new salt mills, pepper mills, and coffee grinders!

That's what I describe as batch work, question if I may Dan. what's the difference between Ambrosia maple and hard maple?, and a secon one.
Those are spalted right?
 
Where are you getting the salt mills?...I use the ceramic grinders from Ideal Denmark and they say can be used as either salt or pepper.

Good looking turnings... Ambrosia Maple is always a great seller.
 
That's what I describe as batch work, question if I may Dan. what's the difference between Ambrosia maple and hard maple?, and a secon one.
Those are spalted right?
Ambrosia Maple is soft maple with a cream colored background which is host to a variety of greyish-blue to brown streaks that are caused by an infestation of the ambrosia beetle. The beetle burrows into the tree and leaves a fungus in it’s path, which is what creates the discoloration in the wood and create a very unique pattern in each board. In most or all of the streaks there are tiny holes from where the beetle burrowed into the wood. yup, there is a bit of spalting too.
 
drilled all of the pepper mill bodies today. had to turn two new ones due to damages while drilling. this stuff has to be the hardest of any batch of ambrosia maple that i have ever drilled. the only bit that behaved normally was the 7/8" forstner bit for drilling the through holes. the 2" for the inset, and the 1 1/2" are being a real pain. with a lot of time, patience, and smoke, got the pepper mills done, and almost all of the drilling for the salt mills half done.
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after work, i stopped at the shop, and finished drilling the top insets, bottom insets, and through holes for the salt mills today. the glove i wore had such a good grip, that it wasn't so bad. now it is on to turning the coffee grinder parts.
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after work, i stopped at the shop, and finished drilling the top insets, bottom insets, and through holes for the salt mills today. the glove i wore had such a good grip, that it wasn't so bad. now it is on to turning the coffee grinder parts.
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Be careful wearing a grippy glove and drilling with Forstner bits. Things can go badly in a heartbeat.

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Fun fact: You can stop a 1 hp drill press motor dead in its tracks (well, squealing the belts) if your arm is wrapped around the quill hard enough. ;)
 
I've never tried to drill a pepper mill blank on my DP.... it's old, a HF bench top and all my drill bits are dull (I do sharpen them occasionally on my belt sander but their still not as sharp as a new on)... always use the lathe to drill... little danger to my digits and hands.

You never did say where you got the salt mills... are they different from the pepper grinders? I only use the crush grind ceramic grinders and they grind salt and/or peper.
 
I've never tried to drill a pepper mill blank on my DP.... it's old, a HF bench top and all my drill bits are dull (I do sharpen them occasionally on my belt sander but their still not as sharp as a new on)... always use the lathe to drill... little danger to my digits and hands.

You never did say where you got the salt mills... are they different from the pepper grinders? I only use the crush grind ceramic grinders and they grind salt and/or peper.
I have never drilled any of those items on a drill press either but, in general we don't hold those items while we are drilling them on the lathe either.
 
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