Pepper Grinder - #3 Final Turning, Finishing & Assembly

The slight transitioning curve to the rounded corner that blends in with the sides starts by flipping the piece end for end since the top is at the chuck end and I need more room to safely work than is available.  It doesn’t take a lot to make the transition pleasing to look at and feel good.  The taper itself is probably not much over 1/16” and the rounded corner is about a 1/8” radius.  Small details, but it makes a big difference when held.  This photo shows the turning completed and all but the final 400 grit sanding done.  That sanding is done by hand using the 400 grit paper on the sides but not done with the lathe on and the piece rotating.  The lathe is off and the sanding is done following the grain of the wood which runs from top to bottom of the piece.  This gets rid of the fine circular scratches left by sanding when the lathe is running.

A final assembly is done to check and make sure everything fits together without any problems.  As everything checked out finishing is next.

No dye or stains are used in the finishing, only a clear finish.  For good protection three coats of lacquer is applied by spraying using my airbrush.  Here is the standard setup with the brush, regulator, respirator and gloves.  The two larger plastic bottles at the right have lacquer and thinner in them.   The gallon cans of lacquer and thinner are out of the photo.

To spray the piece a scrap of 2x4 is turned to a taper so it fits snugly inside.  Holding the 2x4 piece in one hand and the airbrush in the other allowed me to turn the piece all directions and spray all the outside surfaces at once.  Once sprayed it is clamped in the bench vice and left to dry.  The next day it gets wet sanded with a 2,400 grit pad and another coat sprayed on.  After drying overnight, it gets wet sanded again and the final third coat is applied.  It is then left to cure for several days to harden before wet sanding with an 8,000 grit pad to remove any little bits of dust and the like on the finish.

This is the bottom of the pepper grinder showing the mechanism along with a drawing showing how the mechanism goes together.  The two holes in the bottom plate get a couple of very small screws which holds the mechanism in the grinder. 

Because the screws are so small, I was worried that if I tried to just screw them in without a pilot hole, they would get twisted off or split the wood since they are very close to the inside edge.  Neither of which is a desirable outcome.  My smallest regular drill is 1/16” (.0625”) in diameter which is right at the diameter of the screws so that wouldn’t work.  What I do have is a set of 40 orifice drills I inherited from my father that range from size #80 (.0135”) to #40 (.098”).  The one that gave me the right size pilot hole is a #57 drill (.043”).  It along with the screws and a ruler is shown below.

To reduce the chance of the screws splitting the wood the holes are drilled at an angle away from the hollow center.  This is what the pilot holes look like drilled.

After letting the lacquer harden and gas off the mechanism is installed using the two itty-bitty screws to hold it in place.  To help prevent twisting the screws off during the installation they get a thin coating of wax to act as a lubricant.

Here is a photo of the original salt and pepper set along with the new pepper grinder.  After finishing it we decided the originals are going to be kept on the dining room table for use there while the new pepper grinder will be kept in the kitchen to be used when larger amounts of freshly ground pepper are need for cooking.

After filling it with peppercorns I gave it a test run and wow does work.  It grinds pepper at least four times as fast as the old one and a lot easier plus it's a lot easier on my wrist when trying to grind a quantity for recipes.  This is certainly worth the $10 or so the hardware cost.