Ted Sokolowski's Turned Peppermills by Lee Buck photos by Bill Grumbine


Ted begins with a rough sketch of the shape he wants. He then makes an exact drawing of the hardware. He puts tracing paper over the drawing to establish the bottom inset for proper length. He copies the drawings and puts them together to form the full shape. He cuts the drawing of the top piece from the drawing of the base to establish the lengths needed for the tenons and transfers the patterns to masonite. The dimensions are marked.





Ted uses Chef Specialities hardware. Ted cuts a 3” x 3” x 9” maple blank and puts it between centers. He roughs it with a roughing gouge and smooths it with a skew. He marks the spigots with the template and cuts the spigots to 2” diameter 3/8” long. Ted keeps the diameter of the spigots to a size that does not require the chuck jaws to open past the chuck body. This is for personal safety. He uses a parting tool and a hand saw to separate the top and base.





He mounts the base in a chuck, trues up the bottom, undercuts, a puts a dimple at the center. He drills a 1 5/8” hole 9/16” deep with a forstner bit in a jacobs chuck in the tailstock. Note all dimensions might be different with other hardware. He drills a 1” hole halfway through the blank and opens the 1” hole slightly. He recesses for the mill grinder mechanism with a square scraper, chamfers the bottom inside edge and sands.



Ted reverses the base in the chuck, scrapes a flat at center, dimples and drills through the piece with a 1” drill. Ted mounts the top of the mill in the chuck and trues up the bottom with the skew, undercuts slightly and dimples the center. He drills a 1 ¼” hole 3/8” deep. He cuts a recess for the turnplate hardware. He drills and scrapes as the fit is critical. He drills a 17/64” hole centered through the top.



He remounts the base in the chuck, faces off the base to the exact length and undercuts. He cuts the tenon to fit the top recess snugly, adjusts the length if necessary and chamfers.





Ted uses the template to mark transitions and parts in. He turns the shape, sands, cuts in the v grooves and sands the grooves




Ted "connects the dots", cutting smooth transitions to the places where he parted to. Then he cleans up the curves with a few final light passes of the gouge. He completes the job by adjusting the fit of the tenon on the base which goes into the top, and then applying finish to the piece.



Thanks Ted, for a great demo!