My wife loves salt. When she prays, I think part of what she prays for is that if she ever is stricken by some dread disease, that it not be one of those that requires it's victim to abstain from salt. She has always especially loved Maldon salt. These days, there are tons of "gourmet" or "artisan" salts on the market. But when I first met her, few had ever heard of any of them. I certainly had not.
The "problem" with these salts is that they are usually sold in their "natural" form, large crystals containing lots of moisture which precludes the common salt shaker. So they are usually kept on the table in a small bowl or a salt box. But there is another receptacle for these salts that I discovered. The salt pig.
When I first found out about salt pigs, I thought they were much more "fun" than salt bowls or salt boxes. Apparently the salt pig has it's origins in ancient Scotland and England and the nomenclature is derived from the reference to any earthenware container as a "pig". Some speculate that the term references the opening's resemblance to a pig's snout. Salt pigs generally come equipped with a small scoop. the salt crystals are scooped out of the pig and crushed with the fingers.
In any case, it seemed a likely candidate for a "practical" item that could be made on the lathe. Since my wife had a birthday coming up, I decided to take a shot at one. This is also my first attempt at making one of those.
This is an admittedly clumsy first effort. Overall, it's a bit on the too big side, the "snout" is out of proportion and the overall shape is awkward. But I learned a lot making this first one and my wife loved it. Seems like this would be a great candidate for a Mike Foster/Paul Hedman type multi-axis turning but that would involve a lot of carving and I've never enjoyed carving. It also begs for a Cynthia Gibson treatment!
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Originally Posted by Jeff Hamilton Jr.
