Turning a peppergrinder....what finish?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I've got some walnut and a pepper grinder mechanism. What finish would you use on it?

Shellac.........friction polish.......wax...........blo...........danish oil..........

Advice please!

Thanks...

[Forrest Price]

Hey Ken, a good finish for something handled that much is a combo of BLO/poly/wax. Warm it up till it all blends together and save it. Makes for a nice finish that can handle the use, and shines up pretty. Of course, I'm sure you'll get lots of other replies too. Just wanted to throw out an idea.

[Andy Hoyt]

I would think that the exterior could be pretty much whatever you want to achieve the look you want.

But it's the interior of these things that has always baffled me. With the shaking, bumping, and grinding occuring within I can't see any finish holding up over time. Would obviously have to be food safe. Perhaps no finish on the interior is the way to go; as long as the wood itself can't be considered an irritant.

I may be thinking in extremes, but who knows?

[Corey Hallagan]

I agree with Andy, with the outside portion I think your favorite finish that you like will work. For the interior of the grinder does the pepper actually contact the wood or is it self contained in the mechanism? I would think no finish is better here myself.

Corey

[Chris Barton]

Inside = nothing

Outside I would probably use water based poly. By the way, once dry all finishes are food safe...

[Mike Vickery]

All right I am going against the crowd here. I say make a flap sander to sand out the inside blow out the dust real good and use shellac to finish the inside. Shellac is food safe and is used to wax fruit and as the disolvable coating on medecine.

For the outside do what ever you want I personally would use BLO then a wiping poly.

[Ed Scolforo]

I've got some walnut and a pepper grinder mechanism. What finish would you use on it?

Shellac.........friction polish.......wax...........blo...........danish oil..........

Advice please!

Thanks...

Ken, personally, I wouldn't put any finish on the mechanism :D .

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ken, personally, I wouldn't put any finish on the mechanism :D .

Touche~.......:D

[Terry Quiram]

Minwax wipe on poly for the outside. Nothing or shellac on the inside.

Terry

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Beautiful Terry! Minwax wipe on poly it is! Thanks for posting the photos!

[Blake McCully]

Ken,
I use nothing on the inside, blow it out good to remove the dust. As I have said before, I only sand to 400 and buff with all three wheels. A peppermill will, or should be, handled a lot, therefore, I don't believe multiple coats of anything will look good after a year or so. Check out some restaurants that offer cracked pepper and see how terrible many of the mills look.

Here is my latest one, maple 11 1/2" tall, uses the ceramic crush mechanism.