Eccentric Salt and Pepper Mills

Adrian King creates these wonderful mills

1.The finished mills

We have all been there, I am sure. Looming up in the not too distant future is the big birthday, the big anniversary or Christmas - so what do we give to the significant other, who has everything and why is it that we never have a clue? Well, this project might just be what you are looking for. You couldn't buy one in a shop and it's quite certain nobody in the circle of friends and family will have one - unless it includes a woodturner who is quicker off the mark than you are!

It all began recently when I bought a set of CrushGrind salt- and peppermills - available from Brian Fitzsimmons at Constable Woodcrafts - which, having the adjustment at the bottom of the mechanism, do not need a screwed knob at the top. This, as Brian shows on his website, opens up new design possibilities for the cap, including offset turning. Taking this a step further, I decided to try offsetting the bodies as well, mounting them on a jig and turning them in several positions, before completing the shaping by hand to produce an elliptical section.

With hindsight, I think I would perhaps increase the 65mm dimension to 75mm to create a less elongated ellipse. Also before marking out the ellipse, I would have used a disc sander to save some effort at step 41.

With foresight, I can see that the jig could be used to produce other sections like rounded triangles, regular or irregular, for vases, bottles and boxes.

Glossary

Rollover a term to view its definition

Scraper

Glossary

Scraper

As its name suggests, scrapers scrape the wood rather than cut it and generally leave a poorer surface finish on the wood than cutting tools. Unlike cutting tools, do not use the bevel rubbing technique with a scraper. In fact the 'bevel' is really a clearance rake and allows the cutting edge to come to a sharper edge. Sharpen or hone it often and take very light cuts with a scraper. You should get shavings; if you are only getting dust, resharpen it. Scrapers come in all shapes and sizes - square edge, round nosed, French curve, box scrapers and hardwood scrapers. The picture shows a 1/2 inch round nosed scraper.
Skew Chisel

Glossary

Skew Chisel

An extremely useful tool but has a reputation for being difficult to control. Certainly you can get some nasty catches with it but it is worth mastering. It is used mainly in spindle work and produces a very fine finish from the tool, requiring little, if any sanding. Planing cuts, peeling cuts and slicing cuts can be made with the skew as well as turning beads, coves and 'V' cuts. Typically, the cutting edge is ground at 60 degrees to the axis of the tool - hence the term 'skew' and the tool has two bevels whose inclusive angle is anywhere between 25 and 45 degrees. Skews are now made in three styles - rectangular section, oval section and rolled edge section.
Spindle Gouge

Glossary

Spindle Gouge

Modern day spindle gouges are made in the same way as bowl gouges - from a round bar of M2 high speed steel with the flute milled out. The flute is shallower and more open than that of a bowl gouge. Traditionally spindles gouges were forged from a flat, rectangular sectioned bar and some manufacturers have started making a modern day version of this, commonly known as the Continental Style spindle gouge. Like their name suggests, spindle gouges are used to cut details such as beads, coves and fillets on spindle work.
Chuck

Glossary

Chuck

A holding device consisting of adjustable jaws that centre a workpiece in a lathe or centre a tool in a drill. There are many different types of chuck. Scroll chuck, collet chuck, pin chuck and screw chuck are a few examples. The photograph shows a scroll chuck on the left and two different kinds of screw chuck