Introduction: How to Turning a Pepper Mill

By Paoson.com
About: My name is Suso Caamanho. I like doing all sorts of stuff related to musical instruments, woodworking, computer science, electronics... On my website you will find more information, projects, plans, photos...

In this instructable I will make a pepper mill to go with the bowl I made a few days ago.

I will use this piece of olive wood and this mechanism I found in a local shop.

You will find more info in my web: www.paoson.com

Video:

Step 1: Turning

After marking the centers, I place the olive on the lathe. I start turning with a roughing gouge to obtain a cylinder. Now I will shape it. I won't make a lot of carvings or details. Instead, I'll stick to a streamlined design.

I'll cover the cracks with a little black epoxy and, once dry, I'll wipe off any left-over epoxy and sand the wood on the lathe itself.

Step 2: My New Chuck

I'll mark the lid and the other rebates, and I do the rest of the cutting by hand with a saw.

I bought this chuck which will allow me to turn bowls and many other things with ease. Also, I've got hold of an a adapter which I had a metal worker adapt to the shaft of my lathe.

The jaws can hold objects by expanding or contracting, in this case, the jaws contract around the pepper mill to hold it.

Step 3:

I've also machined this piece of threaded rod that will allow me to use this drill chuck from an old broken drill I had lying around in my workshop. With this I can drill holes with the lathe.

For this type of work it is necessary a lathe for working with metal, because it requires a lot of precision, I have a friend who is dedicated to this type of work and he has mechanized me these two threads.

Using this bit I'll make the first rebate to place the pepper mill's lid. Everything seems to be working fine! I change the bit and start carving out the interior slowly, occasionally taking out the sawdust from inside. I turn it around and continue working on the other side. Then it's time to finish the lid.

Step 4: Finishing

I sand all the straight surfaces with the disc sander and attach this piece allowing us to twist the mill. Turning the knob on the top I can adjust how finely the pepper is ground. Now all that's left is to sand it and apply a little oil.