Sooner or later, the stones of the Vitruvian Mill will need to be dressed. When I lifted the Runner back into position I used two 6-metre long, 9” X 3” wooden beams which I brought from home, supported on the top of the wall on the North side and a steel frame I’d made on the South side. This was only ever meant to be temporary, and those beams would pass through where the Horse and Hopper now are. The beams are extremely heavy, and difficult to install or dismantle and put away when not in use. The roof beams are definitely not strong enough to lift the stones which I guess weigh near a tonne each.

At home I had glued the joints in the beams, the next step was to pin them. I found it best to work on the back of the lorry with the ‘legs’ hanging down. It kept raining all week (we had 44mm), luckily the glue is Balcotan which can take it. Also the cold grown pine wan’t letting much soak in and it was soon dry. I used Woodoc 5 Poly Wax sealer Indoors which is a wood-treatment, not a varnish, to bring the colour out. The difference is remarkable!

At last a deal was made between our favourite sound/video shop, Vidi-Vox in Hermanus, (which is also where our Movie Club is) for a used amplifier and some speakers out of the cinema in the same shopping mall. The next question was where to install it. Originally, we had chosen the corner on the left as you go in to the second room of the Mill. But at the same time, we were short of a suitable place to leave the Visitors’ Book, and the file on Mills; some kind of lectern was required. A visit to Mr Furniture in the Village produced the beginnings of the ideal thing, a table-top lectern! The lady in the shop was amazed that somebody wanted it and it changed hands for a small sum. At home the next job was to add legs to it, make the top lid hinge, lower the shelf inside, and make a ventilated front and back.

With both of the following weekends, Saturdays and Sundays, open to the Public, there was a lot to do. Zest Catering are offering meals and they had asked for a large quantity of fresh meal to make rolls out of. I also wanted to finish the woodwork of the lifting beams.

During the preceding week, I’d delivered the new support assembly and offered it up, just to check my measurements…. It fitted! Simon Smith, who has been advising me on the joinery, said the special joint I copied from him on the diagonals is called a ‘Bird’s Mouth Joint’ and it has been around for a long time! 

Stephen Sokolic offered to help with the Milling for both days of the first weekend, and also said he had an angle-drive for an electric drill. So together, we marked out and drilled and fitted the cross-over bracket between the ‘legs’ of the lifting beams:

A steel spacer will have to be fitted between the steel bars where they nearly come together, and then they must be clamped, removed, welded and refitted. 

Just in time for the second Elgin Open Gardens weekend during which the Mill operated both days again, I was able to buy this set-up for showing early video footage of the restoration:

It consists of a DVD player, an adaptor and a computer flat screen. There’s also a simple sound system. It was partly funded by a kind donation from Personal Trust, who visited the Mill recently. 

Servaas Daniel De Kock

Sandstone Estates Website received this request on 22^nd January 2010:

JOANNE,

On the 5th January 2008 you had an article on your website

 http://www.sandstone-estates.com/interim/Compagnes_Drift_Mill_water_wheel/5th_January_2008.htm

in which at the bottom you refer knowingly to one Servaas Daniel de Kock.  My dad (now 92) is Servaas Daniel de Kock Venter and his name entered the Venter lineage via the De Kock part.  Up to now I never traced that line, but since my son also carries that name, I would be interested to pick up that part of history.  Can you refer me to someone who can point me in the right direction?

Work started at home during the week with the chute, making a wooden lining around the outside of the galvanised sheet trough which was cut and folded last week.

The steel service workshops are only opening on Monday, so although the linings of the chutes worked out last week are ordered, They will only be delivered in the course of this week. That meant that I chose to tackle a job I’ve been avoiding for a long time; the rotten planks in the upstairs floor.

On Monday 11th, I was able to slip away from work to show Compagnes Drift Mill to a group of people from Franschhoek. Before the week was out, they had arranged a visit to another Mill in their area, La Cotte. I invited myself along as an observer, but word leaked out that I had some experience with Mills, so it wasn’t long before there was lively discussion with our guide, Pietie Le Roux, Senior Farm Manager of the Historic Wines Management Company, part of the Rupert Group. 

This is what our ‘bible’, Water-mills windmills and horse-mills of South Africa, by James Walton says about it in 1974: