The winner of the picture contest is....

Winner!  Grain pattern facing out.

A big thank you to everyone who voted.  And the winner is..... the grain facing out by a huge margin of 2 votes.  The voting was very close and was actually tied most of the way through the weekend but facing out managed to squeak out the win.  The mills have been delivered to Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN) and will be up on their site soon.  I will let you know if they get juried into the MPBN Juried Art Show.  Dailey Woodworking helps to support MPBN each spring by donating one of our products to the auction. MPBN is a great organization that brings many programs into our lives and one of our favorites has to be the high school basketball tourneys each spring.  Please think about helping them out by purchasing from the auction or making a donation to MPBN.  You can check out some of the things that they have up for auction by clicking here.   Thanks again to all who voted.

Which picture do you like best?



 Facing Out



Facing In

















This is a set of 10 Inch Purple & Black Haynes Salt and Pepper Mills that I'm am donating to Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN) for their yearly auction and possibly they will make it into their Juried Art Show that they hold every year.  Once I get the info from them I will put a link here to my page on the auction site.  So the question is which picture do you like best?  With the grain pattern facing out or the grain pattern facing in?  Your votes and your votes alone will decide which picture that I submit to MPBN. 

What would you like to see on sale?

Lately I've been thinking about sales.  Not about how many pieces did I sell or about sales volume over all but about running a sale on my products for you, our customers.  If you could make up your own sale on my products what would it be on?  Pens, salt & pepper mills, bottle stoppers or spice grinders? And what would the discount be?  When would the best time for a sale be?  I may never be able to use what you tell me but I really am curious about this and would appreciate your input.  If you were running Dailey Woodworking what would you create for a sale?

Making of an art piece?

I was the lucky one chosen (the only volunteer) by the other members of my woodturning club, Western Mountain Woodturners, to make something to send to Minnesota for the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) annual symposium in June of this year.  This is the 25th anniversary of the AAW and they asked each chapter to turn something for the symposium.  The AAW is hoping to get something from each club/chapter.  I think that there are something like 225 clubs/chapters world wide so it should be an unbelievable display of turnings. 

I decided that I would use the opportunity to stretch my turning skills, teach myself something new and turn something that I've wanted to do but have never done before.  I've admired the work of Binh Pho from Chicago for quite a few years now.  So I choose to incorporate some of what he does with his work into my design.  What is pictured here is the start of my creation.

Pictured above is the outside shape of my form.  My form at this point is 4 3/4 inches in diameter by 8 1/2 inches high.  My next step is to hollow out the form and to take the wall thickness down to 1/16 inch or less in thickness.

You can see in the picture above that I am getting close to finishing the hollowing process.  The light is aiding me to see the wall thickness.  The idea is for the light to be coming through the wall the same all the way down.  It's not perfect but from the top all the way down the sidewall the wall thickness at this point is just a little under 1/16 inch in thickness.  The next step is to incorporate some designs on the outside of my piece and then airbrush them on along with some piercing. 

Well I will be back in a few days with more pictures of the process.  So keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.

Feb Sale 10% off from Morrison Mills. Times running out!

Light Green and Natural Morrison Mill Set

We're down to the last 2 days of the February sale on laminated Morrison mills.  10% off from any laminated Morrison Mill, 6", 8" or 10".  Salt or Pepper it's your choice or choose both!  Use code feb2011cc.

My new friend Bob.

This is picture of me and my new friend Bob (he's the pink Octopus on my shoulder) taken at the Buyers Market of American Craft in Philadelphia.  He and I are discussing the finer points of the work of Laurene Hunt from Laurene Hunt Designs.  I first met Laurene five years ago when she and I were neighbors at my first Buyers Market and we became fast friends.  I really like Laurene's work.  Her work is full of color and fun images that she hand paints onto her pieces.  Martini glasses, Santa Claus, cats and dogs, light houses and snowmen are just a few of the things that she paints in her own way.  She offers her paintings on all kinds of wonderful pieces for your kitchen and dining room like lazy susans (to the left in the picture), trivets, magnets, cutting boards, coasters and more.  You can check out her work on her website by clicking here.  I know that I enjoy her work but let me know what you think of it. 

What are environmentally friendly pepper mills?

I get asked a lot about the wood, dyes and glue used in our laminated mills and grinders. I actually buy panels of the wood already dyed and glued to my color specifications. So I asked my supplier to answer these questions for you. Here is their reply.

"Because of the nature of your products being used in the food industry we have chosen to use "Water Based/Food Grade Dyes" in our processes. In addition our land from which the veneer is produced is (FSC Certified - Forest Stewardship Council). Lastly we use EPI Adhesives (defined as Emulsion Polymer Isocyanate (EPI) adhesives are two-component adhesives based on reaction of a mixture of water based emulsions)." 

That's a lot to take in so let me break this down for you. I choose to partner with another Maine company that would lay up these panels the same way and from the same woods that I would use if I did it myself. The dyes used are water based so they are much better for the enviroment than dyes that are alcohol based . The wood used comes from sustainably harvested land. Not only is the land cared for but the workers have to be paid a living wage as well. And the glue used is a water based glue so it too is better for the enviroment than solvent based glues that could be used.  The last step in the process is that we use a finish of Walnut oil that is all natural without any additives.  The bottom line comes down to the fact that we are trying to be as environmentally responsible as possible and at the same time providing you with a food safe product that you can also feel good about.