Rob Price
05-11-2012, 9:46 PM
Okay, first attempt at mills. Used the crush grind mechanism from CSU. I had some white oak burl a friend gave me a year ago that I originally intended for a band saw box- then I got the lathe and there was just enough for a couple of mills. Originally, to differentiate between salt and pepper, and to reinforce the bottom, I planned on using a piece of walnut/maple on the bottom of each. The burl isn't too punky, but it's soft enough I was afraid it wouldn't hold up over time, so I felt like it needed a more solid base, plus it helps me set them apart. But then, I got a little aggressive boring out the center 1" hole and got the forester bit stuck in the wood- pulled right out of the extension. The only way I could get it out was to drill out from the top, except in my hurry I forgot to cut off the top of the mill. Once I figured out I had a hole in the top of my mill I decided to put a cap on top to match the bottom as well. Otherwise, the original plan was not to have walnut/maple on the top. I also had a good bit of drift boring the salt mill, when I tried to true it up the maple bottom was way crooked, so I had to part it off, glue on a new piece, and bore it out again. I lost a little height in the process. When I centered it up from the top and bottom holes the mill ended up 1/4" thinner than the pepper mill. Also probably should have made the piece with spalting the pepper piece. Oh well. Lessons learned like any new project. I think next time I'll differentiate the pieces with different sizes/shapes if I use the same wood.
Finished with ~4 coats of shellac sealer, and 7 coats of General Finishes WTF (5 coats, wet sanded with 1500, 2 more coats, polished with Behlens Buffer's polish) I'm beginning to get the hang of the WTF and I really like it. Enough talk, here are the pics. Critiques appreciated.
EDIT: Pepper is ~8" tall, 2 3/4" wide
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Jk3k3M7BKj4/T625PEhkE5I/AAAAAAAABto/Z2H0FjCgpRM/s800/IMG_2110.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J79XfcHs3uA/T625QZbvPaI/AAAAAAAABtw/5zAZ8nnuAQk/s800/IMG_2116.JPG
Finished with ~4 coats of shellac sealer, and 7 coats of General Finishes WTF (5 coats, wet sanded with 1500, 2 more coats, polished with Behlens Buffer's polish) I'm beginning to get the hang of the WTF and I really like it. Enough talk, here are the pics. Critiques appreciated.
EDIT: Pepper is ~8" tall, 2 3/4" wide
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Jk3k3M7BKj4/T625PEhkE5I/AAAAAAAABto/Z2H0FjCgpRM/s800/IMG_2110.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-J79XfcHs3uA/T625QZbvPaI/AAAAAAAABtw/5zAZ8nnuAQk/s800/IMG_2116.JPG