Good news, my bit was delivered late yesterday. Bad news, the dipwads sent me the wrong size! Not wanting to put up with another Fedex shipping excursion, I did what I should have done in the beginning, I went to Menards and bout a CMT Italy forstner...it's 1-1/8" instead of the 1-1/16" called for, but it should be just fine...and allow more room for peppercorns.

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Good news, my bit was delivered late yesterday. Bad news, the dipwads sent me the wrong size! Not wanting to put up with another Fedex shipping excursion, I did what I should have done in the beginning, I went to Menards and bout a CMT Italy forstner...it's 1-1/8" instead of the 1-1/16" called for, but it should be just fine...and allow more room for peppercorns.

ooooooooooof

2 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Good news, my bit was delivered late yesterday. Bad news, the dipwads sent me the wrong size! Not wanting to put up with another Fedex shipping excursion, I did what I should have done in the beginning, I went to Menards and bout a CMT Italy forstner...it's 1-1/8" instead of the 1-1/16" called for, but it should be just fine...and allow more room for peppercorns.

Shouldn't be a problem. You may have to slightly elongate the screw holes in the bottom metal bracket to get the screws to center in the counter bore shelf.

OK, got my prototype done. If you know how to turn, these are actually quite easy. If you don't know how to turn (me) it gets a little harder. Anyway, what I learned from my practice piece. Ash work OK for practice, but it's to coarse for a finished mill (my opinion). I don't know how to do a rounded top, I need to practice another time or two before I chuck up my piece of cherry. The body grip section on my practice piece needs to be a little more slim, and I need to leave a little longer piece for the top handle. Even so, I was satisfied with how to do it and once I get my rounding techniques (I hope) smoothed out I should have an acceptable pepper mill. The hardware kit that Lew suggested is excellent and that was another piece of this exercise, making sure everything worked...and it does. Anyway, here's what I came up with, it hasn't been sanded or finished since I think I'm practiced enough on those steps.

Lookin' good so far!

I see no reason this would not be acceptable once sanded. On doing a roundover for the end start from the top and as you turn the gouge to side  or center in   this case, push into the cut. This gets you that continous round curve. To practice use a 2x2 and just keep going at it.

 

Look at about 11:00 in this video. Not the best view here but gives you the idea.

 

9 minutes ago, Gerald said:

I see no reason this would not be acceptable once sanded. On doing a roundover for the end start from the top and as you turn the gouge to side  or center in   this case, push into the cut. This gets you that continous round curve. To practice use a 2x2 and just keep going at it.

 

Look at about 11:00 in this video. Not the best view here but gives you the idea.

 

 

...and rub the bevel!

Very nice design.  You need to go to a fresh edge on the The EWT tools and take a final light last cut and get out the 100 grit gouge and go to town. It will look great once you work through all the grits.

Edited August 20, 20214 yr by HandyDan

Actually I didn't use any EWT tools on that. That rough cut on the top is a catch I had and I just chose to let it go since this one wasn't the final piece. But if I had used the EWT tools (I have a couple), I might have been able to make a round top like it should have been. Thanks to all for the tips and videos, I'll try to get back to this maybe tomorrow. I need to cut some of the "beads and coves" sticks before moving on though.

Sorry to come in late on this one. Been busy sanding a boat deck. That is a really nice mill ! There is a very simple way to avoid the long line boring method of boring out the center which can get a little hairy on the really tall ones, especially if it’s really hard wood. It involves using two halves for the bottom part and dadoing a groove in both halves, gluing them together to give you a square channel down the center. You just need to make sure the diagonal measurement on the channel is less that the 1 1/16” you need to bore for the grinder. Then you just have to bore out an inch or so on the bottom and use a jam chuck to turn the rest of it. 
Paul

OK, I'm done. Here's the final iteration I got, next to the prototype. I had another bead at the top of the body, but I got clever and thought I'd "just touch it up" and got a catch...along with the accompanying big chip out. So the bead got turned off and I have what you see. Then, in another clever move, I somehow made this one about 1/2" shorter than the prototype. The first one was sized perfectly for the kit I had, and of course the second one was too short. So I had to cut the center rod back, and I also had to thread down the (square) shaft another 1/4" or so. Good thing it was aluminum. Anyway, this one is ready for finish. I'd like to use garnet shellac, but I'm concerned about how well it will hold up. What's the common finish (if there is one) for a pepper mill?

Edited August 22, 20214 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

7 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

What's the common finish (if there is one) for a pepper mill?

I always oil based poly on the outside- seems to hold up well unless you keep it on the stove. Nothing on the inside.

 

I like what you've done!

Lew, did you apply the varnish while the piece was still on the lathe (you know, that letting it turn and rag the stuff on)?

That's looking real nice. 

It's done. I went ahead and just used some wipe on varnish and "friction-ed' it on (I guess that's the term when you pad it on whlile it's spinning in the lathe.) I'll try to get a pic of it tomorrow.

4 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Lew, did you apply the varnish while the piece was still on the lathe (you know, that letting it turn and rag the stuff on)?

Sorry, Fred, I added a comment from my phone, but it never got here

 

Yes, that's exactly what I do. I made a jig/clamp to hold the body and top together for shaping the outside, sanding and finishing- on the lathe.

That looks mighty nice Fred, and good save too

I meant to post this yesterday but must have gotten distracted. For that bead which was muffed you can change that to a cove and still have a very nice form. Just a slight design change which is done often on spindle work, and peppermills are mostly spindle turning.

Here's the finished mill (just some wipe on varnish), I admit this isn't much for a seasoned turner but it felt pretty good to a flatwork guy. Best part is it works!

Edited August 24, 20214 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

Love It!!!!