# Spice Grinders with Brick Segmented Tops



## LegacyWoodcraft (Jul 20, 2012)

Hi, I've been lurking these forums for a while now. I turn pens and bottle stoppers and such every now and then. I finally have a project that I'm proud to show off to you folks. 

My first set of spice grinders - salt and peppermills. I used the Crushgrind ceramic mechanisms with shafts. Mills are just under 8.5" overall.

The bases are walnut and maple. Tops are segmented walnut, maple, and padauk. This was my first shot at doing brick segmentation. I got inspiration from someone on these boards who sells similar style pen blanks.

Finish is many coats of high gloss poly. It took a lot of coating and sanding down to fill in the pores on the padauk. Will have to try a pore filler (crystallac?) next time. You can see some of the poly dust that got stuck down in the pores and coated over - live and learn.

There's a few little details here and there that I'd like to improve for next time. But we are all our own worst critics and it's not bad for a first attempt. Excuse the pics, they were taken with my phone.

Any thoughts, questions, criticisms? Thanks for looking.


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## Jim Burr (Jul 20, 2012)

This is why I wish segmenting was in my realm...beautiful work Ryan!!


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## NYWoodturner (Jul 20, 2012)

Wow ! Really Really nice work ! 
Scott


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## broitblat (Jul 20, 2012)

Nicely done.

Elegant shapes and great combination of colors and finish.

  -Barry


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## bobjackson (Jul 20, 2012)

They look great. I'm stealing your idea. Fantastic job.


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## Ligget (Jul 21, 2012)

Those are fantastic, great pics too!


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## neubee (Jul 21, 2012)

The peppermills are awesome; the segmenting really looks good. Thanks for the poly lesson; I also have had the same problem.


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## kronewi (Jul 21, 2012)

Nice job! Wood128 does a lot of segmenting (your inspiration). He definitely understands how to take an end project and visualize all the steps required to get there. A skill I am severly lacking. In fact, I am very curious, how did you get the circular rod down the center? Drill the segmented blank out and put a dowel down the center or did you somehow incorporate it into the blank from the beginning?


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## Jim Smith (Jul 21, 2012)

You do beautiful work with your segmenting.  Very nice pepper mills!  Thanks for sharing.

Jim Smith


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## Johnny westbrook (Jul 21, 2012)

very nice work !


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## jasontg99 (Jul 22, 2012)

Wow, those are beautiful!


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## bitshird (Jul 22, 2012)

Very nice segmenting, Padauk is a bear to fill pores in, I think your headed in a great direction with your grinders they are beautiful.
A Lacquer sanding sealer should help with the Padauk.


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## George417 (Jul 22, 2012)

Very nice


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## LegacyWoodcraft (Jul 22, 2012)

Regarding the question about the dowel down the center, here is a run down of what I did and why:

I started with a 3x3x12 blank of padauk and one of walnut. 

I also used a 3x3 block of maple for the horizontal dividers and cut a board up to for the vertical dividers.

Also made up a sled for the table saw to cut the 3x3x12 blanks at a 45 degree (so the piece sits like a diamond instead of flat). I considered turning the blanks between centers down to 3"... but then I'd have to make something up to rip a round block anyways. You may have good luck with a bandsaw, but I just cannot get these perfectly straight cuts with mine.

First off, make a blank that looks like this:










I started by ripping the walnut and padauk blanks at 45 degrees. Glue in a slice of maple that matches the kerf on your saw - in my case 3/32. For each glue up, do it so that opposing woods are always touching. So the first glue up would be padauk on one side, walnut on the other, with maple veneer between them. 

After that dries, rotate 90 degrees and rip each blank again at a 45 degree angle. Again, glue maple in between and make sure padauk and walnut are alternating. 

Continue 2 more times with the blank nice and flat on the table saw. You will end up with 2 blanks as pictured. 

This is where I had to do some thinking. If this were a pen, it wouldn't matter if the lines didn't quite line up in the center because your nib, endcap, etc will hide it. But for the peppermill it would be exposed. 

I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone by drilling a 5/8 hole down the center of the blank. This not only hides any maple stripes that are out of alignment, but greatly helps in doing the following glue ups.

I glued the lids with the blank still square, but again, you could turn between centers first and that may help. After you drill your 5/8 hole, cut 1/2" slices off of your blank (or whatever you think looks good). You'll be left with pieces that look something like this:






I cut a matching piece of 5/8 dowel the height of my glue up and just stacked on a segmented piece,then 3/32 maple, then segmented, etc depending on your desired height. Since these were for peppermills, I also glued on a thicker piece of maple on the bottom for the tenon that goes into the base. The dowel keeps everything lined up and concentric, so all you have to worry about is rotating the pieces to your liking - I thought it looked nice so that the "mortar" on the next piece was halfway between a "brick" of the previous piece, YMMV. 

Once you get your blank, prepare it however you want and turn it, drill it, etc. You may also notice that there's a little piece of brass glued in near the center of the dowel. Well, my live center made quite a divot in the top when I was turning between centers and I didn't have enough stock to turn it down any more. So I chucked the other end up and drilled a 3/16 hole about 1/2" deep. Cut a piece of 3/16 brass rod and epoxy it in. Now it's a feature instead of a mistake!

It took me a looooong time of sitting, thinking, and a lot of sketching to come up with this process. I'm sure there is an easier way to do this, or at least some of the steps. 

I hope this walkthough helps everyone out. If you have any more questions feel free to ask.


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## kronewi (Jul 23, 2012)

Thank you for all the insight!

I appreaciate your time explaining your process.

Kevin


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## clapiana (Jul 23, 2012)

LegacyWoodcraft said:
			
		

> Hi, I've been lurking these forums for a while now. I turn pens and bottle stoppers and such every now and then. I finally have a project that I'm proud to show off to you folks.
> 
> My first set of spice grinders - salt and peppermills. I used the Crushgrind ceramic mechanisms with shafts. Mills are just under 8.5" overall.
> 
> ...



wow pretty sweet looking grinders!   nice job. did you glue in the mechanism or use the tabs?


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