Nice looking pepper mill. I like the shape and the finish, and that walnut's not all *that* plain.
-Barry
Barry, We cut down a pretty good size tree last summer, this is some of the plainer of the wood, I did a handle yesterday that looked for all the world like burl, it was just a piece we cut weird angle. I have about 25 3-1/2 to 4 inch 12x12 bowl blanks to play with, Haynie bought a few small pieces,
Beautiful work Ken. Teh shape and finish is outstanding. Speaking of finish, what did you use? It sure looks slick and durable. Did I say good work?
Charles
Charles the finish is Wood sanded to 220 then 2 coats of Deft Lacquer sealer sanded from 400 to 800, then somewhere around 15 coats of Wipe on Poly . basically a quick color sand with 2000 and a light buff.
Nice job, Ken!!
I never thought about making the bottom "gripper friendly"!! Good idea!!!
Great shine---what's the secret???
Thanks for mentioning Exotics, too.
Ed
Ed any time, you and your so much better half have always been so nice to me, and I do like the grinders, and the outstanding service. The shine secret is Lots of work and stinky oily hands <LOL> WOP is cheap and given enough time it will produce what I hope is a durable finish.
I used to use Deft Gloss Lacquer, but it's been to cold to spray out side, and I can't stand the burning hydrocarbons.
Those look great Ken. Beautiful work. I need to get going on mine when I can get some shop time.
Mike they are not as bad as I thought they would be, I've done about a dozen so far.
Ed has a great tutorial on them, I believe it's on the Exotics web site, it may even be here in the Library.
A good chuck is necessary, actually most 4 jaw scroll chucks would be adequate.
To me the worst part is planing ahead, I found out that it's rather nice to have a funnel at the top so filling is easier, I did a salt grinder that is kind of straight and slender, (it's for me and my Redmond Natural Salt). BUT it's a pain to put salt into because the spoon get's in the way of the shaft, with the one for my son, the Ball top fits into a nice flared funnel at the top and is much easier to fill.