# Pepper MIll in Chechen



## Kevin (Oct 13, 2012)

Here's my latest pepper mill. At the risk of whining the picture taker is not much better than the turner. The top of the neck is only 1 5/16" O.D. while the flare at the bottom is over twice that at 3" - but you smply cannot see the degree of flare in the pictures. I really don't know why. But it has a very nice, sweeping, graceful flare no matter that it looks like it's nearly a cylinder in the pic.

"17 tall.











My wife liked it except she said it needed a bulge at the top. 

 She didn't really say that. I've been harping about how ugly that design is that last night she finally agreed. I think just to get me off her back but whatever - I'll take it.


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## phinds (Oct 13, 2012)

Nice piece of wood. I thought you were going to send that to me for identifying it for you


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## Kevin (Oct 13, 2012)

Joe Rebuild said:


> Great piece I can see the slight taper. The top  needs to better match the bottom IMO



I almost didn't post this for the reason that it looks very good in person. I can see what you mean by looking at the pic but in person I think this thing really looks great. But then you might see it in person and think it looks worse in hand than in pictures. 

:i_dunno:


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## NYWoodturner (Oct 13, 2012)

I like it !  I see the taper fine. To me the dimensions look proportionate to the height. The top looks fine. I don't see anything I would change. 
What are you using for a finish ?
Scott


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## DKMD (Oct 13, 2012)

Cool! That thing is massive... I've never turned one that big! The top kind of reminds me of a wooden yo-yo, and I like it!


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## barry richardson (Oct 13, 2012)

Nice work! In my experience Chechen is some pretty hard stuff, must have gave your drill bit a good workout getting through that length!


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## Kevin (Oct 13, 2012)

Thanks Scott!

David, I like the Male chicken-eyed yoyo moniker. I should have made them even and called it a yoyo peppermill. 

Barry, that's the first Chechen I've ever worked with, and I guarantee you I'll never use it for a long pepper mill again. It took 30 minutes to drill through because I had to keep stopping to let the bit, and the wood cool off. At the slender part of the neck (at the top) the wood had gotten so hot you could not keep your hand on it - that's when I started giving it rests between drilling the rest of the way.


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## Dan.S.314 (Oct 13, 2012)

Very nice form, much much better that duckface!:rofl2:


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## Kevin (Oct 14, 2012)

It's the best salvage job I could do with that yoyo top. Doc if you really liked the yoyo sorry but when I looked at it a few minutes ago I just wasn't diggin on it any more so I chucked it up and gave it a spin. I figured if I ruined it I can always turn an ebony top for it.


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## NYWoodturner (Oct 14, 2012)

I liked the first version - but I like this one better.


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## TimR (Oct 15, 2012)

Wow that's pretty impressive! I can't imagine the angst if I were drilling something that long and it decided to start drifting to much I couldn't use the blank anymore...but hey, it's only wood. 
I like your second version of the top too!


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## NYWoodturner (Oct 15, 2012)

NYWoodturner said:


> I liked the first version - but I like this one better.



Quick question -how tall is that and what do you use to drill? Thats the worst part of mills for me.
Scott


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## Kevin (Oct 15, 2012)

NYWoodturner said:


> NYWoodturner said:
> 
> 
> > I liked the first version - but I like this one better.
> ...



Scott, 17" tall. I drilled it using a 12" forstner extension. The forstner extensions are much better than the paddle bit extensions IMO. They are much beefier. I drilled from the bottom to about 14" then turned it around and drilled from the top. The key to drilling that deep is patience. Back the drill out frequently to suck the shavings out with your DC or whatever - I use a shop vac that I have sitting at the lather just for that purpose. If you let the shavings pack in from between the back of the head of the drill and the front end of the extension where the drill fits in, you got troubles. So keep the shavings sucked out. Let them pack too tight and you can hardly get the drill bit back out. 

It's usually necessary to remove the extension from the hole to the extent the swelled end is out of the hole so the shavings can be removed easily. It sounds time consuming but that part isn't. I back the bit out as much as I can with my tail stock crank, then loosen the tail stock and yank it out - all happens in a mater of seconds. The time consuming part is thw whole process itself and not overheating your bit and wood if it's a species like Chechen which is prone to getting real hot. Just take your time and let the bit and wood cool down a little every now and then.


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