This is my first salt mill; I made two other mills for pepper. It’s 6 inches high and the kit is from Craft Supplies USA. Although I can get 8 inch kits in Canada, I wanted something smaller for the dining room and cutting the shaft seemed to be a lot of effort.
I have a lot of problems with the instructions – I measure a bazillion times and still get it wrong. The mill was supposed to be all walnut but since I wanted to make a pepper mill to match, the wood wasn’t long enough. I love olive (both the wood and the way it turns) and have collected quite a lot of it so I thought I’d use it for the top. I wasn’t brave enough to drill a 1 1/16 hole for a completely olive mill but the 9/32 was easy.
Mis- measuring made it necessary to drill at the top so the knob would work, and the join between the two pieces isn’t exactly straight. I’m actually pleased that making a peppermill allows for design adjustments for people who are mathematically pathetic like me. Each mill I’ve done has turned out pretty well, although never the same as I initially planned. I expect that I’ll eventually do what I plan.
The mill isn’t perfect but I’m delighted with it. The really scary part is when I make the matching pepper mill; I have a sneaking suspicion that it won’t be quite the same . . .
-- Mother Nature talks, I try to listen