Thinking about sieving flour...

We are well into milling again, and the wheel is still running very smoothly and efficiently.  This in spite of some of the brass screws we used to join the bucket boards together breaking under the force of the water.  We normally sieve all the flour by hand, and we have been wondering whether we could reinstate the jigger box for this purpose - more interesting for the visitor and easier for us!

The wrecked jigger box in the 1950s

Over the past few weeks David has cleaned and waxoyled the metal supports of the jigger box.  Today Richard, Donald and I were looking at the possible drive shafts and the arrangement of the sieves and spouts in the box.  We still have the old sieves that were retrieved from the mess that was there before restoration began.  On examination, it is not at all clear how they were used, in what order, or how they fitted into the box.  The ones made by the restoration team (actually only wooden frames for the sieves) don't seem to be the same as the old ones, and there isn't space to slot them into the box with sieves attached.

The new jigger box with
sieve frames pulled out

Two of the sieves from the old jigger box

The old bottom cover and third sieve

 Meanwhile, the cobbling is coming on well, and I managed to get a decent picture of the mill from over the river without the summer leaves blocking the view.