Walnut Pepper Mill

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bitshird

bitshird

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I finally had some shop time for me, so last week I finished up my Christmas gift making, this is just a simple design rather plain Black Walnut that we have a bunch of, so I figured why not, my son's been wanting one so for my Son.
It has a Chefs Specialty Mechanism from the fine folks at Exotic Blanks, these are so easy we should pay for the fun of making them. this one is about 10-1/2 inches tall.
Click on the tiny pictures and they will look better.
 

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Parson

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I like the shape in that there's a thicker part at the bottom so you can get a good grip on it for cranking. I've got a piece of amboyna and a crush grinder kit that I've been too scared to approach just yet.

You're inspiring me to give it a try! I think I'll get cheap wood and practice on that first though. The amboyna was $80 :0
 
ctubbs

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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
 
ed4copies

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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
 
TellicoTurning

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Great looking mills, Ken.
I like the walnut and when I'm doing markets, the walnuts always seem to go first, so it can't be too plain. I've about used up all of my walnut, except for some bowl blanks... :frown:

I don't use the chef's specialties much myself... I prefer the crush/grind mechanism for their ease in working with... don't have to be so precise in my measurements as I can cut the mechanism shaft to fit my turnings. And now that CSUSA as come out with the 18" shaft on the C/G's I can really get creative.:)
 
alphageek

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TellicoTurning said:
Great looking mills, Ken.
I like the walnut and when I'm doing markets, the walnuts always seem to go first, so it can't be too plain. I've about used up all of my walnut, except for some bowl blanks... :frown:

I don't use the chef's specialties much myself... I prefer the crush/grind mechanism for their ease in working with... don't have to be so precise in my measurements as I can cut the mechanism shaft to fit my turnings. And now that CSUSA as come out with the 18" shaft on the C/G's I can really get creative.:)
Click to expand...

You can cut the shaft on the Chef specialties too...

and 18" :eek::eek::eek: Holy cow thats a big pepper mill!
 
TellicoTurning

TellicoTurning

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alphageek said:
TellicoTurning said:
Great looking mills, Ken.
I like the walnut and when I'm doing markets, the walnuts always seem to go first, so it can't be too plain. I've about used up all of my walnut, except for some bowl blanks... :frown:

I don't use the chef's specialties much myself... I prefer the crush/grind mechanism for their ease in working with... don't have to be so precise in my measurements as I can cut the mechanism shaft to fit my turnings. And now that CSUSA as come out with the 18" shaft on the C/G's I can really get creative.:)
Click to expand...

You can cut the shaft on the Chef specialties too...

and 18" :eek::eek::eek: Holy cow thats a big pepper mill!
Click to expand...

You can, but the aluminum from the crush/grind I can just cut with a large set of dykes and then grind the end smooth on a belt sander... think on the CS, you have to take the grinder off cut it, then brad the grinder back in place.... I haven't done a really big one yet...
largest I've done is about 13 1/2 inches.
 
ed4copies

ed4copies

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Met a guy at a show that did 50---24" grinders for a restaurant in Texas. He taught me a lot about drilling and pricing (I was NOT an exhibitor at that show--Dawn was).

But he got about $20 an inch--as he said, "Not a lot of places to buy them".
 
bitshird

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broitblat said:
Nice looking pepper mill. I like the shape and the finish, and that walnut's not all *that* plain.

-Barry
Click to expand...

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,

ctubbs said:
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
Click to expand...
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.

ed4copies said:
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
Click to expand...

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.

Woodlvr said:
Those look great Ken. Beautiful work. I need to get going on mine when I can get some shop time.
Click to expand...
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.
 
ed4copies

ed4copies

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Ken,

If you flare the top of the hole to make a funnel shape, how do you keep the top from "wobbling" when it is rotated to crush the pepper? I've always tried to keep the top tenon really close to 1 & 1/16" so things rotate properly.

Never too late to teach me a better way!!!
 
W

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Fantastic work on those Ed.
They have a pleasing shape and an excellent finish.
Also being made of walnut, that is one of my favorite woods.
 
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