Jun 29 2009

Over the Top Pepper Mill

Published by denniscloutier at 5:38 pm under New From Running Dog Woodworking and tagged: , , , , , ,

I sell a lot of pepper mills.  Most of them are made from beautiful wood, so I usually try and keep the shape fairly simple so that I can let the wood speak, and also keep the cost down so that they will sell.  Lately though, I have been playing with something a bit more extravagant:
Teardrop Pepper Mills

Teardrop Pepper Mills

These are my Teardrop Pepper Mills.  They are turned on three axis.  The front of the blank is sawn off, turned, and then glued back onto the rest of the blank to produce the curve at the front of the mill.  The two long sides are turned using a therming process.

Lately I have been spending a lot of time trying to work the wrinkles out of the therming process.  This process involves mounting several workpieces on a plate or drum mounted on a lathe.  You can then make a multi-sided object by turning one side at a time and then flipping the workpieces.  Ok, that explanation is pretty hard to figure out, so one of these days I’m going to write an article explaining it.   This isn’t a new method.  I learned it from Art Liestman, and I think it has been around for a long time.




3 Responses to “Over the Top Pepper Mill”

  1.   # stanon 29 Jun 2009 at 5:41 pm

    I love the design, and the workmanship!
    Stan

  2.   # christinaon 29 Jun 2009 at 8:42 pm

    Dennis, these are beautiful. The figured wood really works well with the design. Great work!

    Christina

  3.   # denniscloutieron 30 Jun 2009 at 9:34 am

    Thanks guys.