Cast Iron Manual Crank Corn Grain Grinder 14" Tall & 5" Hopper

I use the grinder to grid up natural clay and pottery chards not corn and it works well. Pottery is definitely harder than corn and it handles it without a problem. The grinder is adjustable so it is no problem to change the grind from fine to course. The grind seems pretty consistent. The shroud a the top doesn't fit tightly and has a couple of small gaps and dirt sometimes leaks through the gaps. This wouldn't be a problem with corn. I like that it comes apart and is easy to clean. It is too soon to tell how long the grinding surfaces will last. For the price it is a good value for me.

The grinder is heavy cast iron except for the hopper, which is a little flimsy but functional. It grinds beautifully! The shipping box was beat to a pulp by the US Postal Service, and, as the contents were not well packed, the body of the grinder had a chip out of the paint, but everything else was just fine. It comes with no instructions for setup, but as long as you have any mechanical aptitude or a knack for puzzles, you can put it together easily enough. It grinds smooth, fast, and easy.

For the price, it is pretty good. If you expect it to be completely finished, broken in, and ready to do everything for you, you're going to be disappointed. This is a farm tool, and as such you and the mill have to work together in order to build a strong and healthy relationship.It does seem to actually be iron, not aluminum like a lot of similar mills at this price point. The casting seams are a bit rough, and it's going to damage whatever you clamp it to unless you really file the clamping area down flat. I think I may actually glue down some shoe tread or similar textured rubber so it doesn't see to wiggling around as much when I crank it. There are wings on either side of the clamp so if you have a surface you want to permanently bolt it down to, all the better. The "gap" on the clamp area is not super deep--on mine, it measured about 1 5/8", and didn't accommodate my kitchen table or my kitchen counter. It was a bit of a challenge finding a surface it would a) clamp to and b) not destroy.The edges on the burrs in particular are pretty rough, so you will definitely want to wear them down for a good long time before eating any of the output. I think I fed through about 5 pounds of rice before it came out clean and metal-free. They are also coated in a silvery outer layer, whether it's actually galvanized with zinc or if it's just silver spraypaint I don't know, but I don't particularly want to eat that either way.As many people have observed, it IS made of iron, and therefore if you get it wet it WILL rust unless you dry it promptly and, ideally, give the exposed parts a light covering in food-quality mineral oil between uses. There is after all water in the air in most places, and that humidity over time will also encourage the rust gremlins to come out if they can find a way in. And if it does rust, so what? It's cast iron. Do you think you're going to hurt its feelings if you go after it with steel wool and naval jelly?Another thing to consider is that it sprays meal out of all sides of the grinding area. Given that it is not particularly tall, and the clamp surface area is narrow even for this height, it is hard to get a bowl big enough to catch all of the output underneath, and consequently there's a lot of spray off either side that can be messy and hard to get all of. A lot of the more expensive mills have a shroud that encapsulates the grinding wheels and funnels the meal generally downward instead of generally allovertheplace-ward. I may have to contrive something out of sheet aluminum to fulfill that role.Lastly, the hopper is somewhat useless. Overall, it is quite small, and made out of thin aluminum. It will likely arrive beaten and dented as a consequence of having the misfortune of being in the same box as the much sturdier iron mill. It was a matter of about 40 seconds with a ball peen hammer to get it back into shape, but it still doesn't fit perfectly right over the top of the mill. Being of a broader diameter than the segment it fits over, smaller particulate like rice and preground meal pours out around the edges even if it is situated reasonably snugly. I found that one of those frighteningly green, Ball-brand canning funnels fits down perfectly inside of the hopper, especially if you cut the tab off, and it completely eliminates this issue.I was surprised by how easy it was was grind even quite fine cornmeal. Once you get it going, as long as you keep the tempo steady, it's about as effortless as grinding rock-hard kernels can be expected to be. After all the rice, I chewed through a handful of dried hominy like there was nothing there at all. Parched kernels were even easier. You can spend a lot more money on a hand mill and get more elegant features, but this does what is expected of it and does it well enough.

Excelent

My grandparents were overly pleased when receiving this item. They say it's very sturdy and gets the job done.

I bought this a while ago and just now opened it up to prime it and use it. I knew from previous reviews that I needed to run a whole bag of grain a couple times to get the tiny metal shavings to a minimum for future millings.All the box says is to follow the instructions on how to set up and use. And to clean immediately after and completely dry before storing again. I opened the box to find that there are no instructions on how to put it together and set it up. I went off a picture on the box to figure it out.The box also says that it can clamp onto any surface. What it doesn’t say is that it will damage said surface. I first clamped it to my table (which was hand made and irreplaceable) and the only place that had enough room to use the handle on the mill, not knowing that the mill would damage my table. I then moved it to a different surface that had a sturdy cutting board on top and while I was able to get through a 2lb bag of rice twice the mill would not stop moving side to side while cranking and in the end damaged my cutting board as well. There is a metal seam on the clamp part that is doing to damaging. So the clamp does not sit flesh with the surface.The last thing I want to say is that rice went everywhere. I had to zip close a ZIPLOC bag over the grinding plates to minimize the mess.This does function as it is supposed too, but there are quite a few cons.

Love the cast iron grain mill, one thing people need to understand is the cleaning process, and steps prior to every use. Always clean and dry very well after ever use.Always grind a handful of what ever you are grinding and toss it, rinse everything well and then use it. Have no issues at all with rusting or turning anything black.

I was delivered a very old and very used product at least a few times.the product that was in a box not even wrapped, no booklet on how to use.so somebody just put it in a box and re-sold it to me and this was to be for my mom as a gift and when she opened it on November 7 of 2021 we realize that this product was actually even banged up around the cup and It’s hard to clean.and my return date has been already expired so now I am out of money .Amazon should not allow this to happen i should be given my money back.