 g. For coarse grounds, this increases to 130 g.
The mill is clamped to your counter or work table. It has a height of 52 cm, width of 17 cm, and depth of 36 cm. If you want, you can attach a belt to the shaft and convert the hand-cranked mill into a pedal-powered machine.