Hand crafted wood products for sale from the Wood Elfin's workshop.

Mills From The Wood Elfin's Workshop:

A lot of care goes into the creation of a fine mill. It takes a lot of attention to detail, thought and patience to get it just right. It starts with the selection of the wood which leads to the choice of design. A piece of wood with a smaller diameter may look best with a concave body design while one with a larger diameter may not. A taller piece of wood has a lot of room to do some nice base detail while a shorter piece might be better as a simple design as the one that I am making here. Click here to go to my mill sample page to get an idea of my other designs and to order a mill for yourself.

I hope you enjoy the following tutorial as much as I enjoyed putting it together. You can email me if you have any questions or if you are a turner and want some clarification.

I start with a square of selected wood usually 2 1/2" to 3" square by anywhere from 8" to 12" long. I mark the center on both ends in preparation for turning it to a cylinder

Here I am starting to turn it to a cylinder.

Once it is turned to a cylinder I turn a tenon on each end in order to mount it onto a chuck when it comes time to drill the hole through the center of the mill.

After the tenons are turned I start to turn it to the shape I want the finished product to be.

We are getting it to shape now. This mill is going to be my simple slope top model.

The next step will be to part the body from the top. I will leave a spigot for the top to fit into the body and here I am measuring the drill that I will be using to drill the top of the body into which the top will fit. I will leave the tenon a bit larger than the hole so that I can trim it later to get a good fit.

This is the spigot getting close to size. Once it is cut I will take it to the bandsaw to separate the body from the top.

The mill is now in two pieces ready for the hole to be drilled in the top and for more finish turning.

I am using the Forstner bit that I measured above to drill the first step of the hole through the mill. This size will only be drilled about 3/4" deep. I use an 1 5/8" bit but the size is not critical as long as the finished lid turns smoothly when used.

Here is the first drilling step. I want this size hole as the first step because I want the spigot on the top to be large enough to turn nicely when it is grinding pepper. The hole that goes the rest of the way down from the top will only be 1" in diameter.

Here you can see that I have deepened the hole using a 1" Forstner bit. I have only drilled about half way through the length of the mill, the rest of the drilling will be done from the bottom at a later time.

I have now put the lid into the chuck to drill the hole into which the lid portion of the grinding mechanism will be fitted into. This hole is drilled with a 15/16" Forstner bit.

The spigot that is to fit into the body now needs to be trimmed to size

To do this I use a parting tool to trim a bit of the diameter until I get a snug fit into the body.

The lid now fits into the body like it should but the shape needs to be refined.

After the final shaping I will sand it smooth starting with 180 grit sandpaper going down to 600 grit.

I then finish polishing it with fine (gray as shown) and then the extra fine (white) 3M scotch pads to make a super smooth surface.

It is now time to finish drilling the body of the mill. I am using an 1 3/4" Forstner bit.

This first hole size is not critical but it must be large enough for the mechanism to fit into the mill and clear but not so large that the bottom of the mill has to be overly large. This hole needs to be deep enough for the adjusting knob to fit completely into the bottom, 3/4" or so is about right.

The continuation of this hole needs to be drilled with an 1 9/16" Forstner bit another 1 1/2" or more. This size is critical as the body of the mechanism needs to fit snugly against the sides as it will be glued in later.

I now return to the 1" Forstner bit and drill completely through the body meeting up with the hole that I drilled from the top. The body is now ready to have a finish put on it and the mechanism installed.

I made a plug insert that fits into the hole that I drilled in the top in order to make a solid foot to mount the top back between centers in order to put the slope on the top of the mill.

I have the insert in the hole and mounted to the headstock (left) side of the lathe and the other side is mounted to a live center on the edge of the lid. It has to be mounted off center in order to get the proper slope. It takes a delicate touch to turn the slope as there is wood under the tool only half of the time as it spins around.

Here the slope is cut and ready for the first step in sanding.

The first sanding will be done with a sanding disk.

The top is now sanded and the stub where the live center of the lathe held the top needs to be cut off and sanded smooth.

Final sanding is done by hand then the finish is put on. This style lid is quite time consuming but the final result is worth it. The finish I use is a Tung oil and lacquer combination, the Tung oil dries to a very hard protective finish and the lacquer gives it a nice glossy shine. Any where from 8 to 15 coats goes on depending on the density of the wood.

After the finish is applied and the mill is buffed and waxed the mechanism is glued in. Notice that I have changed mills as the Maple burl mill is in the finishing process and I didn't want to wait for it to dry.. I use a 5 minute epoxy to glue the mechanism into the mill.

The cap mechanism that turns the grinder is glued into the cap.

All that is left now is to cut the shaft to size and the mill is done. See my mill page for my most popular styles and to place an order.

Ron Menninga
Copyright © 2004 The Wood Elfin's Workshop. All rights reserved.
Revised: December 23, 2006 .

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I start with a square of selected wood usually 2 1/2" to 3" square by anywhere from 8" to 12" long. I mark the center on both ends in preparation for turning it to a cylinder	Here I am starting to turn it to a cylinder.
Once it is turned to a cylinder I turn a tenon on each end in order to mount it onto a chuck when it comes time to drill the hole through the center of the mill.	After the tenons are turned I start to turn it to the shape I want the finished product to be.
We are getting it to shape now. This mill is going to be my simple slope top model.	The next step will be to part the body from the top. I will leave a spigot for the top to fit into the body and here I am measuring the drill that I will be using to drill the top of the body into which the top will fit. I will leave the tenon a bit larger than the hole so that I can trim it later to get a good fit.
This is the spigot getting close to size. Once it is cut I will take it to the bandsaw to separate the body from the top.	The mill is now in two pieces ready for the hole to be drilled in the top and for more finish turning.
I am using the Forstner bit that I measured above to drill the first step of the hole through the mill. This size will only be drilled about 3/4" deep. I use an 1 5/8" bit but the size is not critical as long as the finished lid turns smoothly when used.	Here is the first drilling step. I want this size hole as the first step because I want the spigot on the top to be large enough to turn nicely when it is grinding pepper. The hole that goes the rest of the way down from the top will only be 1" in diameter.
Here you can see that I have deepened the hole using a 1" Forstner bit. I have only drilled about half way through the length of the mill, the rest of the drilling will be done from the bottom at a later time.	I have now put the lid into the chuck to drill the hole into which the lid portion of the grinding mechanism will be fitted into. This hole is drilled with a 15/16" Forstner bit.
The spigot that is to fit into the body now needs to be trimmed to size	To do this I use a parting tool to trim a bit of the diameter until I get a snug fit into the body.
The lid now fits into the body like it should but the shape needs to be refined.	After the final shaping I will sand it smooth starting with 180 grit sandpaper going down to 600 grit.
I then finish polishing it with fine (gray as shown) and then the extra fine (white) 3M scotch pads to make a super smooth surface.	It is now time to finish drilling the body of the mill. I am using an 1 3/4" Forstner bit.
This first hole size is not critical but it must be large enough for the mechanism to fit into the mill and clear but not so large that the bottom of the mill has to be overly large. This hole needs to be deep enough for the adjusting knob to fit completely into the bottom, 3/4" or so is about right.	The continuation of this hole needs to be drilled with an 1 9/16" Forstner bit another 1 1/2" or more. This size is critical as the body of the mechanism needs to fit snugly against the sides as it will be glued in later.
I now return to the 1" Forstner bit and drill completely through the body meeting up with the hole that I drilled from the top. The body is now ready to have a finish put on it and the mechanism installed.	I made a plug insert that fits into the hole that I drilled in the top in order to make a solid foot to mount the top back between centers in order to put the slope on the top of the mill.
I have the insert in the hole and mounted to the headstock (left) side of the lathe and the other side is mounted to a live center on the edge of the lid. It has to be mounted off center in order to get the proper slope. It takes a delicate touch to turn the slope as there is wood under the tool only half of the time as it spins around.	Here the slope is cut and ready for the first step in sanding.
The first sanding will be done with a sanding disk.	The top is now sanded and the stub where the live center of the lathe held the top needs to be cut off and sanded smooth.
Final sanding is done by hand then the finish is put on. This style lid is quite time consuming but the final result is worth it. The finish I use is a Tung oil and lacquer combination, the Tung oil dries to a very hard protective finish and the lacquer gives it a nice glossy shine. Any where from 8 to 15 coats goes on depending on the density of the wood.	After the finish is applied and the mill is buffed and waxed the mechanism is glued in. Notice that I have changed mills as the Maple burl mill is in the finishing process and I didn't want to wait for it to dry.. I use a 5 minute epoxy to glue the mechanism into the mill.
The cap mechanism that turns the grinder is glued into the cap.	All that is left now is to cut the shaft to size and the mill is done. See my mill page for my most popular styles and to place an order.

Ron Menninga Copyright © 2004 The Wood Elfin's Workshop. All rights reserved. Revised: December 23, 2006 .

Ron Menninga
Copyright © 2004 The Wood Elfin's Workshop. All rights reserved.
Revised: December 23, 2006 .