Shopsmith Forums

I didn’t want to hijack this thread but you might want to take a look at the pictures by Ed to get an idea of what I am thinking.

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=9258

I have three 10” maple rolling pins that I picked up for $1 each. At that price I thought I could do something with them. They are bored out to 7/8. I want to make pepper-mills. The lathe chuck I had was borrowed a few years ago and the borrower can’t even remember that he wanted it. Gone and forgotten by both of us.

Perhaps a pin chuck would work? I could plug the other end (or the entire piece with a 7/8 dowel for the live center and probably need to do that to bore out the bottom to the right width and depth.

What you need to know is that I have NEVER used a lathe although my Mk VII came with all the stuff (mostly new) to do the work.

I’m a rank beginner in turning who wants to produce a nice piece using an unorthodox piece of wood.

Should I just forget about it?

Having never made pepper mills I won't comment on that.

However, you might think about filling out your profile (click on "user CP to get to it) and let us know where you are because someone might be close to you who could offer some hands on experiences.

I would say for that price you couldn't go wrong on trying it, There is a lot of videos on YouTube that will help you.

db5 wrote:I didn’t want to hijack this thread but you might want to take a look at the pictures by Ed to get an idea of what I am thinking.

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=9258

I have three 10” maple rolling pins that I picked up for $1 each. At that price I thought I could do something with them. They are bored out to 7/8. I want to make pepper-mills. The lathe chuck I had was borrowed a few years ago and the borrower can’t even remember that he wanted it. Gone and forgotten by both of us.

Perhaps a pin chuck would work? I could plug the other end (or the entire piece with a 7/8 dowel for the live center and probably need to do that to bore out the bottom to the right width and depth.

What you need to know is that I have NEVER used a lathe although my Mk VII came with all the stuff (mostly new) to do the work.

I’m a rank beginner in turning who wants to produce a nice piece using an unorthodox piece of wood.

Should I just forget about it?

I made a jamb chuck to turn a pepper mill blank once I had it bored out to the proper diameters for the mechanism that I purchased. The chuck worked great along with my large conical live center.

I recently turned a 4" long Maple Salt Grinder (same as a Pepper Mill, but different grinder mechanism. I follow the instructions, and had guidance from master turners, all of whom had used different kits. I did use a Nova G3 chuck and started with a 2" long x 3" x 3" maple block. The block will make both of the salt and pepper grinders. BUT I had to make my own threaded square shaft as the 3-1/2" long one provided in the kit was at least 5/8" too short to use. Luckily, I had the stuff and tools around to do that. If you have not used a lathe before, get some mentors to help hands on. This is very dangerous stuff, and not to be taken lightly. People get hurt or worse, and it the wood come loose from the 700 rpm (low speed) of the Shopsmith, it can cause damage. I did the roughing on a club lathe at lower speeds, until it was a good balanced cylinder. About 250 rpms, then up to 1100 rpms. Practice between centers - spur center on the drive side, and live cup or cone on the tailstock end. Turning is addicting, and has great rewards, but join a local woodturning club, and get some help.

db5 wrote:Perhaps a pin chuck would work? I could plug the other end (or the entire piece with a 7/8 dowel for the live center and probably need to do that to bore out the bottom to the right width and depth.

I believe that this is an accident waiting to happen. Hope it doesn't kill ya.

No doubt about it - pepper mills are turned most easily by using a 4 jaw chuck. However the very first mill I turned was done with a faceplate and held on with aper and glue. Although it can be done this way, I cannot recommend it because the mill must be reversed to complete turning/drilling and this is quite trying using a faceplate. It took me around 30 or so tries to get the mill centered the second time.

Since you are very new to turning...and that's okay because all of us were new to turning at one point or another...I would recommend the following before you get into turning pepper mills.

Take a 2 x 4 and rip it down to a 1.5" square about 12" long. The first used in structural lumber (use kiln dried please) is soft and easy to turn. Mount this piece (you may want to make several) between centers on your shopsmith and set it up for slow...

You want to focus on making chips and nothing more. Learn how to turn the square block to a cylinder and then learn the proper techniques for using your spindle gouge and skew chisels. With these two tools you will be able to make many many profiles on your turnings once you know how to use them.

If you can locate a copy of "power tool woodworking for everyone" there will be a section in there dedicated to turning... I think you can also find this resource online.

My point is that you should practice to get the feel of it first. Walk before you run.

None of us made fine furniture as our first project in woodworking.

I hope this helps

Geo