pepper mill question(s)

[Blake McCully]

Hi all,
My nephew, who is a chef, asked me a while back if I would make him a pepper mill. Well, I'm finally getting around to it (roundtuit). After checking some of my regular haunts I saw that CSUSA has 8" kits for $10.99. I read a thread, I think it was here(?), where someone, I believe it was Jim Becker, had suggested to try chef specialites. It's terrible getting old and having no idea where you are Well I did. Got my mechanism, now gotta order some large forstner bits.

Basically the question I have, yeah after all that, is since this item will contain food, even though it is only pepper corns, is it necessary to finish the inside with salad oil, peanut oil, or some other food safe finish? I'm planning to use cocobolo for my nephew's mill, but if it works out well and I want to do more, I'll probably expand into different wood species.

Any help on this, or other tips, hints, words of wisdom is greatly appreciated.

[Tom Mullane]

Blake, if your nephew is a professional chef, he is going to want the best mill there is.. something that will last a long long time...
Here are the mills I like..
http://www.allthingspepper.com/Tooling/mechanisms.php
These suckers last... and grind real smooth.... a little trickier to put together, but well worth the difference...

[Blake McCully]

Thanks Tom,
Yes he's a professional chef by education and training, however, right now he is in the food administration end. He wants it for his personal use at home. Since this is the first that I will have made (future pluperfect tense?) I think I'll stick with the mechanisms from chef specialites. They are more traditional. Possibly once I become more experienced, I may try the ones you suggested.

BTW, did you, at one time and in a different life, use the handle "Old Griz" on a scrollsaw forum? If you are, you and I were exploring the turning world at about the same time. I think it was on the Just Woodworking forum. I used to go by the handle "makin holes" If you're not, never mind.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Tom,
Thanks for posting that. I've been on a search for a ceramic grinding mechanism, and now my search is over!

Thanks,
Maurice

[Tom Mullane]

Yeah Blake.. that be me... still use the same moniker on most sites that don't ask for a real name.... I used to moderate the MSN Scroll Saw Portraits site... still making patterns for sale and now do a lot of turning...
I got out of Just Woodworking when I had some problems with some of their policies, but I won't go there here... LOL..

[Jim Becker]

I believe that no finish is required on the internals. If you must...use shellac.

[Blake McCully]

Jim,
Thanks. I think I'll leave it natural.

[Blake McCully]

Tom,
I haven't had my saw on since I got my lathe. Although, with retirement immenent I do plan to go back and do a few things. I'll have more time to scroll. It just takes me soooo long to do a project. I can't sit in front of the saw for long periods of time, that age thing ya know

[Troy Nethaway]

does anyone have an update on this company? their website seems to be down for days now.

[bob svoboda]

There's a message on their cover page that they are moving and the site should have been up sometime in March. Apparently something happened to change their schedule. You can get the crush grind mechanisms at WC.

[John Hart]

I did a little goofy research, and you can surmise just about anything from this...

The domain name of Allthingspepper.com is registered by Brian Howerton, who is the Founder of CrushGrindUSA. But he left CrushGrindUSA in late 2006 to work for another company. CrushGrind is a company based in Denmark, but I see no indication that CrushGrindUSA still exists...

I would guess that Allthingspepper has been abandoned.....or at least...don't hold your breath.
But yeah...like Bob sez...the CrushGrind mechanisms can be gotten from WoodCraft...and I see that they are also available at CraftSupply

[Jim Roberts Port Orchard WA]

To answer Blake's questions, I used to buy my mechanisms from chefspecialties.com but I have found the packardwoodworks.com also has the same mechanism and cheaper. I also lightly sand the bore of my mill just to take the loose stuff out and no finish further into the bore then my finger will reach. I buy my forstner bits from PSI and they work well.
Hope this helps.

Jim

[John Hart]

Just so everyone is aware....Blake asked that question over 5 years ago. Not that the question is invalid...or answers are invalid...

Just pointing out the age of this thread.

[David Woodruff]

My opinion buy the best you can find. Quality only cost twice as mch

[Pete Jordan]

Just so everyone is aware....Blake asked that question over 5 years ago. Not that the question is invalid...or answers are invalid...

Just pointing out the age of this thread.

Right on top of things, John.