Do you need to let pepper mill wood dry?

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I just got back from NC Wood ( Gary and his wife are so nice) where I picked up lots of blanks. He mentioned that he knows of somebody who turns the pepper mills with wet wood and takes them to finish. He said the same thing about hollow forms. Now I'd like to know if anybody does this. It seems a little strange not to do a rough turning first, let dry, and then return. That's the way I do bowls. How about you?

[Quinn McCarthy]

Alan,

After turning quite a few I would never turn one that wasn't kiln dried. Then you know where the MC of the wood is at. The very best you can do air dried is 10-12%. Kiln drying is the only way I would sell or give them away. Air dry wood is at equilibrium where you live. If you live in the desert and turn a pepper mill and send it to somebody in Louisiana you are in for a bunch of trouble because it is going to reach equalibrium in LA.

I turned a 2' PM out of hard maple. The bit cutting for a distance of 22" built up a lot of heat. I would think that would warp your blank.

I hope that helps.

Me thinks this is going to generate some debate.

Quinn

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I like NC wood. I order wood from them.

If you turn the pepper mill green, it MAY shift and your mill won't line up unless it's in that one position you turned it in. Turn it, let it dry then re-finish turn it to get out the shifting, if any. Unless your style is where lining up is not critical. What I found very annoying, is it may shift and affect the fit between the body and cap. I had 1 mill swell/shrink enough so it was hard to turn. Had to disassemble and sand so it would turn.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have turned quite a few peppermills and would never turn one out of green wood. I tried it once about 2 yrs ago and it was a disaster. It is still sitting on the bench. Now HF's I do turn green start to finish.

[ROY DICK]

Quinn.

I agree with the others, kiln dried only or it will bind up as green wood dries.

Roy

[Bob Vavricka]

I've turned some that weren't kiln dried and they seemed to work out OK. I use the crush grind mechanism and it seemsto be pretty tolerant of some movement. I have an Ambrosia Maple one that I just turned to round last night and will drill the holes for it tomorrow. I don't have a moisture meter, so I don't know what the moisture content is, but it was sealed in wax when I got it at the AAW Symposium and it feels like it has quite a bit of moisture in it. I'll let you know how it turns out.
Bob V.

[Bob Hallowell]

I have turned quite a few green, most exotics are green also, sometimes they crack sometimes they warp very badly and other times they are fine. If it is a wood I worry about or is prone checking or moving I do the twice turn just like a bowl. I drill it turn it alittle over sized and let it do it's thing for a few weeks then I finish turn them.

Bob

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Thanks all, this is very interesting. I'd like to err on the side of caution so I'm going to let these dry after rough turning. Does it make sense to drill the hole though since this may not stay straight after drying? Without the hole it seems like the dry time will be a lot longer.

[Dale Coons]

I've had good luck roughing to a cylinder and doing a DNA soak for a couple of days, then letting it sit for week or so. You're not going to get the inside completely dry, but it doesn't matter, you're going to core that out anyway. What's left after boring the center hole has been stable for me.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

That's interesting Dale. That sounds like a good use for the DNA method. Thanks!