THE BUHR MILL
by Bill Evans
This page features a Letz Buhr mill that Dad used for grinding corn for our cattle. Every Saturday many years ago, Dad would power this unit with our Farmall H and grind just enough ear corn to fill a feed box, which would last an entire week. The ground product was transported to the box via a blower fan and duct work. Dad eventually quit grinding corn in early 1968, according to Joe, and this thing sat in our barn for 30 years. I never knew what it was since I was too youg to remember him using it. To me it was just a rusty piece of junk that was occupying valuable space. Then one day in the late 1990's, Dad and Mike got to discussing the topic of belt-driven machinery, and "wouldn't it be neat to have something to use our tractors on?" The attention turned toward this old Buhr mill, and after much hard work, Mike turned out a wonderful restoration job. Dad was so proud. His old Buhr mill had come back to life. This thing began traveling with us to tractor shows. Fellow club members would bring a few bags of ear corn so that the machine could be demonstrated for interested spectators. One day the Buhr mill was belted to our neighbor's John Deere LA. Mike and his friend Brad stood nearby with a 5-galllon bucket of ears, dropping them in one at a time. When Dad saw this, he quickly approached, snatched the bucket away and dumped the entire contents into the mill's hopper while shouting, "Boy, this is the way it's done!" The poor LA quickly fell on its knees and died, which was probably Dad's intention.
The Buhr mill exposed to sunlight for the first time in about 30 years.
The finished product, which shows the quality of work that Mike puts out. Note the "Letz" logo.
The term "buhr" mill comes from a province in France where very high quality and hard granite exists. The finest mill grinding stones came from this area. French buhr mill stones were in high demand and were imported into Massachusetts and New York in the late 1700s and early 1800s.