Re: Peppermills, advice please
Andrew Hilton
>Here's just a quick rundown of my 3 hour class I give on doing peppermills...
1) Use enough wood. A 5" peppermill takes more than 5" of wood. Allow some waste on either end and a little in the middle. I normally use my 7" blanks for a 5" mill, for example. Leaves me plenty of room to work (and mess up?).
2) Don't get too fancy with the shape. Simpler is better. But too simple isn't good either. You want to think about what you'd like to be holding onto yourself if you were grinding pepper with it. A sharp, pointed top isn't comfortable, for instance.
3) On the bottom of the mill: Don't get things too small in your turning. It's going to take some abuse (assuming it's not just for show) and you don't want the bottom to be fragile or thin.
3a) Again, on the bottom of the mill: Remember, you're going to be screwing a couple of screws up into the wood so don't start any serious curve until you're up at least 3/4" from the bottom else you'll come through the sides with the screws.
4) Finish: If it's not just for show, you want something durable. Shellac-based friction polishes don't cut it here! I don't finish the area where the top and bottom wood parts fit together. Just sand well and leave it. Any finish will fail quickly there with use so I don't do it.
5) Measure Measure Measure and do it all over again. You're turning the lengths and drilling the diameters of things in the wood to match the grinding mechanism you have. They are NOT all the same. Measure each individual one before you make the cuts/holes.
6) All you really need is a 5" mechanism for any length mill. Of course, it's easier to just buy a 10" one rather than adapting the 5" to the 10" length but the point is, you CAN adapt the smaller ones to any length you need. Cut the threaded tip off the mechanism about 1" down. Get some square tubing to make up the difference in length that you need that will fit over the square metal you just cut and glue things back together. Have a friend that does basically this that has a mill around 7 foot tall and is working on a much larger one now.
7) Don't get terribly concerned with how straight the large through-hole is. Just the ends of the holes need to be straight relative to the entire mill. A forstner bit is usually used but you could do it with turning tools if you want. Just be careful of sizes where the mechanism fits into the wood.
8) It's all in the process. Step by step much like flat woodworking. Lots of different ways to go about that process though. Find what works for you and stick to it. I teach 3 very different processes for doing these peppermills. Some like one way and others a different one. Some do a modification themselves. Make a couple out of scrap wood and see what works best for you.
- If you mess up, you haven't wasted the mechanism. Give it another go with a fresh piece of wood and use the same mechanism. It just takes practice.
Unfortunately, the good mechanisms can't be bought by themselves anymore. The standard woodturning catalog stores carry pretty much the same quality of stuff. No real difference in how long they last and the pepper they make.
There are additional tricks to making really large mills that I've learned from my friend (see above). But 2' isn't really any different than a 5" one. Drilling the through-hole does get interesting on that long of one though. I drill each end with the jacobs chuck on the lathe for about 2" on each end and then freehand the rest of the way (no jacobs chuck). MUCH quicker that way.
Good luck and post pictures when you're done!