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artme
28th July 2018, 10:31 PM
Son wanted a pepper mill for the new pizza/pasta place he is managing. Good old dad can do that.
Has to be a big one! say 40-50ms! Was near David Drescher's place in Beenleigh so so dropped in and
bought the appropriate mechanism.

Fished through the wood supply and decided to use a piece of LVL. So turned it to appropriate diametre
after watching a couple of You Tube videos. ( I have never turned a pepper mill!!)

Took the cylinder to the club where I thought they had everything I needed. Big mistake!!
There was no auger bit to drill the long hole. Off to Bunnies to pick up the auger. I settled on
a three flute Irwin plus an extension shaft.

Club president gave me some tips on long hole boring and that exercise went very well, if somewhat tediously.

OK. Now or the stepped hole in the bottom to take the mechanism. I had checked to see if the club had the
correct Forstner bits., Yep!However< what a desperate state they were in!! Would not cut butter. The state
of the whole- or is that hole - collection is a bloody disgrace!!

Bunnies of no help so of f to Tony at Wide Bay Saws. Couple of bits set me back $45. The costs are mounting!!!
Well, long story short the bits worked magically well and and i had a clean stepped hole. Made the jam chuck and
set to work shaping the barrel.

Disaster! A couple of the laminations had faults in them. Several chunks left their assigned position and a separate
void appeared because there was simply no timber there.

Plan B. Use a piece of red Cedar I had squirreled away. When it came to doing the stepped hole with the forstners
all he broke loose! The its would not handle the end grain at all. Then I noticed a streak of suspicious looking wood
in the blank. Another wasted effort

What to use?? I had a good piece of myrtle that i had purchased on one of our Tassie trips so I sliced it down the middle
and glued the two pieces together to make the blank.This I turned to size. I decided at this point to make steady as I had
extra length to deal with and did not want to run the risk of ruining good timber. I had plenty of ply to make the steady but
the search for wheels was something like the quest in Lord of the Rings. No old skate boards at the tip or any of the three
Op Shops. No wheels at Rebel sports and only very expensive ones at the skate-cum-climbing set up. Last resort - Bunnies!!
Three wheel for about $8. Then nuts, washers and bolts a further $10.

Steady made and more boring and turning to do. Long hole proved a bit problematic. I found that while the auger cut very
well there was a build up of fine dust and shavings that were difficult to clear. Seems to be a problem with this type of auger
bit as I had the same problem to a lesser extent on the previous attempts.Thank goodness for the steady which also
proved helpful in doing the stepped hole in the bottom. The Forstners worked very well in the end grain of the myrtle.

Tomorrow I shape the barrel, finish and fit the mechanism. Just hoping there are no more gremlins in the way!!!

woodPixel
28th July 2018, 11:07 PM
We always need pictures of the disasters :)

rwbuild
29th July 2018, 12:24 AM
I think after a marathon effort like that the pizza place should give you some well deserved reward of the edible variety
Don't forget the pics when its finished

Dalboy
29th July 2018, 06:07 AM
I think we have all had days like that. Look forward to the finished article

plt43
29th July 2018, 08:53 AM
I thought these things only happened to me.....

mick661
29th July 2018, 09:58 AM
The Joy's of woodturning.
Cheers mick

Fuzzie
29th July 2018, 10:04 AM
Don't you just wish sometimes you had have been born with the "I think I can buy that" gene instead of the "I think I can make that" gene?
:gaah:

brainstrust
29th July 2018, 10:15 AM
I'm sure they'll need a matching salt shaker :D

artme
29th July 2018, 10:57 AM
Don't you just wish sometimes you had have been born with the "I think I can buy that" gene instead of the "I think I can make that" gene?
:gaah:

That's what the the treasurer says - all the time!
T

artme
29th July 2018, 10:59 AM
I'm sure they'll need a matching salt shaker :D

:p:p

artme
10th August 2018, 02:09 PM
Success! First pepper mill done. Coated with UBeaut Foodsafe Plus. Good gear.

Will round everything up later and post some pics.