Back to basics Hand Grain mill (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I just purchased this item,mostly because of ALL the rave reviews it got,I wish I had looked into the people who reviewed it as well,because listening to them,I was led to believe this mill would deliver flour,I didnt care that it would be hard work,or any of that,I just wanted to make sure I could grind flour when the power went out,but trust me here folks,you are not going to get flour out of this mill,the best you are gonna be able to grind,is the consistency of farina(cream of wheat),and that just is not what I was looking for,YES it works great,handles good,easy to opporate,but just is NOT what it is advertised as,they advertise it as a FLOUR mill,and it isnt,it is a MEAL or cereal maker,period,if you want to grind wheat down to a fine meal and make some cream of wheat,its great,have yet to try corn in it to see,but if it takes the corn,it will make a great corn meal consistency,but flour???not even if you pushed it,I tried several,several,SEVERAL times passing the wheat thru at its tightest setting,even sifted it every time,and ran it thru over and over again,but you are NEVER gonna get FLOUR out of this machine,NEVER!!!sorry,but you just cant,its impossible,and WHY,WHY in the world all the other reviews would say you can make flour is beyond me,unless they are related to the company some how,or get paid to say it. I truly dont understand why anyone would say this item makes flour,unless these people truly do NOT understand what flour really is,and think that grits are flour,I'm sorry to all the people who think this will make flour,but it truly doesnt,and believe me,I wasnt looking for the finest cake flour available,I just wanted basic,nothing advanced,no perks,no whistles and lights,just plain ole fine flour,good for my baking needs when the power goes down,instead I get a mill that will make me cream of wheat when the power goes down!Of course I also had another problem with my order,which I left feedback on,which disgusted me to no end,I paid for a NEW MILL,but was sent an obviously used and repackaged mill,so not only did the company scam me,but they treat me like I am an idiot,like I wont be able to tell the difference between a brand new item,and one thats been put back into a package,hell they didnt even bother to wipe the item clean first,thats right people,the mill still had grain residue from where the previous owner used the item,didnt like it,and shipped it back,and when I took it apart to wipe it down,the handle was sticky,with what I dont want to think about,the so called,stainless steel "cones",had all sorts of grain debris in and on them,and the plastic flimsy hopper had scratches all over it,and was covered in obvious grain dust and debris,you would think they would have at the very least cleaned this item before shipping back out to the next unsuspecting buyer,or the way they think,the next "DUPE",but didnt even bother,I am just so disgusted and upset with this purchase,and the fact that this company who gets all sorts of rave reviews,treats people like they are complete morons,I just find it extremely hard to believe that I am the ONLY person that this company has scammed and duped like this,there is NO way I am the only one,and I am not talknig about being conned into thinknig it makes flour,I am talknig about selling a used item as NEW,for NEW prices,not even reduced prices,thatsa what pisses me off,paying NEW price for it when it is OBVIOUSLY used,scratched,dirty,sticky,I mean come on!but everyone gives that company great reviews,oh their the ebst,yeah right,at duping people out of their money maybe!I am just so pissed off today that I got conned like this,I hate it when I get screwed over,especially when I took the time to look around and check up on it!

Shopping for a hand powered grain mill isn't a common activity. Like many others who did, I was looking for something I could use in a power out emergency (such as a long hurricane outage). I also like the idea of using hand power when possible rather than electricity. There aren't that many real grain mills to choose from anymore and like most, I was a bit leery of spending a fortune for a diamante and not lucky enough to find one from some pre-industrial general store. I chose this one as my first because of it's compact size for storing, the price and it's very long production run to date.Grinding grain for fresh flour and home-made bread isn't common, but it produces a very tasty loaf! So, with this low price, I had to try it.The shipping was fast, it was well packaged and contained easily understood directions. It set up fast and felt firm and safe to use. The spout is at the correct height for a good sized bowl to collect the output. All of those are positive aspects.But this is touted as a grain mill suitable for flour. I did a great many runs on this mill using multiple kinds of wheat such as hard red and soft white, but found that no wheat really ground down to a fine enough flour. It is more like a course flour of a texture similar to corn meal. It never gets soft feeling, so to speak, like flour does. I ran some batches through up to 5 times with no appreciable change in size after the second grinding.Aside from flour, I did try some ground corn for corn meal, which is also a favorite at my house, and found that the size of the grain was very suitable for that. Pan bread, baked or made into breakfast much, it make a very tasty corn meal. That said, it was very difficult to operate with the large kernels of corn initially put into the hopper. The mill tried to come loose from the counter over and over under the force required to get the handle started. As it happens, someone else wandered past the kitchen when I first got a corn batch started and came in grimacing that it sounded like it was going to fall apart! It did sound pretty bad. But, with a little elbow grease and patience, it will do the job on corn.If you're looking for this to be THE mill for non-powered grinding of flour, I'd pass and pay the substantial difference for one of the others out there, like Country Living or Diamante. If you're looking for something that is totally compact for preps and don't mind making a very course bread, then this just might do the trick.