EcrosTechWiki | Woodworking / Pepper Mills

First Pepper Mill, Classic Shape, Walnut

Without thinking about the design, I just grabbed a piece of walnut and made this. I had to adapt the instructions that came with the mechanism for the tools I had on hand. For example, I didn't have the 1 1/16" and 1 3/8" Forstner bits. So, the main bore is 1" in diameter and I scraped out enough width at the bottom for the spring retainer to fit. The wider recesses were cut with a parting tool as if I was cutting the mortise in the bottom of a bowl. I proved that I could make a six-inch pepper mill with this mechanism. But, Jean disclosed that she didn't like the design. As soon as she said it, I realized that I didn't like the design either.

May 21 to 23, 2024 — Second Pepper Mill, Modern Shape, Walnut

I collected up a bunch of photographs from the Web and sent them to Jean so see what kind of pepper mill she did like. She picked the one at right, which I was happy with. I selected a nicer piece of walnut and set about making this, using the methods I had already figured out. This came out really well and I am very grateful for Jean's help with the design. This became our every-day pepper grinder.

Then winter came. It became very difficult to turn the cap and grind pepper. Jean gave up. I persisted, but looked like a fool. With some sandpaper I managed to get things going again, but what went wrong? It seemed obvious to me that the fault lay in the plastic elements in the mechanism. The low ambient humidity in winter dried out the wood, which shrank, but the plastic was unaffected. The mechanism has a plastic projection, anchored to the cap, that fits into a recess cut in the top surface of the base. The recess shrinks, the plastic doesn't, it binds (won't turn freely). This strikes me as a design flaw. I'm not going to use this mechanism again. I did buy it because it was cheap and I wanted to try out a pepper grinder, so I don't feel too bad about this mistake. I wasn't sure, at this point, that I would make any more pepper grinders anyway.