If it's still ok for this ng, I'd like to bring up for discussion some
topics that might be related to woodturning.

Sometimes I have too heavy a hand on the skew and bruise the wood so
that the finish is blotchy. I know nobody else does this, but just
thinking about it how would you remove the bruises without messing up a
delicate form?

Turning a slot in a between centers blank for holding it in expansion
chuck mode the tailstock often gets in my way. A male to female Morse
taper extension in the tail spindle helps to move it back out of the
way. Is there a better way?

Have any of you fellow cheapskates extended the shaft of a short pepper
mill mechanism to make a tall 'show off' mill? I did and it took more
time and trouble than paying the exorbitant price of a new one. I've had
no luck in removing and reusing the plastic grinding mechanisms on
'built in grinder' bottles of pepper, but hope springs eternal for
cheapskates.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:20:48 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

If it's still ok for this ng, I'd like to bring up for discussion some
topics that might be related to woodturning.

Sometimes I have too heavy a hand on the skew and bruise the wood so
that the finish is blotchy. I know nobody else does this, but just
thinking about it how would you remove the bruises without messing up a
delicate form?

Arch - If your bruising is compressed wood - how about treating it
like flat workers do when they remove a dent? Steam the spot with a
damp cloth and heat source - clothes iron or solder gun depending on
the size - to raise the grain. Then sand or turn.

John Weeks

Ahhh.... Arch.... you bring up the old nemesis, the skew.

I used to use the old excuse, "well, I don't really turn enough
spindle work to be good with it". Then I met a guy that is a devotee
of Richard Raffan, and he actually uses the skew for everything from
finish planing down to roughing. To be a wise guy, he finished the
outside of a bowl I was turning to make his point.

I can do a little detail work with it, but I have long fingernail
grinds on my spindle gouges (I mean long) that will work for me just
as well as a skew.

Oddly, we had a club workshop several years ago, and while I had
someone at my side, he had me using the gardening digger tool ('scuse
me, skew) very well. I went home and immediately practiced a lot,
trying to imprint in my brain and muscles the memory of what I
learned. No success.

Worse, a few years ago the same thing happened. "Bring the tool you
are having problems using", was our theme. I taught freehand
sharpening techniques, honing, etc., and when I had a break I took out
my razor sharp skew. The skew guy is a friend of mine, so he was
gentle. Once again, as long as he was standing there, it was great.
Left to my own devices, almost all of my new skill was gone in a few
weeks.

In my experience of using the skew incorrectly, I have extensively
covered most mistakes in a very thorough fashion. I am aware of the
bruising, and it is the same thing that happens when you are white
knuckling a spindle gouge. You just bend the fibers over and the heat
"cooks" them into place. The greener the wood, the worse this is.

My only surefire solution is to sand aggressively. removing the
fibers that are not properly sheared or cut. Any other shenanigans I
have tried have only resulted in messing up my finish.

As for reusing the grinders in throw away spice bottles, shame on
you. (I had to laugh though, as I explored this possible resource
myself!) My conclusion was that if I was going to spend my time to
make something that could be for my own personal use or a gift to
someone I would see again, I should make it to last. Although.. the
temptation is a powerful one for us tightwads.

You know, you could make a "redneck" grinder on the cheap. I did this
before when my peppermill broke, and did it again when my coffee mill
broke.

I was making a nice meal and wanted fresh cracked pepper on the
steaks. The grinder mechanism literally broke into pieces right at
the critical time!

I put the peppercorns into a zip lock bag and closed it. I took my
redneck peppermill (aka - small mallet) in the house and carefully
tapped the peppercorns into the right size. Worked great! Sadly, the
bag was only good for one use, though. ;^)

This could be a good tightwad Christmas gift, Arch. Turn a small
mallet, go to the .99 store and buy some sandwich bags. Give the
mallets with a box of bags as a peppermill with a lifetime warranty on
the mechanism! How many folks could say they received a gift with a
lifetime warranty?

For those coffee nuts like me, a little bigger mallet and freezer
thickness bags could do the trick!

Just number your mallets to make sure there are no imitators that try
to horn in on your lifetime warranty on the "mechanism".

After all, you wouldn't want a plain old iron head hammer showing up
as a "warranty" item if this catches on.

I am laughing pretty hard as I type this, as I can hear in the back of
my mind my family groaning. I love to give gag gifts like this....
and it's not too late for this year!

Hmmmm.....

Redneck pepper mill....

LMAO!!

Robert

Arch wrote:

If it's still ok for this ng, I'd like to bring up for discussion some
topics that might be related to woodturning.

Sometimes I have too heavy a hand on the skew and bruise the wood so
that the finish is blotchy. I know nobody else does this, but just
thinking about it how would you remove the bruises without messing up a
delicate form?

In Flat Work, dents, which is basically what you're calling bruising,
and is actually compressed grain - can be expanded with a damp
cloth and an iron. The steam swells the crushed grain back close
to normal.

You can exploit this crushed / swelled grain thing. Stamp a surface
with something like a leather stamp to compress the wood in a
pattern.
Plane (or turn) the wood so the resulting depression is now flush
with
the new surface. Steam the surface and the pattern will swell -
resulting in a raised pattern - embossing.

Thanks for responding, John, Robert & Charlie.

Robert, we two are never going to amount to anything unless we change.
We think too small. We could sell your "redneck pepper mills" for big
bucks if we had the gall some of our fellow turners have. We could call
them "Cou Rouge Poivre Moulin" (My Redneck French is fractured, but we
ought to keep some Southeast & Southwest flavor anyway, just for the
tourists). We could sign them, "Robearre' & 'Arc".

What do you think about numbering them in Roman numerals? Maybe it
would get us a quarter, ok a dime, more. I know you are not one to get
too greedy, but how about selling our mills on a teaser installment plan
that balloons half as high as my local (Wachovia) bank's mtgs. did.

John & Charlie, since moist heat swells wood fibers, would dry cold
shrink them enough to let moisture out of green timber as a drying
method? Maybe the phloem would flow in and clot to seal the leaks?


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Dec 19, 9:21*am, (Arch) wrote:

We could call
them "Cou Rouge Poivre Moulin" (My Redneck French is fractured, but we
ought to keep some Southeast & Southwest flavor anyway, just for the
tourists). We could sign them, "Robearre' *& *'Arc". *

oooooo...... I like it, "Arc". To make sure we didn't lose our roots
though, we should sign them for sure, but like Aunt Jemimah for syrup,
we should have a spokesmodel. Most of her teeth would be good, and
not too many tattoos. At least not where they could be easily
photographed.

What do you think about numbering them in Roman numerals? *Maybe it
would get us a quarter, ok a dime, more. I know you are not one to get
too greedy, but how about selling our mills on a teaser installment plan
that balloons half as high as my local (Wachovia) bank's mtgs. did.

Brilliant. Roman numerals, French handles for us, how could we go
wrong?
Heck, I'm ready to sub out the manufacturing already and sit back
while the profits roll in.

You?

((.... and then suddenly..... Robert wakes up from a wonderful
dream....))

Damnit.

;^)

Robert

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:20:48 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

Arch.. I've only done one pepper mill, but I used the "shaftless" setup:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...at=1,250,43243



If it's still ok for this ng, I'd like to bring up for discussion some
topics that might be related to woodturning.

Sometimes I have too heavy a hand on the skew and bruise the wood so
that the finish is blotchy. I know nobody else does this, but just
thinking about it how would you remove the bruises without messing up a
delicate form?

Turning a slot in a between centers blank for holding it in expansion
chuck mode the tailstock often gets in my way. A male to female Morse
taper extension in the tail spindle helps to move it back out of the
way. Is there a better way?

Have any of you fellow cheapskates extended the shaft of a short pepper
mill mechanism to make a tall 'show off' mill? I did and it took more
time and trouble than paying the exorbitant price of a new one. I've had
no luck in removing and reusing the plastic grinding mechanisms on
'built in grinder' bottles of pepper, but hope springs eternal for
cheapskates.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings




mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:21:57 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

....
John & Charlie, since moist heat swells wood fibers, would dry cold
shrink them enough to let moisture out of green timber as a drying
method? Maybe the phloem would flow in and clot to seal the leaks?


I imagine freeze drying could work - it would probably be too
expensive to be practicle. I wonder about the volume involved. Would
it just dry the outer part of a blank then lock the moisture inside
for the rest?

On Thu, 18 Dec 2008 9:20:48 -0600, Arch wrote
(in message ):

If it's still ok for this ng, I'd like to bring up for discussion some
topics that might be related to woodturning.


snip topics where I could show my complete ignorance, and move on to what I
know, cheapskatedness...

Have any of you fellow cheapskates extended the shaft of a short pepper
mill mechanism to make a tall 'show off' mill? I did and it took more
time and trouble than paying the exorbitant price of a new one.
being a tinkerer in metal - among other things, a number of methods come to
mind for extending that pepper mill shaft, each requiring some effort and
fussing about, but none particularly troublesome. Part of the calculus in
this little problem, I guess, is how you value your time, do you get your
ya-yas from tinkering, like I do, and how many of these units do you want to
make? You are asking a fun kind of question, and I am analyzing it way too
much. Sorry, can't help it. Maybe instead of a long shaft on the mill, why
not a really ostentatious and fancy really tall knob attached to the "stock"
short shaft?
I've had
no luck in removing and reusing the plastic grinding mechanisms on
'built in grinder' bottles of pepper, but hope springs eternal for
cheapskates.
I had similar results with a built-in grinder on a "sea salt" bottle. uffda.

It is snowing pretty heavily, right now, and am impatiently awaiting delivery
of a brandy-new chuck. (turning results/report will be forthcoming, as soon
as I have something to report)

On topic, sort of - I am going to be making a batch of krumkakke, and using a
new wooden spindle I made for this confection.

Happy holidays to one and all.
tom koehler





--
I will find a way or make one.

Who said Robearre and Arc are off topic for a turning group? You forgot
about the mallet. OTOH, I never really cared for a snaggle toothed
model.

Hi Mac, Good tip, but too expensive for the R&A Pepper Mill Corp.
unless we can get a Govt. bailout. Only one pepper mill? I'd think
they would be a hot item in Mexico or have you gone completely over to
the artistic side?

Hi John, You are on to something! We could freeze dry a bowl into a
little pile of powder that could be reconstituted by the customer back
into a bowl. Think of the savings on shipping costs. Don't ask about
the finish.

Hi Tom, Thanks for the analysis in depth. Did you differentiate or
integrate or just go figure? The gigantic knob is a great idea.
Maybe we could turn a few into beautiful finials for very fine grinds.
Wot say you, Charlie?


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:52:54 -0600, tom koehler
wrote:

....
I had similar results with a built-in grinder on a "sea salt" bottle. uffda.

It is snowing pretty heavily, right now, and am impatiently awaiting delivery
of a brandy-new chuck. (turning results/report will be forthcoming, as soon
as I have something to report)

On topic, sort of - I am going to be making a batch of krumkakke, and using a
new wooden spindle I made for this confection.

Happy holidays to one and all.
tom koehler

But the lutefisk, Tom! Are you having lutefisk?

On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:54:13 -0600, John Weeks wrote
(in message ):

On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:52:54 -0600, tom koehler
wrote:

...
I had similar results with a built-in grinder on a "sea salt" bottle.
uffda.

It is snowing pretty heavily, right now, and am impatiently awaiting
delivery
of a brandy-new chuck. (turning results/report will be forthcoming, as
soon
as I have something to report)

On topic, sort of - I am going to be making a batch of krumkakke, and
using a
new wooden spindle I made for this confection.

Happy holidays to one and all.
tom koehler

But the lutefisk, Tom! Are you having lutefisk?

This may be heretical, but I am not too fond of lutefisk - for those not in
the know, it is codfish which has been preserved by a combination of
aggravated drying plus treatment with lye. This was a staple of the
scandinavian diet before the days of refrigeration. It is reconstituted by
soaking, to both re-hydrate the fish and remove the lye. The result is a
semi-translucent, gelatinous quivering mass. With neither taste nor texture,
but still somehow achieving an impressive odor, it is appealing to the
traditional scandinavian in Minnesota. There are two schools of thought on
lutefisk, whether it be better served with white sauce (the Swedish Gambit)
or rather more simply slathered in melted butter (orthodox Norwegian). My own
preference is toward simple boiled cod with melted butter (torsk). It is as
close to lobster as I am likely to get.
regards,
tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

Hi Tom, Yep, woodturning _is off topic here and I'm the worst perp!

I suspect that Lutefisk is like several other ethnic 'survival' foods
that are more in the talking than in the eating. We Scots honor 'The
Haggis' in song and story, but oatmeal and entrails boiled in a sheep's
stomach is for ceremoniously bringing to table with squealing pipes and
rolling drums. With apologies to Bobby Burns, it is mercifully removed
quickly so as not to interfere with our steaks.

Same for Redneck 'prime ribs' (aka sow belly garnished with chitlins)
and many other foods that kept folks alive during hard times and now are
honored, but never eaten. Judging by the economy, we might come to
depending on them again.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:17:51 -0500, (Arch) wrote:


Hi Mac, Good tip, but too expensive for the R&A Pepper Mill Corp.
unless we can get a Govt. bailout. Only one pepper mill? I'd think
they would be a hot item in Mexico or have you gone completely over to
the artistic side?

Just not my thing, Arch.. I'm not much of a spindle turner or set up for deep
drilling..
I made the one for a client just to see how it worked, and she seemed happy with
it..
Also, since I'm mostly working ironwood now, I guess I'd need carbide forstner
bits.. Talk about over budget..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:32:29 -0500, (Arch) wrote:


Hi Tom, Yep, woodturning _is off topic here and I'm the worst perp!

I suspect that Lutefisk is like several other ethnic 'survival' foods
that are more in the talking than in the eating. We Scots honor 'The
Haggis' in song and story, but oatmeal and entrails boiled in a sheep's
stomach is for ceremoniously bringing to table with squealing pipes and
rolling drums. With apologies to Bobby Burns, it is mercifully removed
quickly so as not to interfere with our steaks.

Same for Redneck 'prime ribs' (aka sow belly garnished with chitlins)
and many other foods that kept folks alive during hard times and now are
honored, but never eaten. Judging by the economy, we might come to
depending on them again.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings


Arch, you're right about lutefisk being Norwegian soul food. Like
Haggis, it is eaten primarily during the holiday season, but that is
partly because that is when it is available. I remember back in the
day when we could get it in South Dakota from September through March.
Mom would buy 4 lbs apiece for my Dad and uncles. This wasn't the
prepackaged stuff you find now - this came in a barrel at the locak
butcher's and had the bones etc. Bye the bye - I like haggis!

Tom - of course the Swedish way is not way to eat Lutefisk. The
"proper" way - meaning the way we eat it - is one piece of lutefisk,
one piece of boiled potato and a bit of *cold* butter on the fork.
Finest kind!

And to keep it on topic - Mom used a turned wooden spoon to serve the
potatoes.

JW

Well, back to the redneck peppermill. In the days before plastic bags,
I think it was a mortar and pestal. I do get requests for them.
robo hippy

On Dec 20, 3:56*pm, John Weeks wrote:
On Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:32:29 -0500, (Arch) wrote:

Hi Tom, Yep, woodturning _is off topic here and I'm the worst perp!

I suspect that Lutefisk is like several other ethnic 'survival' foods
that are more in the talking than in the eating. *We Scots honor 'The
Haggis' in song and story, but oatmeal and entrails boiled in a sheep's
stomach is for ceremoniously bringing to table with squealing pipes and
rolling drums. With apologies to Bobby Burns, it is mercifully removed
quickly so as not to interfere with our steaks.

Same for Redneck 'prime ribs' (aka sow belly garnished with chitlins)
and many other foods that kept folks alive during hard times and now are
honored, but never eaten. Judging by the economy, we might come to
depending on them again. *

Turn to Safety, *Arch * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Fortiter

http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

Arch, you're right about lutefisk being Norwegian soul food. Like
Haggis, it is eaten primarily during the holiday season, but that is
partly because that is when it is available. I remember back in the
day when we could get it in South Dakota from September through March.
Mom would buy 4 lbs apiece for my Dad and uncles. This wasn't the
prepackaged stuff you find now - this came in a barrel at the locak
butcher's and had the bones etc. Bye the bye - I like haggis!

Tom - of course the Swedish way is not way to eat Lutefisk. The
"proper" way - meaning the way we eat it - is one piece of lutefisk,
one piece of boiled potato and a bit of *cold* butter on the fork.
Finest kind!

And to keep it on topic - Mom used a turned wooden spoon to serve the
potatoes.

JW

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:55:04 -0600, Dave Balderstone wrote
(in message 231220082255044154%dave@N_O_T_T_H_I_Sbalderstone. ca):

In article
,
robo hippy wrote:

Well, back to the redneck peppermill. In the days before plastic bags,
I think it was a mortar and pestal. I do get requests for them.

What's a good wood to use? Hard maple, maybe?

I have a ceramic one I use for spices in the kitchen, but there may be
a smal market for wooden ones around here.

I made a wooden mortar and pestle... used maple. I made the pestle two-ended,
that is, there is a rounded kinda mashing end on each end, but they are of
two different sizes - I wasn't sure which would be better for the user, so
there are two different sized ends to choose from.

A useful feature would be a rubber non-skid bottom, so the darn mortar
doesn't slide all over the countertop when you are trying to mash and grind
something.

Another useful masher-upper is a trough which has a vee-shaped cross-section
inside, maybe about 8" long and about an inch wide, and a roller device which
is a matching disc about 2 or 3 inches in diameter with an axle about 8 or 10
inches long. You put your spices or whatever, in the trough, and then run the
roller/disc back and forth along the length of the trough. Use your hands on
the axle to provide both the down pressure on the disc, and its motive force.

tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:55:04 -0600, Dave Balderstone
wrote:

In article
,
robo hippy wrote:

Well, back to the redneck peppermill. In the days before plastic bags,
I think it was a mortar and pestal. I do get requests for them.

What's a good wood to use? Hard maple, maybe?

I have a ceramic one I use for spices in the kitchen, but there may be
a smal market for wooden ones around here.

I did 5 or 6 or the pestles? (crusher part) for a sculptor last winter...
He did the main part out of stone but wanted wood for the "stick"..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing