Old Tools

This is a burr mill we use to grind corn for our cow and chickens. It is probably over 100 years old. It belonged to my grandfather and he used it to grind grain for his sheep.I'm not sure if he used a tractor or some other engine to drive it but it is designed to be belt driven. We only grind a small amount of grain at a time so I took off the belt drive pulley and put on the big hand fly wheel you see in the pic. Now we not only get the corn ground but we get our cardio workout at the same time. It is missing the shaker mechanism it once had to help feed the grain into the auger. I have to wonder if anything I buy now and use every day will last me my lifetime let alone be usable for my grand kids. We tend to buy hand tools at auctions and flea markets or sometimes even at antique shops. Many of the tools our grand parents used are perfect for us off grid homesteaders. They have already been tested for durability and function! The strangest part is that I have bought "antique" tools that were much less expensive than a brand new version of the same thing.