Couple more pepper mills

[Blake McCully]

Hi,
Thought I'd post these latest of my mills. The one on the far left is maple with a poured polyester resin top. I don't remember if I posted that one or not. It's kinda top heavy, I think that one will stay at home. The other two are walnut. The last pic is a detail of the top. I used a texturing tool on it. Again sorry for the pics. I'm meeting with a buddy of mine that teaches photography and he's going to help me out.

Thanks for looking

[Jim Ketron]

Nice Job!
I like the shape of the one on the right just makes ya want to pick it up and use it.

[Bob Noles]

Blake,

Those are cool for sure. It amazes me all the things you can do on the lathe. I have become so much more aware of shapes all around me, especially round ones, since getting involved in the turning forum. Your pictures are another excellent example of some of the many things I look forward to trying.

Thanks for sharing.

[John Hart]

I think the texturing looks just fine Blake!....My favorite is also #3. Elegant...simple...begs to be picked up.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Very cool Blake. Love all of them.

[Dick Parr]

Great job Blake! The first one looks good but I can see where it would be top heavy. The walnut looks nice.

[Bill Stevener]

Another vote for #3, it just looks like it will fit the hand and feel like a pepper mill should.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Ernie Nyvall]

They all look good Blake. The texturing is cool. I like the first one best... just haven't seen that kind of contrast on a pepper mill before.

Ernie

[Keith Burns]

Blake those look great. Got to add one of these to my to do list:)

[Andy Hoyt]

Nicely done, Blake. One more vote for Number Three.

I tried one of those a few weeks ago and bodged it up royally. The directions from Woodcraft stunk, but I can't lay all blame on that. Think I'll dismantle it to save components and try again one day.

[Blake McCully]

Thanks everyone.

I agree with the concensus on #3. I was going to put beads or some Vee grooves around the skirt, but after I got to looking at it I decided to leave them off. Although #2 kinda looks funny, it actually feels real good in the hand. I'm going to try to do another one with a polyester top some time and make it a little smaller.

Andy, when I was researching pepper mills, I found ALL the instructions available were very poor. I played around with the procedure for about 6 months before I came even close to getting something that works. The procedure I used with #3 I think is the one I'll use from now on.

First I measured the blank, figuring out the proportions is real tough. I mounted the blank between centers, got it round. Put a 3/8" tenon on each end. Measured down from what would be the top and started to part it off. During the parting, I also created the tenon for the top to go into the bottom part, 1 1/16". After I parted it off, I mounted the bottom blank using the tenon into a 4 jaw chuck. The part with the tenon will be the bottom. I drilled through to within about 3/4" of the bottom using a 1 1/16" bit. Put my chuck with the #1 jaws on and put the drilled part onto it. Then I parted off the tenon and drilled a 1 5/8" hole for the skirt. Then I finished drilling with the 1 1/16" bit.

I then put my chuck with the #2 jaws and mounted the top. Then put on the bottom blank on using the tenon and brought the tail stock up. At this point I turned the profile. Turning the top at the same time as the bottom I got a real nice transition at that point. After the main profile was turned, I dismounted everything, put on my chuck with the #1 jaws and reversed the top and finished the profile.

I've only used this procedure on the last one, but it seemed to work real well. Keep at it Andy, it's a real blast once you get the procedure down. One thing to remember when laying out the measurements, it's better for the mill to be too short, you can trim the mechanism shaft. Number three was actually about 3/8" too long when I put it together, so I remounted the bottom and cut about 3/8" off the skirt, and redrilled the 1 5/8 hole again to that depth, and it worked great. Trimming should be done at that end, cause if you try to take it up at the joint of the top and bottom, the entire profile could be in jeopardy.

Oops, I forgot. After all the sanding. remount the top with the #1 jaws using the tenon, and drill the through holes. I use a 1/2" forster bit and drill in about 1/8" or so, so that the lip of the knob is just beneath the surface of the top. Then I use a 5/16" bit and drill through. Then put it all together and grind away.