Salt/Pepper mill wood options?

photostu

New User
Stuart
Think I'm going to turn some mills for the house, first time doing it. Curious as to what wood types would make for a good matching pair. Lighter colored wood for salt, darker for pepper obviously.

Gut says walnut and maple, thoughts?
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
Gut says walnut and maple, thoughts?

Agreed. That's the easiest choice for a very good contrast. Hard maple, not silver maple. Silver maple can have a grayish-purple tinge to it some times and is a bit softer. In the below photos, the figured maple is silver maple, but picked for the lightest color.

1 saltpepper - 1.jpg


1 saltpepper - 2.jpg
 

beloitdavisja

James
Corporate Member
Walnut and maple are a classic complimentary combination that would look great together.

If you want more character/figure, you could take a look at these (though they can be pricier than maple & walnut):

Lighter woods:
Flaming Box Elder - pretty dramatic
Spalted Tamarind - lots of character
Olivewood

Darker Woods
Bubinga - more on the reddish/brown side
Bloodwood or Padauk - definitely on the red side.
Rainbow Poplar - basically poplar that has dark mineral coloring
Red Gum
Eastern Red Cedar

Bob's pictures are fantastic for a visual. You could also search Etsy to see what complimentary woods others have used. I often do that when searching for ideas for my turnings.

Let us know how they "turn" out. I've been wanting to make a few as well.
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
Found photos of this style that I did in 2010. In this batch I used some Honduras Mahogany. It contrasted OK, but I thought that Walnut gave a better contrast. Again, maple was used for the salt mills. For just a single pepper mill, about anything goes.

1 pepmill 2010 - 1.jpg


1 pepmill 2010 - 2.jpg


1 pepmill 2010 - 3.jpg
 

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
Holly and Wenge, unless you are using white pepper in your kitchen.
 

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