Hand mills/querns

[Wes]

Is there any documentation of the leigons dragging a hand mill with them?

I am looking for Documentation for a small hand mill...I found 2 really nice pices of sandstone that are begging to be made into a mill.

Any help on documentation and pictures greatly appreciated!

Wes

[Magnus]

Wes, if I'm not mistaken, there was a thread in the Deepeeka section a little while ago about this very type of item...

[Wes]

I looked at it, but I dont remember it being Roman....I'll post pics of my "quern Kit" tomorrow too......I am going to do it totally by hand in traditional ways.

[Matthew Amt]

Apparently each 8-man contubernium had a quern on the march, for grinding their grain ration (if they weren't issued flour or finished hardtack). It would be carried on the mule, along with the tent, etc. Emperor Hadrian was said to have ground his own grain and baked his own bread while on the march, just like his troops.

These little mills are shown in Connolly and other books. Usually 2 circular stones, the top one with a handle sticking up at one edge. Don't remember the details of the central axle, though there was probably some variation.

Vale,

Matthew

[Gobae]

The central axle is snugly fit into the lower stone. Since the hole in the upper stone needs to be large enough to allow grain to be added a wooden (or in some cases metal) bar is mounted flush to the underside of the top stone. It's this bar that has a hole to match the axle diameter. To adjust the coarseness of the grind, leather disks can be placed on the axle before the upper stone is in place.

A couple of additional designs were developed to help guide the upper stone so as not to rely on the axle for alignment. Most "disc" quern stones weren't truly flat. Many times the upper and lower stones were a matched set of concave/convex profiles. Another style used a slightly "undersized" top stone and fitted to a slightly "oversized" lower stone that had an outer lip. This style of quern is known as a "pot" quern.

Although we weren't able to finish them in a single day, our group did start a quern which we plan to finish this winter. [url:17zzqaws]http://www.celticclans.org/projects/quern.html[/url] (Note: in our group, project days are a relaxed "garb optional" affair. So the photos show a wide variety of anachronisms)

[Wes]

Are there any pictures or drawings of an actual archealogical find? I want to be correct......Thanks!

Wes

[Gobae]

I don't have any drawings, images, or photos of extant Roman querns because I do Celtic re-enactment.

However, here's a couple of actual Celtic Querns from Germany.

[url:1paslm3v]http://celticclans.oakandacorn.com/celticgallery/v/household/05260488.jpg.html[/url]
[url:1paslm3v]http://celticclans.oakandacorn.com/celticgallery/v/household/12280149.jpg.html[/url]

I do have more examples, but I'd have scan them in. If you feel these would help I'd be happy to do so.

[Wes]

Those are fairly close to what I have started on. I had to take a break today, my fingers were getting a bit tired from holding the chisel, I hope to get pics posted with progress.


Thanks for the links!

[Wes]

Here is the beginning of my mill:

[Gobae]

Nice! From your scale they look to be about the same size as ours. We made our from an average size of the ones found in Ireland.

I notice you're going through the top(?) with a square hole. That's interesting; any particular reason?

[Wes]

Square hole in the bottom stone for the axle, I figured if its square on the bottom it wont want to turn in the socket as the top stone turns.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Wish I had taken some of the ones found near hadrians wall, the yare very interesting......I was sure I had pictures...... :roll:

[Peroni]

Here's mine.. It has opposing channels on the milling surfaces. Anti- clockwise turning grinds the grain down, then clockwise turning pushes all the fine flour out of the sides. It works beautifully!

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Very much like some of the patterns I saw in the museums!

[Peroni]

The thing with most museum querns is that they are for the most part old ones that have been worn down and discarded, not showing the depth of the original carving!

I have some pictures of one from West Stow that is made from 'pudding stone' which is really colourful, especially when polished smooth!

http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/g_de ... /r5_10.htm

http://www.gemcountryusa.com/cabochons/ ... _stone.asp