Hand (grinder) Jive - a photo essay - Page 131

#1301: Post by **jesse** » March 15th, 2015, 7:58 pm

bakafish wrote: My Peugeot RIC and EX burrs were resharpened and added a lower bushing for a better alignment by a specialist. Obvious improvement for the grind consistency and fines amount. Much better than the LIDO 2 for pour over.

In terms of consistency and amount of fines, or are you referring to user friendliness etc ?

#1302: Post by **SlowRain** » March 15th, 2015, 9:04 pm

jesse, bakafish has expressed his displeasure with some of the more recent hand grinders that he has ordered. In the case of the LIDO 2, he may have received one that should've been returned for warranty work. We just don't know. Most of the LIDO 2 users, myself included, are happy with their purchases.

#1303: Post by **bakafish** » March 15th, 2015, 9:24 pm

jesse wrote:In terms of consistency and amount of fines, or are you referring to user friendliness etc ?

I tested them with a 300 um standard sieve for 24g beans. LIDO 2 had more than 3g fines and Peugeot had under 2.5g. After the 300 um fines were sieved out, shook the particles with proper force, and then I saw the coarser and finer particles were divided to different layers obviously, but the particles ground by Peugeot had not so obvious layers no matter what force I used. Maybe my LIDO 2 was defective, not so perfect as yours, and not all the Peugeot vintage hand grinders are so excellent as mine, which were moded by a specialist. I also tested my Rosco the same way. The consistency was slightly better than the LIDO 2 and the fines amount were almost the same. I could not tell the difference by taste.

#1304: Post by **gail** » March 18th, 2015, 4:28 am

I have a small cylindrical Tre Spade manual grinder, purchased new. It cost around $70. It has small steel conical burrs made by Tre Spade. I am not an expert, but the quality of the grinds seems good to me. Anyone know about these? In theory it has a stepped grind regulation, but in practice you can place the regulating nut wherever you want and the pin holds it in place there very well. It takes me about 1.5 minutes to grind 16 grams for espresso.

March 18th, 2015, 5:56 pm

The design of that Tre Spade grinder goes back many years. (It's actually based on a design that Peugeot used in the 1800s.) The problem with most of the Italian hand grinders that I've looked at is that there isn't a lower carrier or bushing at the bottom of the burr axle. So the burrs will tend to wobble. This is less of an issue at fine grind settings, as the proximity of the burrs hold things in alignment, but becomes a big issue at larger grind sizes used for brewing. The stepped adjustment of these grinders is also a problem for espresso purposes, which require very fine adjustments. But if you have this grinder matched with a Moka pot or similar, it should work great.

Here's the old Peugeot version, which came in multiple sizes:

#1306: Post by **gail** » March 19th, 2015, 2:22 pm

I am using the Tre Spade to make espresso with a Bacchi espresso. I put the grind adjustment pin in between the steps to get the exact
grind fineness needed. In this way, I can get at least 4 settings in between each step. I don't use the coarse grind settings. It seems to work fine to me, but I am not an expert.

#1307: Post by **ganconagh** » April 15th, 2015, 10:33 pm

I am hoping someone can provide tips on restoring a Lehnartz Turkish Mill. I bought the used mill in good condition, but the hypochrondriac side of me will not let me use it until I have been able to take it to pieces and given it a thorough clean. I have no issues taking my wooden mills to pieces and cleaning them, but the this Turkish mill does not have a scratch on it and it would be a shame to damage it due to unwittingly forcing, bending, twisting something that should not ought to.

If anyone has dismantled one of these (and put back together working

) , please post some tips, gotchas or howtos

As always, any help would be greatly appreciated.

#1308: Post by **TomC** » April 16th, 2015, 12:47 am

That is beautiful! I like the patina it's developed and I haven't seen many that weren't heavily pierced or adorned.

I haven't taken one apart myself, but I can't imagine it being very difficult. If you're worried about slipped screwdrivers scratching the surface, maybe cover the body with low tack blue painter's tape.

If you tear it apart successfully, please continue to share pictures here. Member peacecup might be a good person to ask.

#1309: Post by **Nonprophet** » April 18th, 2015, 1:29 pm

I've really enjoyed reading this thread! I'm definitely a low-tech kind of guy who really enjoys the well-crafted gadgets of yesteryear, so I guess it was only a matter of time before I got sucked into the world of vintage hand coffee grinders! I buy and restore vintage cast iron cookware, and I've really come to appreciate the quality and durability of vintage kitchen gadgets.

Anyway, I just picked up this little beauty--a PeDe Dienes 630 Solida. It seems to be in really nice shape, and I can't wait to get it in my hands and see how it well it grinds for espresso. At first I thought someone had altered it at some point because the top screws are phillips head, but when I looked online at other Dienes 630's, they too used phillips head screws.:

April 21st, 2015, 3:08 pm

I like the finger joints on those Dienes models. Very nice craftmanship. It also looks like a 6-star burr, which I've had good success with even down to fine espresso range.

I also like that Lenhartz Turkish mill, but I have never tried working on one of those. If you get it restored please post another photo.

PC