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1. transplantella
   Member Profile

   

   I got a quantity of whole coffee beans for Christmas.

   Need to grind some up so I can use them. I can only find the junky electric cheapcrapfromchina plastic things. I don't have room for any more electric appliances in my small kitchen and I hate buying plastic stuff made in China that disintigrates immediately.

   Just need an old fashioned type box coffee grinder with the drawer underneath. Nothing antiquey. Used to be you could sometimes find hand coffee grinders at hardware stores. Anybody seen them?

   Posted 4 months ago #         

2. datamuse
   Member Profile

   

   Not at hardware stores, but I have seen them at an antique shop in Port Orchard that also has cast iron frying pans, butter churns, and all kinds of old-fashioned kitchen implements in good condition. Yeah, the grinders are antiques but they're reasonably priced.

   It's the shop down the block from the library, on the corner.

   Posted 4 months ago #         

3. transplantella
   Member Profile

   

   It's just pathetic isn't it that we can't even buy simple manual appliances in this country any more without haunting used stuff stores.

   It's just plain stupid.

   I don't want to have to plug in everything from a toothbrush to a can opener to a coffee grinder to accomplish simple tasks around the house.

   Posted 4 months ago #         

4. datamuse
   Member Profile

   

   I got my husband a cast iron frying pan from that store...because it was all but impossible to find a new one that didn't have a coating on it! If you're buying a coated pan why in the hell would you bother with cast iron??

   I like haunting used stuff stores, though. Think of it as recycling. ;)

   Posted 4 months ago #         

5. transplantella
   Member Profile

   

   (leading my own thread astray....)

   We lived overseas for years, my kitchen had a tiled floor over concrete. I'd had a cast iron frying pan someone had given me thirty years before--it slid off the stove onto the floor, and shattered. (unbelievable)

   I can't cook without a cast iron frying pan. Mr. transplantella's mother gratefully sent me one of her old ones, half way around the world. American made. I still have it, use it almost every day.

   Somebody in west Seattle needs to start making all the stuff we can't get in America anymore. I give my personal guarantee I will buy such things.

   (crappy Chinese can openers are another one. Aargh)

   Posted 4 months ago #         

6. oddreality
   Member Profile

   There are tons of them out there!We have one manual old style and a couple of electric burr grinders. Love them.

   http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=manual+coffee+grinder+burr&tag=googhydr-20&index=garden&hvadid=7282439288&ref=pd_sl_kx49pq121_e

   Posted 4 months ago #         

7. transplantella
   Member Profile

   

   Cool, thanks for the link, oddreality!

   Yup some of those are definitely what I'm looking for.

   (what do you bet me they look 'traditional' but still came from some Chinese factory?)

   Posted 4 months ago #         

8. oddreality
   Member Profile

   Oh!! These are even made on Camano island or maybe NE Rural Missouri haha..depends on where you look online. Cute though
   http://www.redroostertradingcompany.com/products-page/coffee-grinders/

   Do a Google search for Zassenhaus , they still make the old style wood ones. Made in Germany I think.Used to be made there any way.

   Posted 4 months ago #         

9. oddreality
   Member Profile

   Here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_in_-2_p_4_47?rh=n%3A1055398%2Ck%3Amanual+coffee+grinder+burr%2Cp_4%3AZassenhaus&bbn=1055398&keywords=manual+coffee+grinder+burr&ie=UTF8&qid=1327364139&rnid=15899471

   You can find them cheaper other places online though. Ebay usually has a lot of them, probably Etsy also. Yard sales too..I've seen them out there!

   Posted 4 months ago #         

10. JanS
    Member Profile

    

    funny that the manual hand crank ones are super expensive...sigh..

    cast iron pans? I haved a whole collection of skillets, pots, 2 nice sized dutch ovens that I got on freecycle...they were some guys grandpa's...and they're great. Also a cast iron griddle that is functional on both sides...flat on one side, grooved for grilling on the other..

    Posted 4 months ago #         

11. datamuse
    Member Profile

    

    funny that the manual hand crank ones are super expensive...sigh..

    That's cause they're not made in China.

    Posted 4 months ago #         

12. oddreality
    Member Profile

    "That's cause they're not made in China." Exactly! They look super cool too!Good exercise too!Can be used with no electricity! Can't ask for much more than that.
    I am somewhat of a coffee geek.We even have our own coffee roasters and roast our own when we get some good green beans. Shipping is getting so high we may have to stop roasting.**sigh**

    Posted 4 months ago #         

13. transplantella
    Member Profile

    

    oddreality,

    I was reading the user reviews for some of those 'traditional' looking hand grinders on Amazon, and sure enough I'll bet some of them are China junk. Plastic parts, stripped screws, grinder shafts that snap. All signs of attractive but faked products that fail immediately upon use.

    Some of the grinders were better.

    Why can't we make a $25 coffee grinder in America at a profit, as it wouldn't need to be shipped at some considerable expense of fossil fuels 10,000 miles to the buyer?

    No, seriously.

    I'll look into those other US made products that you mentioned.

    Posted 4 months ago #         

14. celeste17
    Member Profile

    

    Check this out. From Craigslist and in West Seattle

    http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/atq/2804990478.html

    Posted 4 months ago #         

15. celeste17
    Member Profile

    

    Or this one located in Queen Anne. Don't know if it still is useable.

    http://seattle.craigslist.org/search/sss/see?query=coffee%20grinder

    Posted 4 months ago #         

16. datamuse
    Member Profile

    

    transplantella, when you can find an American factory worker who'll work 12 hour days with no weekends and live in a dorm, that'd be a start.

    If you don't believe me, look up the recent article on iPhone manufacturing in Shenzen.

    Chinese manufacturing doesn't automatically equal poor quality and hasn't for a long time.

    Posted 4 months ago #         

17. redblack
    Member Profile

    

    if you really care about american jobs, you could employ an italian guy - and a monkey to operate the grinder.

    just kidding! i'm italian-american. i don't own a monkey. nor am i owned by a monkey.

    anyway...

    on the old-fashioned appliance front, i got the missus a real soda spritzer for her birthday. she loves it. i considered the soda stream... then reconsidered. the isi uses CO2 cartridges, but it doesn't use electricity. nor does it produce empty cans or bottles.

    Posted 4 months ago #         

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