Author: Stuart Meier at Oldland Windmill
I attended the last Sussex Mills Group meeting on behalf of Oldland Mill, and look forward to the next meeting. First, can I thank Peter Casebow and Brian Pike for their useful comments re: the use of the brake on a spring shutter mill – as a result, and after a visit to High Salvington Mill, the normal procedure at Oldland Mill is use to use the brake to stop the mill, not to try to turn the mill out of wind. This has worked extremely well, and has overcome a real psychological hurdle in our ‘getting milling’.
Our experience has mostly so far been in moderate winds, say a Beaufort 5 (‘Fresh Breeze’) and we are still commissioning parts of the mill and trying to get adequate alignment between the brake teeth and the stone nut. Once that is achieved, the question will arise ‘how strong a wind is too strong?’
Can I ask for advice therefore as to how strong a wind is considered too strong when milling by different mills – i.e., at what point do they consider it sensible to call it a day!