I've wondered whether the evolving logos could be used to help date various mfr's mills. There seems to be little information about how to date mills* (or ID mills without a maker's mark -- I remember seeing something about the number of points or vanes on an upper burr), and in my idle moments I've been curious about that.

A couple of weeks ago a German or Dutch eBay seller listed two books on coffee mills (sadly, the price was higher than my credit limit at the Bank of Behind The Sofa Cushions), so maybe the information is already available in part, at least ... does anyone know?

With kind regards,
Josh, in CA







* PS, just to pre-empt suggestions that I could start by casually asking them out for coffee ...

What a pretty logo ...

Here's how it looks "cleaned up" (as best I could), at low rez (96 dpi). I made a guess at the actual height and width -- it looks a little smaller than I imagine it should, now that I see it, but that's me, guessing.... If anyone's interested, I could put up images of the intermediate stages of the clean-up to show more or less how it's done.

Kind regards,
Josh, in CA



On edit - a second, larger version, slightly lower quality (to stay under the posting guidelines), same resolution ...

If ya get 'round to making decals, I'll have two of those, please. Double nice!

Wow, those look really great, even in the low-res form for forum posting. I bet they would look stunning in hi-res digital. Bot even still.. If you took that second image, exactly as it appears on the forum post/computer screen and made a sticker from it, it would go great on my PeDe.

Ive got a model 550 Mokha.. It is a Knee Model. During the Resto, the logo didn't all make it. Only the "red dot" with the Stag and "PeDe" made it. But, it kind of gives my grinder a unique twist. I posted pictures(or possibly links to pictures, i forget) when I first got it, a couple pages back, if you want to see it.

If you DO make some "full" PeDe decals, like the ones posted above, Id like a couple. One or two for the grinder, and another one or two for my coffee/espresso collage Im working on.

But, seriously.. Those decals look fantastic!

@JoshInCa No worries we are all on the same stuff here.

As far as the gold leaf tinted backgrounds, that can be done with some of the foil thermal printers now. These are the same ones that are used for decals now. But it is a multipass process with registered printing. You can get a thermal backed gold leaf for several of those processes, but it is not a small batch run.

-C

After some experimenting and further research, I have disappointing news. It looks as though printing (maybe) acceptable-quality decals would need a fairly specialized printer (an ALPS) which is no longer marketed in the US, and which would apparently cost between $700 and $1200 US, best guess, to get going.

It might be possible to get short runs of decals printed by someone who already has gone through all of that. Has anyone looked into this? I may just be low on caffeine at the moment, but it suddenly seems like a high hurdle for a decal that may end up not being sharp enough to fool the eye...

With kind regards,
Josh, somewhat discouraged in CA

PS - in case it's worth going forward, what made it possible for the Pe De image to turn out (to my eye, anyhow) so much better than the De Ve image was the relatively high quality of Peacecup's original photo. It's large and it's at 180 dpi, and it's not rotated much out of parallel with the plane of the camera. I'd like to find out the height at center and width at the widest point of the original logo and make some (hopefully final) tweaks...

I think this link might be a nice read. Especially the part with all the links to custom decal making guys.

I just stumbled across this site and thought it might be interesting for those who love antique hand grinders (apologies if it's already been mentioned):

http://www.javaholics.net/

A painted Zass.? Just arrived from an ebay "buy it now". I don't think Zassenhaus ever had a painted model?
If they did will someone let me know before I strip her. It's painted design is all the way around, then clear coated and has color coordinated felt on the bottom. Whoever did it did the complete professional job.

It's beautiful. I have exactly that same model but without the paintjob. It's a terrific espresso-capable grinder. I think they called it a model 238 FWIW.

Before....

farmroast wrote:A painted Zass.? Just arrived from an ebay "buy it now". I don't think Zassenhaus ever had a painted model?
If they did will someone let me know before I strip her. It's painted design is all the way around, then clear coated and has color coordinated felt on the bottom. Whoever did it did the complete professional job.

After...


Ed (Farmroast) didn't have a chance to post a picture of how he "saved" this Zassenhaus from it's previous life. I was the lucky winner of his eBay auction (though I had no idea I was buying this lovely grinder). The chrome now sparkles, and the beech wood looks beautiful. I fiddled with the burr-alignment a bit, and got the grinder to a point of producing incredibly fine and even grinds all the way to a Turkish powder. Fantastic grinder, and thanks for all your hard work on this Ed.

I don'T want to sound like a bubble buster, but I remember seing a few Zassenhaus painted on the german ebay. Maybe it was not a work of a lunatic!!!!!

Just finished refurbishing a mate to my first PeDe/Dienes. The new one (on the right) has the same cherry wood all the way around but with maple accents on the corners and maple lids and a black crank knob.

Beautiful Ed. How's it grind? Will this stay in your private collection, be given to a friend (need any new friends?), or be sold? Also, it would be great to see a "before" picture to, once again, see the great restoration-work you do.

On a related note, the Zass I bought from you seems to be settling in a bit... odd, but initially it seemed faster. Now, it's smooth and less aggressive. Takes a bit longer than my others to grind 14 grams, but I'm fine with that - it's a pleasure to use. (No I haven't counted revolutions for 14 grams ala Doug at Orphan.... I just enjoy the process too much to bother with counting.)

Thanks Bob, Think it goes into my collection. This rare deluxe model line 658 has been my favorite for build quality and design. From what I've learned the line was made from 1938-55. These are very aggressive grinders(about 40 turns for 14grams for my Cremina lever) and will do espresso but not super fine very well. I didn't do a before picture because it wasn't too bad looking when I started.
I think your grinder settling in is it started with the burrs being completely cleaned and as you use it some oils and fines settle into the depths of the grooves and limited the flow a bit and is normal. That Zass had quite fine grooves.

I also want to post this link again Dienes.fr A great site from France for Dienes grinders!!! A serious PeDe collection with lots of info. I hadn't visited it for awhile and a lot has been added. It is in French so you will want to use your favorite translation program.

robert mayrand wrote:I don'T want to sound like a bubble buster, but I remember seing a few Zassenhaus painted on the german ebay. Maybe it was not a work of a lunatic!!!!!

There is a guy in my Mom's hometown that will print napkins (paper or linen) to match their coffee/tea service china. The Germans take Kaffee Klatch very seriously, and I wouldn't put it past them to paint the grinder to match the plates and cups and such.
I remember us wanting to reschedule a trip to Augsberg for the next day, but my Mom was supposed to go see an old friend of hers. She called to suggest that she could see her that afternoon instead, to which her friend replied, "Oh no, impossible! I've not baked a cake!"

Hey I spent time in Augsburg! Nice place. Actually, I dated a girl who was raised in Friedberg which is the next town over. Quaint place. If I only was into hand-mills back then, I could have had quite the collection.

The Germans do like their cake. Every afternoon, the family would shut the door on their bike shop for coffee and cake. A slower way of life that certainly has an appeal. Too bad the coffee was Tchibo .