We have a little wooden pepper grinder whose main advantage is that it fits nicely in the spice drawer. But it also has an annoying disadvantage in that it runs out of pepper rather quickly - it seems like I'm always having to refill the thing (which maybe means every two or three weeks). I figured a nice little project would be turning a grinder with more capacity so I could say "I don't even remember the last time I had to fill this".
We didn't need a second grinder so the intent was to use the mechanism from the original, which of course constrained the dimensions. Like many wooden pepper grinders, this one has an hourglass profile in the middle. That narrow middle was clearly the cause of the low peppercorn capacity and since I couldn't really go any taller or larger diameter, I just changed the hourglass to a barrel and hollowed it out in the same bowed-out shape.
The turning was fairly
straightforward and after it was varnished I moved over the mechanism. I was happy to see that the peppercorn capacity was tripled from 15 ml to 45 ml.
| Material: | Cherry |
| Finish: | 3 coats Miniwax Fast-Dry Poly, Clear Satin |
| Size: | 1.9" dia x 3.4" tall |
| Peppercorn Capacity: | 45 ml |
| Done: | February 1, 2021 |
