# vintage hand grinders



## Orangertange (Jul 4, 2013)

see, loads of these on eBay, and I'm thinking off picking one up to use at work for aeropress, any recommendation of a good model thats as a good as / better than porlex, and most importantly faster,









cheers


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

You need to be looking for a vintage, not new, Zassenhaus, anything labelled as Dienes or PeDe or Peter Dienes ( all the same factory),French vintage Peugeot hand grinders too, Armin Trosser is also good, as are DE Ve and KYM. The key thing to look for is how the grind level is adjusted , the better ones do not adjust at the top directly via the grinding shaft , some adjust from underneath the burrs, access being via the grounds draw, others have an adjuster on the top or the side that links to the underneath of the burrs and adjusts there, the ones that adjust in these ways have a bottom bearing which the inner burr sits on so they remain better centred and run much more smoothly.

This one may be worth a punt, could do with a good clean and polish though , but the price is good , there's a Kym one here. Just search for vintage hand grinders on fleabay, German fleabay if you can navigate it it Kaffee muhle being the phrase you need.


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## Orangertange (Jul 4, 2013)

Cheers Charlie very informative, starting to gain quite a bit of knowledge on electric but really don't have a scoobie on vintage, and there's always loads on eBay and always overlooked so if you find a good one defiantly a bargain to had

what kind if burr type/size do they normally have?


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

They pretty much all seem to have similar sized burrs to the ones used in the Hausgrind so small and conical 38- 40 mm sort of size, the burr cut varies a little depending on age and origin, I think Orphan Espresso have, or used to have at least, a reasonable amount of information about them. I have a 1946/7 Zassenhaus 496 which certainly gives my Hausgrind a good run for it's money in terms of grind quality at all levels and will go from Turkish to coarse grind, the major difference being that as the crank handle is shorter than the Hausgrind it requires more effort to grind to an equivalent level. It's going to a new home in a couple of weeks time as my brother and I are giving my Dad a travelling coffee set up whilst he's over here from Australia and it's between Aussie Fathers Day and his birthday, so he's getting an Aeropress, some beans (yet to be bought), some cheap scales and my Zassenhaus as he loves that sort of vintage thing, otherwise if I hadn't bought the Hausgrind I wouldn't be parting with the Zass.


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## Orangertange (Jul 4, 2013)

Cheers Charlie, So a zass or equivalent. sounds exactly what I'm looking for, will have a look at oe site, and keep my eyes on the bay


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## aFiercePancake (Dec 8, 2013)

There is a significant difference in burrs on Dienes grinders. See this post for photo comparisons:

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?15854-Hand-grinders-the-top-5&p=184812#post184812

Burr size is less important than quality of the burr material and the shape of the cut. I can attest that any of my Dienses produce a grind 90% as good as a Mazzer Super Jolly with significantly less waste. The caveat is you have to crank the handle on a Dienes, but it becomes second nature after time.


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## Mouse (Feb 28, 2014)

Charliej said:


> You need to be looking for a vintage, not new, Zassenhaus, anything labelled as Dienes or PeDe or Peter Dienes ( all the same factory),French vintage Peugeot hand grinders too, Armin Trosser is also good, as are DE Ve and KYM. The key thing to look for is how the grind level is adjusted , the better ones do not adjust at the top directly via the grinding shaft , some adjust from underneath the burrs, access being via the grounds draw, others have an adjuster on the top or the side that links to the underneath of the burrs and adjusts there, the ones that adjust in these ways have a bottom bearing which the inner burr sits on so they remain better centred and run much more smoothly.
> 
> This one may be worth a punt, could do with a good clean and polish though , but the price is good , there's a Kym one here. Just search for vintage hand grinders on fleabay, German fleabay if you can navigate it it Kaffee muhle being the phrase you need.


Thanks for posting up the EBay links Charlie









I went for the Dienes one at £20 ad I'm REALLY happy with it. It was a bit minty when it arrived but after a strip down and clean she's fit to fight another day.

I can't believe how well it grinds!!

Before









After a clean









The crank is a bit pitted/damaged but it all adds to the character - Thanks again Charlie!


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

Just while we are talking Vintage Grinders - I have a little side line in Kitchen-alia (as well as other stuff) and quite often pick up "Spong No 1" Coffee Mill/Grinders.

Do any of you guys use them as grinders?

I have no idea if they are any good (as grinders) but they are fairly nice looking and seem to sell well (i.e. at a profit ;-) )

Real old fashioned lumps of cast iron with big-old crank handles.....


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## sjenner (Nov 8, 2012)

Regarding Spong, I have not used one, but I read a long article somewhere that thought that the Spong No. 2 was the one for espresso...

I recently on a whim, bought a Zassenhaus "Zasso 495 - Mokka" on fleabay and I cleaned it up, removed the tired old varnish polished the brightwork, and dismantled cleaned and remantled the whole mechanism, I polished the wood with some of that stuff that Cam was going on about... Brandon?

I hate it, even though it does do espresso grind, it takes forever, and there is no comfortable way to hold it... As a seven stone weakling, it wears me out, just making one shot.


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

sjenner said:


> Regarding Spong, I have not used one, but I read a long article somewhere that thought that the Spong No. 2 was the one for espresso...
> 
> I recently on a whim, bought a Zassenhaus "Zasso 495 - Mokka" on fleabay and I cleaned it up, removed the tired old varnish polished the brightwork, and dismantled cleaned and remantled the whole mechanism, I polished the wood with some of that stuff that Cam was going on about... Brandon?
> 
> *I hate it, even though it does do espresso grind, it takes forever, and there is no comfortable way to hold it*... As a seven stone weakling, it wears me out, just making one shot.


Made me laugh - After all that work!!!

I must admit I am not drawn to manual grinding.

I have just picked up a little brass Turkish Grinder which I might just push a few beans through for a laugh before I sell it on.

It was actually in a lot with a Spong and some other bits.....


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## Mouse (Feb 28, 2014)

Bought for camping, and a nice kitchen ornament


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