Turned this for my ma. It's East Indian Rosewood, finished with pens plus. The shape is fairly simple. I'm still not great at turning anything more than gentle curves (which tends to suit my design aesthetic anyway). I did try to work in a couple decorative lines at the top, bottom, and around where the head meets the body. But they didn't come out that well and are difficult to see. I should have gone deeper with them. A few more comments: (1) E. Indian Rosewood is a really, really beautiful wood. It was a deep, chocolately brown with even darker streaks running throughout. When finished with a neutral finish, like the pens plus, it took on a slightly reddish-hue. I really liked the color of it. (2) I was surprised by how much of a shine this took from the pens plus. Typically, I've only gotten what can be described as a high luster from the pens plus (which is fine). But this came out with more of a gloss to it. I wet-sanded with the pens plus at p320 and p400, then applied two thick coats of pens plus with paper towels and 000 steel wool in between. (3) As beautiful as this particular rosewood is, it is equally a pain to work with. It did a number on my tools. I found myself resharpening at what seemed every pass.
Pepper mill of E. Indian Rosewood
- Thread starter EricRN
- Start date
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WarEagle90
Member
Nicely done, Eric. I like the overall shape, not fancy but very elegant. I too use pens plus on most of my turnings. So far I really like the durability. I use the first pen I finished with it several hours, daily and it still looks great.
TellicoTurning
Member
As a fellow pepper mill turner, I gotta say -- YOU DONE GOOD.
I like the shape and simplicity of your turning. I try to keep all my mills relatively simple in design... I do some coves and beads, but not all that many.
I've never used the pens plus finish... may have to look into that... you have a very nice finish.... I usually sand my mills up through 600 or 800 depending on which set of sanding pads I'm using... I buy from Vince'swoodNwonders and he has a couple of different sets of discs... I finish sanding with my own version of an abrasive grit paste, similar to Yorkshire grit and then finish all of them with 2 coats of sanding sealer followed by 3 or 4 coats of wipe on poly.... I figure that mills get handled a lot and the poly will hold up over time.
I like the shape and simplicity of your turning. I try to keep all my mills relatively simple in design... I do some coves and beads, but not all that many.
I've never used the pens plus finish... may have to look into that... you have a very nice finish.... I usually sand my mills up through 600 or 800 depending on which set of sanding pads I'm using... I buy from Vince'swoodNwonders and he has a couple of different sets of discs... I finish sanding with my own version of an abrasive grit paste, similar to Yorkshire grit and then finish all of them with 2 coats of sanding sealer followed by 3 or 4 coats of wipe on poly.... I figure that mills get handled a lot and the poly will hold up over time.
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John Eldeen
Member
Nice mill and don't short change your self a slow gentle curve has it's own difficulties to achieve and you nail it. 
mark james
IAP Collection, Curator
What Mal said x2!!! Very nice.