Hello,
I don’t like to participate in the battle of the titans.
This said, my rolling lill is a durston 130 with 11 grooves, a flat part
and extension rollers together with a 4:1 reduction gear…
It’s more then 20 years old serving me without ANY problem.
I was fortuned to buy them via Rio Grande instead of buying them in
Europe… the price was about $450US cheaper in America … at that time.
I’ve seen people buying small mills and breaking the rollers in a few years.
If you’re looking into buying a good rolling mill, don’t go with the small
ones even when they are attractive in price.
The surface of my mill isn’t polisched but it lookes pretty shinning to me
using once in a while some steel wool to clean them.
I turn the rollers so they push the steel wool away from the rollers.
Little particles of material will be removed leaving the rollers in an
excellent shape.
Just to make sure that you don’t get the wrong picture, my rolls are still
parallel and close evenly.
The little trick with a sheet of paper works well to check your rollers.
The only measure I took is having some rubber foam on top of the highest
roller and bottom of the lowest roll.
The foam is cover with neutral vaseline where they meet the rollers to keep
them from rusting.
My mill looks dirty but the rollers are kept in superb condition just by
keeping them slightly greased (you don’t even see the vaseline film).
As far as polishing concerns me, well, I follow the steps of polisching
anyway.
I agree that highly polisched rolls shortens the labor but try to find them
if they ar not home made.
I don’t see them available by cavallin, pepe or Durston.
I do see them occationally with small mills BUT htey have a layer of choom.
This layer will crack in time anyway and I do not recomment people of
buying this type of quality.
Durston might not have the best steel but using them for more then 20 years
rolling gold, silver, mokumé and schibuichi means something to me.
May be that Cavallin or Pepe has better steel, I don’t know.
The proof is in the pudding. I don’t see the need of buying them all and
compare them.
I’m am a happy camper with my mill from durston.
Serving me for more then all those years but a qiality stamp on them.
Some poeple like to stick with their branche and I don’t blame them.
If I have to buy a new mill, I’ll go again with Durston but my quess is
that I not survive my mill.
Polishing is done by me and not by my rolling mill but I understand the
benefit of havint them polished.
Mi mill is made for rolling, not for polishing metal.
In respect to all of you.
Pedro