Salt & Pepper Mills

[bob vaughan]

Here's 8 pairs of salt and pepper mills. I've done some pepper mills before, but with use, all the fancy beads and coves interfered with cleaning. This time I used a smooth form with a flair at the top of the barrel. The large bulbous top allows easy gripping and the flair of the barrel keeps the left hand from riding up against the moving top. This seems a good design for those who have older hands with Mr. Arthur residing therein.

It was good to get into some sawdust and lacquer rather than grease and metal chips.

 

[PChristy]

Bob, those are very nice and great form:icon_thum - what is the wood

 

[bob vaughan]

Thanks.
Sorry, I did forget the wood. The dark ones are four Walnut, four Hondural mahogany, and the light ones are slightly quilted, slightly ambrosia stained hard maple.

The finish is Gemini conv. lacquer.

 

[Mt. Gomer]

Very nice!!!

 

[sawman101]

Been wanting to try some pepper mills. Thanks for the tip and sharing your design. They all look fantastic!:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap
:saw:

 

[TracyP]

Awesome Work!!:notworthy::notworthy:

 

[CaptnA]

Nice work!
I've wanted to do some pepper mills but something always seems to come up.
Are yours the metal or ceramic mechanisms?

 

[MrAudio815]

Those look Great Bob,

How long did it take you to turn all those??? WOW that is amazing~!

Thanks for sharing~!

 

[bob vaughan]

I've been working on these since November of 2009. I'd planned on making them for that year's Christmas gifts, but time didn't allow. I got some of the work done.
The actual turning was the quick and easy part. Because of some special things I did internally, it took probably two hours each. The skinny neck part required a smaller hole diameter.

Pepper and Salt mills are great gifts. They're likely to get used. They're light weight, easy to find gift boxes for, easy to mail, and offer a great platform for showing off some special wood.

 

[nelsone]

Nice looking mills!

 

[Russ Denz]

Aside from the beauty of the wood, clarity of the finish and skill of your turning, the ergonomics are well thought-out - congrats!!
btw, are you a nuclear physicist in your day job? or a neurosurgeon? - brilliant!!:thumbs_up
Russ

 

[bob vaughan]

Wish I could take credit for originality, but that's not the case. The design is a variation on a profile I saw either in a Packard woodworks catalog or an AAW magazine several years ago. Some profile alterations were made to better address the handling features I wanted.

Who knows how well this will work since its an experiment based on intuition. It may end up being a pain to operate just like the others I've made.

At least the wood is pretty.

 

[manfre]

Those look good. I was just about to order a salt & pepper kit.