First Tournament on the Seacoast

When we first moved to the Seacoast area in 2006, I scouted out pool halls but did not go to any. The smoking ban was not yet in effect, so I was not really anxious to go off and spend time there. As a result, my only pool playing from when I moved to NH (1999) to 2006 was the occasional straight-pool game with a friend at the apartment complex where we lived in Nashua. And those stopped in about 2001.

When my wife went to visit family in Canada for a week in the fall of 2006, I decided to go to the pool hall on the Monday night of that week. They were having a nine-ball tournament, and for $10 I could get an hour of practice and at least two matches (the tournament was double-elimination).

I got to the pool hall around 6:00 for my hour of warmup, and ran into the first issue. The tournament was handicapped, meaning that each player is assigned a letter grade, and the lower-grade player is given an advantage in each match. The advantage would be greater if the difference in letter grades between the two players is larger.

They had no idea what my handicap was, of course, since I had never played there before. The guy running the front desk offered to play me during my warmup hour to assign me a handicap. I agreed to that, but I told him up front that this would be my first hour of real practice in almost 10 years, so it would not likely reflect my true ability. However, it was the only measure he had, so we played for the hour. I played horribly, as I would have expected, and was assigned a handicap of a D+. This basically meant that I would get an advantage in just about every match I played.

At the start of the night, I had asked someone at the pool hall how long the tournaments usually last. He told me that the finals might not be over until after midnight. I remember thinking to myself that I would not have to worry about playing that late, but maybe I could win a couple of matches before getting knocked out.

I won my first match, barely, and then lost my second one. This transferred me to the "loser's bracket", consisting of players who had already lost once and would therefore be out of the tourney if they lost again. Using my absurdly low handicap and my gradual improvement as I played more and gained confidence and remembered how to position the cue ball, I worked my way through the bracket. I was texting my wife with my progress throughout the night, and as it got later and later I was still in it.

The finals took place at midnight. I was exhausted, and I was playing someone with a lower handicap than mine, and I had to beat him twice (he had not lost yet).

I managed to do it, and at 1:00 in the morning, I was declared the winner. Reeking of smoke, and barely able to stand up, I got the first prize of $75 and headed home to try to get some sleep before work the next day.

Oh, and my handicap was raised to a C.

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Location:Somersworth, NH

Kindred Spirits

You don't really expect to meet a lifelong friend in a pool hall. When you consider that the interest in billiards is likely the only thing I had in common with the people that I met in pool halls, and there were several things that I did NOT have in common with them (most notably the smoking and gambling habits that were both very prevalent when I began shooting pool in the mid-90s), it is amazing that I made many friends at all. There were several people of all ages that I enjoyed talking to at the pool hall, but I was not that interested in getting together with them outside of that arena.

However, as with most general rules, there proved to be an exception. Christopher was older than most of the crowd at Lee Street (by a few years -- he is three years younger than I am). He was also a smoker, a sometime pool hustler, and a country music fan. And yet...we hit it off. I can't really explain it, except to say that when it comes to the core elements (reliability, trust, sense of humor) we were kindred spirits. While most of our interaction still centered around pool, we would go to other pool halls in the Chicago area and would also get together for meals and other events. Christopher and I talked each other through issues and celebrated milestones together. I introduced him to the NHL, taking him to his first hockey game. He captivated me with stories of his previous days as a pool hustler.

Hustling takes a certain personality and ability. I have never been so confident of my pool ability that I could lose on purpose and have faith that I would play well when it mattered. That is why I like to play tournaments, where everyone is trying their best (at least in theory) rather than playing someone straight-up for money. Christopher seemed (and I saw it in action more than once) to be able to turn it on and off at will. He did not, though, NEED the money to play his best, which is one of the reasons we played so often together.

Our 9-ball marathons were a lot of fun. I would play the percentages, going for the safe shots and trying to run out the table, while Christopher would go for two- and three-rail bank shots and combination shots that I would never think of, and more often than not he would make them and end the game right there. I think, if it came down to it, I was the better pure shot, but he had a breadth of knowledge of different types of shots and angles that I had never tried. We would often meet at Chris' Billiards (where they filmed the pool scenes in The Color Of Money), as it opened at 9 am on weekends and was not too smoky at that time.

One of our most memorable nights of pool happened when I worked at IBM in the late 90s. I was responsible for running some batch jobs in the middle of the night, and I was going to have to go in to work sometime around 3 am on a Sunday morning. Instead of being prudent and getting to bed early, I called Christopher and asked if he wanted to shoot pool at an all-night pool hall that we knew about. The place was famous for money games, and was not my favorite venue, but the tables were okay and it was the only place open at that time of night.

We got there at around midnight or so. For a little while, I practiced on one table while Christopher hustled on another one. After an hour or so, while he and I were talking, we were approached by a couple of guys who wanted to play 8-ball with us for money. It was my kind of money game, because there was no time for either side to hustle the other. I explained to the guys that due to my work commitment, when my pager went off the game was over and I had to leave. We agreed to play for $5/person per game, with the loser paying for the table time as well.

This was the first and only time that Christopher and I played as a team, and we were ON. In the first game, I broke the rack and ran the table. In the second game, they broke and did not sink anything, and Christopher ran the table. In the third game, we each got one turn and won handily. Then my pager went off. I don't think those guys ever knew what hit them. The stakes were low, but the feeling of teamwork and confidence was such that this night has stayed in our memory for years, long past the time when details of weekly tournaments and such have faded.

Christopher was my best friend in Chicago. One memorable day, I had to go in for a dental procedure, and I did not realize when I went in that I would not be able to drive myself home (anesthetic). The dentist asked me if there was someone that they could call to come and pick me up. I gave them Christopher's name, and they called him. Keep in mind that he had no idea I was even AT the dentist that day. Once he figured out what was going on, he dropped everything and came and got me. There were other times when we were there for each other, but that one stands out.

That was also the only day that I ever shot pool while under the effects of Valium. :-)

Even when Christopher moved from Chicago to Columbus, we would still see each other a couple of times a year, when I would stop there overnight on my road trips to see my sister in Virginia. I was the best man at his wedding, too...and even though we have not seen each other in years, we keep in touch. Even now, I know that we can count on each other any time it is needed, and I look forward to seeing him whenever it may happen.

He is still the only one who can get away with calling me Johnny. He has done it since we met, and no one else is allowed. :-)

One of the best friendships I have, and it started in a smoky pool hall. And they say that pool is the mark of a wasted youth...not if you do it right.

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Location:Des Plaines, IL

My first pool tournaments

My first pool tournament entry was born out of frustration.  I was in a bar league in Chicago, where you play for a bar's team and the winning team in the league gets a trophy.  We were in the playoffs - cannot remember if it was the finals or not - and my match was pivotal.  I remember getting to the 8-ball (all of the leagues were 8-ball leagues then; since then I have seen some that are a mix of 8-ball and 9-ball), so all I needed was to make the last shot to win the game.  I remember it being a thin cut shot...and I ended up missing the 8-ball entirely with the cue ball.  That gave my opponent ball-in-hand (meaning that he could put the cue ball anywhere on the table for his next shot), and he ran out and won the game.

I was disgusted with myself - I had let down my team, and even though someone else on our team (at least) must have lost that night too, my loss was the most visible and came when we needed the win to advance.

I had recently moved from downtown Chicago (where the bar league was based) to out near O'Hare Airport (Northwest of the city center), and really the bar league play was my last link to my life in the Gold Coast area of Chicago (just north of the Loop).  Maybe it was the fact that I was "done" with my downtown life (I had moved out to the airport area because my job was no longer downtown; I was now a consultant who often worked north and west of the city, and even the reverse commute was a real pain, especially in the evenings), but when I saw an ad somewhere for a 9-ball tournament the night after I lost the 8-ball match, I decided to give it a try.  New pool hall, new area of town, nobody knew me...what was the worst that could happen?  I play badly, and decide that 9-ball is not for me.


LEE STREET BILLIARDS

Lee Street Billiards was an interesting place.  Unlike every other place that I had shot pool, it was not a bar.  As such, it attracted a mostly under-21 crowd.  At the age of 25, I did not feel out of place when I first walked in the night of the tournament, but in the ensuing weeks I realized that I was often the oldest player in the room.  I did not mind the lack of alcohol, though (unlike a lot of my over-21 peers, I guess), and the folks who played there and ran the place were all very friendly.

Unfortunately, though, you do not have to be over 21 to smoke...and these were the days before smoking was banned in many public places.  It took a long time for my love of pool to succumb to my dislike of second-hand smoke, but from the start I really hated that aspect of going to a pool hall.  Even when I would go to a mostly-empty pool hall, I would still find the lingering stench of cigarette smoke in the air.

I never really understood the connection between smoking and pool, anyway.  You cannot actively do both at the same time, unless you wanted to get ash on the table, so what ends up happening is that everyone else breathes in the smoke from one player's cigarette while it rests on the edge of the table or on a nearby surface.  The smoker does not even actively smoke during most of the life of the cigarette, if he/she is serious at all about pool.


Those first few weeks
Somehow, even though my bar league career ended in disappointment, the regular practice must have done me some good.  I actually won the entire tournament that first night at Lee Street.  I have no idea how my interest in pool would have fared had I not done well, but I somehow played well enough to keep winning my matches, and at the end of the night I had won first place!  I did not feel like a favorite in any of the matches - I just assumed that those who were used to shooting 9-ball regularly were better players than I was - but I just kept plugging away.

A couple of months later, I found out that while I was feeling like an interloper in the 9-ball world, the regulars at Lee Street were viewing me as the new gunslinger in town...the one that no one wants to see coming.

The week after that first tournament, I decided to see if I could defend my title, not really thinking that I could do it.  Luck was with me again, though, and once again I came in first place.  Inside I was laughing - if they only knew what I really shot like.  I kept thinking that someday my life as the Wizard would be revealed as a sham once someone dared to look behind the curtain.

Life got even weirder when I won the tournament the third week as well.  This was ridiculous.  I was not even practicing much in the interim...I just went and warmed up for an hour or so before the tournament, and then played my matches.  Admittedly, these were mostly teenagers...but still.  Three tournament wins in a row?

The fourth week I was exhausted from work, and I should never have gone to the pool hall, but I felt that it was expected of me (I am not sure who else expected it of me, but I DID have a bit of celebrity at that point).  That week, I lost in the first round.  That was when I realized the difference between what *I* thought of my play and what the *others* thought about it.  To me, a loss in the first round that night was about right - I was really tired, and I was not making the shots I needed to make.  Because of the previous three weeks, though, the people in the tournament reacted as if a mighty champion had somehow been toppled.  I was human?  Really?  

It is true that once people figure out that you can be beaten, they somehow have an easier time of it than they did before.  I still played in the tournament most weeks, but it was several months before I won it again, and it was a tough climb back to the top. 

Other ways of pushing wood

Two years have flown by since my last post...and, sad to say, the workshop has still not been set up for use. I have an old full-size lathe now, and some great other tools, and someday I am going to set up everything the way that I want it and start turning stuff again - at least pens, maybe larger stuff.

While this blog was set up to document the trials and tribulations of a beginning woodturner, I actually have two other hobbies to which the word "woodpusher" could apply.

CHESS

I have been a chess player for 30 years. With the exception of a two-year break while living in Chicago (more on that in a minute), chess has been a part of my life since I learned the moves at the (relatively late) age of nine.

There are several blogs out there about chess, and many people are documenting the learning process and even the teaching process. I do not have a lot to add to what exists already. I have reached a plateau in the chess world that I am happy with, and though there is a lot of online play and the very occasional OTB (over the board) game with friends, I am no longer actively attempting to learn how to improve my chess game. Continuing to play at the level I have achieved is fine with me.

POOL (BILLIARDS)

One day in 1994, I awoke in my one-room apartment in downtown Chicago and, for the first time since learning the moves, I did not feel like playing or studying chess. It felt very strange, but my brain must have felt like it had found a surrogate source to feed its strategy and planning needs - I had recently begun to take up pool. Several bars in the area of my apartment had pool tables, and I would become the strange regular patron who did not drink or smoke but would go into all of the bars regularly to shoot pool. I am sure that the wait staff did not appreciate the lack of alcohol in my drinking habits, but I was not going to learn much about how to improve at pool while drunk.

I played pool in bar leagues for a couple of years, and later when I moved out to the outskirts of the city I became a regular at a couple of pool halls there. The main difference that I had to get used to was that the pool halls had 9-foot tables (regulation size) while the bars that I was used to playing in had 7-foot bar tables. Learning to play well on the larger tables took a bit of doing, but I gradually got used to it.

I love playing pool, and even when I started up with chess again (one day, about two years later, I woke up and felt like playing again) I decided to keep playing pool. I played for about four years pretty regularly, and even did well in several tournaments. I also got to play pool in the pool hall used in the Color of Money (place called Chris's in Chicago - one of the few pool halls I played in that opened at 9 am).

What finally put a (temporary) end to my pool career was cigarette smoke. For some reason, people used to feel that they could not shoot pool without smoking cigarettes, and the air in the pool halls got really smoky at times. I tried for a while to patronize the only non-smoking pool hall that I could find, but it was 45 minutes' drive away and I was not able to go that often. Soon it closed, as smokers had too many alternatives. The only way that non-smoking pool halls would prosper, it seemed, was if they all went non-smoking at the same time. At the time that I left Chicago, that seemed far-fetched.

In 1999 I moved to New Hampshire, and played occasionally on the pool tables in the rec hall of my apartment complex. There was a guy that I met who loved to play straight pool (one of my favorite games now) and we would play matches once a week or so. The tables were not great, though, which took away from the experience a bit.

Seven years passed, during which time I got married, bought a house, and moved to the seacoast area of New Hampshire. During that time, I did not play more than the occasional game of pool. I still had my two pool cues that I bought when I was in Chicago, and kept them safe in a nice sturdy case, but they very rarely came out of hiding.

I plan to make the next few posts a retrospective of some of my stories from my Chicago years and my first tournament in New Hampshire. After that, I will get into my attempts to actively improve my pool game. I am now taking lessons again, for the first time in about 15 years, and the process has made me build my game once again from the ground up.

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Turning Lessons!

Well, once again, much time has passed since I last posted here. The main event that happened was my birthday present from my wife. She found someone in Maine who does one-on-one woodturning lessons. So, the first weekend in June (about a month after my birthday, but I had to wait until both the teacher and I had availability) we headed for Stonington, Maine - a picturesque (at least in summer) fishing village that is home to a lot of artists.

The teacher's name is Joaz Hill of ShapeShifter Woodturning (http://woodturning.maine-web.com/shapeshifter/index.html), and I had a great time learning from him. He has been teaching turning for about three years, and I am the first student who wanted to just learn boxes and pepper mills. Most of his other students have wanted to learn how to turn bowls and such.

I wanted to get an in-depth understanding of what tools to use to make boxes and pepper mills. I had watched a DVD on making boxes, but the turner on the DVD did not spend much time on the basics (what tools he was using, what speeds he was turning at, that sort of thing). And, of course, I had taken a class in pepper mill making, but that was a while ago and I never really got a sense of what I would need in order to start making them at home.

With Joaz, we used the tools that I already had, to the extent that they could be used in the project at hand. He showed me how to sharpen each tool, and I was able to practice that until I had a bit of confidence with it. Until now, the only tool I felt comfortable sharpening was the roughing gouge (well, and any tool that could just be honed). What I mainly found out was that, while I had a good set of tools, they are (mostly) not hefty enough to handle the end-grain work and hollowing that boxes need. I now have a list of tools to get, which is not really a bad thing :-)

We made a small box on the first day (Friday) and then started on a larger one. That one we finished on Saturday morning, and we spent the rest of Saturday making a pepper mill.

One aspect of turning the boxes and such caught me by surprise. The lathe we were using was a nice full-size Powermatic lathe that had variable speed. That means that you could run it at any speed from 0 to about (guessing here - we always stayed on the low end) 4000 RPM just by adjusting a knob. We spent just about all of our time in the 150-350 RPM range, and that seemed to be the right speed for what we were doing.

Here is the problem (issue?): My Rikon mini-lathe, while it is big enough to handle the size of the boxes and pepper mills that I would be making, has 5 speeds - the lowest of which is 430 RPM. So, I would have to do all of the box-making and such at a speed that is higher than what I was comfortable working with. I am willing to try to do this, but I have also been looking into getting a mini lathe that does variable speed and starts at a low enough speed to be useful.

I posted a question on www.woodcentral.com (recommended by Joaz - it seems like the people there are very friendly and very helpful) about variable-speed mini lathes, and got two recommendations. The first (and slightly more recommended, though not by much) is a Delta 46-460, which from all accounts seems like a pretty cool machine. The problem is that it is so new that it is not available in a lot of areas. I do not really want to buy something like that without at least getting a firsthand look at it. The second lathe is a Jet 1220VS, which gets high marks from those who use it.

Of course, just as I was figuring out how best to get one of these and sell my existing lathe, someone posted that they have no problem drilling holes and turning at the speeds that my Rikon uses. So, I guess the best thing to do would be to try the Rikon out first, and see if it is feasible now that I (sort of) know what I am doing.

If I am going to turn boxes, I need certain tools though. The next decision to make is where to get those tools from. Joaz recommends Packard Woodworks, and also has used Craft Supplies USA (which I have also used for pen-related stuff). I would have to know exactly what to get, but you can often get free shipping if you buy several tools at once, or at least a discount. I could also go to Woodcraft, especially if I have a discount there. I would have to make sure that they are not marking things up, though.

Next Up: Thursday Night's All Right For Turning

Where to even begin?

It has been an absolutely crazy few months. The woodturning class was cool for a while, but when health issues and then work interfered with two classes in a row, I gave it up. I did produce a cool-looking egg cup and the beginnings of a bowl, and I learned a lot, but I was getting the feeling that the stuff I would want to do would take much more time and expense than I am willing (now, anyway) to throw at it.

I made a pen and pencil set for my high school's auction, and it came out really well. the high bid at the auction was $130, and the person who got it said that it was the only thing he wanted out of all of the items there. That was a great thing to hear, and it made me feel proud to have made it.

What I really want to work on next is how to do a pepper mill correctly without being in a class at the time, and how to do lidded boxes. Unfortunately, I have not been on the best of terms with the folks at the local Woodcraft (their pen kits and advice, on two occasions, left me wanting), and a search for similar stores in the area has turned up nothing. I am really looking for books that show in detail how to do the boxes and the pepper mills, and then I want to start making some.

Second class, and other thoughts

So we had the second class last week, and practiced more spherical, or at least rounded, spindle work. Same tools, just a different technique. We also learned a lot about sharpening, though I do not know if I will be very confident until I have sharpened all of my tools with the instructor watching. I hope to do that next class, which is a week from tonight.

I have set up some of the beautiful burl pen blanks that my brother sent to me to be made into pens. They have been cut and drilled and glued...only the barrel trimming and the lathe-work is left. Then, of course, putting the pen together, which is always a bit nerve-wracking.

I have signed up for the Woodturning Symposium in NH on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It is looking like it should be a great time - lots of woodturners demonstrating, and lots of vendors. No hands-on work, but there will be a lot to see. It was recommended by the teacher of the class I am taking. The last one was three years ago - coincidentally, the weekend that we moved into our house. I knew nothing about woodturning then.

I have been debating about what to make for my high school's auction. I think I will do a pen and pencil set. Maybe even two of them. I will leave out the letter openers for now.

I have been looking into making lidded boxes. I have a blank (from when I attempted a pepper mill at home) that would be perfect, but I need to get more tools. I do not have the tools that I think I need to hollow out the box.

Catching up...

Well, due to many events involving felines and family members, I have not been able to do much turning over the last couple of months. However, recently I have made a couple of Wall Street II style pens. This style is efficient because you can make two of them from a single 5 1/2 inch pen blank. I made two out of Tamboti, and gave one to the vet who took care of our cat Carmen during her last couple of months. Now we have introduced our new cats, Herbie and Domino, to her, and she will be their vet too.

I have started another class! There is a woodturning class at the Homestead School in Newmarket, taught by the same guy that taught the pepper mill class. This class covers all of the aspects of basic turning, and meets every other Thursday for eight sessions. I have only had one session so far, but it is a lot of fun and I think I will learn a lot too. I got the class tuition as a holiday present this year.

Surprising bonus at the end of the year - four of my pens at Nuance sold! Apparently people thought that my pens would make a good holiday gift. I had no idea that they had sold until I got a check from the owner of the store. What a great surprise that was!

My old high school is having an auction in April - I went to the last one a couple of years ago and it was a lot of fun. This year I might donate a pen/pencil set or something similar to be auctioned off.

My in-laws got me a dust collection system for the holidays that can be hooked up to my Shop-Vac. I have not set it up yet, but I plan to do so this weekend so I can see if it fits the tools that I have in my shop.

That is all for now - next class is on the 5th of February. The first class we practiced doing coves and beads on spindle work. We turned pieces of wood that were still wet - they came from local trees, and they had not dried out completely yet. It was an interesting experience - the shavings that come off of a wet or "green" piece of wood are much different from those that come off of a kiln-dried piece like a pen blank or exotic wood blank.

Varied pen-related stories

Recently, my mom bought a couple of my pens to give to friends and relatives as birthday presents. One of the recipients liked his so much that he commissioned three more! An unexpected bonus this holiday season.

Last night, I went to the monthly Seacoast Woodturners Club meeting. The topic of the evening was "Segmented Pen Turning". There is a guy there who does wonderful work with segmented bowls and such, and he had put together some pen blanks based on the pieces that he used for one of his bowls. I mentioned that I had been turning some pens this week (see paragraph above), and when no one else volunteered I was asked to turn the pen for the demo, in front of the club!

Now, I have taken part in the turning at the club before, but usually we are turning a bowl, and I am learning much more than I am teaching. Last night, though, I was able to show some of the tips that I had picked up over the last couple of years. I even decided to be daring and start using the skew chisel, which many experienced turners shy away from because of the tearout that can result. The other members seemed impressed that I was able to use the skew without any mistakes. For the first time, I really felt like I was contributing to the meetings of the group. It was a great feeling.

Of course, I have had my setbacks recently too. While making a pen last week, I put the first two parts of the kit together backwards. This made the entire kit unusable, and was something I had never done before. I just wasn't thinking. I have put together dozens of pens, and had never made that mistake. I also put together a beautiful cocobolo Classic American pen, only to find that when it was assembled, the top would not turn. I had a nice-looking non-functional pen-like sculpture. Luckily, THAT one got rescued by Don at Woodcraft and is usable now.

The pen I made at the meeting of the club is a slimline style pen that is tapered at the top, bottom, and middle, and fat otherwise. I have never made a pen with that style - all of the slimline pens I have done have been thin all the way across - and it was very interesting to make. I do not like the finished style as much, but I was given the pen when I finished turning it, and I use it in my home office as a nice reminder of the evening at the club.

Due to other issues around the house this fall, I have not progressed with the ornaments or pepper mills (I had wanted to do another one right after the class) at all, but starting in January I have signed up for another woodturning class, which meets every other week on Thursday nights from January to April. I am really looking forward to it. We will be doing spindle and bowl turning. The class is my holiday present.

At long last, a pepper mill!

Well, it finally happened. I took my class at the Homestead Woodworking School in Newmarket, and I learned a lot that can be applied to the making of more than just pepper mills. I worked on a full lathe, too - not the mini lathe that I have at home - and that led me to think that someday I may want one. Not yet, though - there is nothing that I would be working on for a while that would require something that large.

I also learned that my knowledge of my own woodturning tools has been a bit deficient. Even after two years, I apparently had been using a bowl gouge as a spindle gouge, and had never really used the spindle gouge at all. I never even realized I HAD a bowl gouge! I felt really ignorant when I found this out, but at least I know.

During the all day course, I also learned how to make a "jam chuck", turning a piece of scrap wood so that one end of it can be held by a chuck in the headstock while the piece (in this case, the main part of the pepper mill, with the holes already drilled) could be "jammed" onto the other end. In essence, it allows a piece that would not fit onto the regular chuck to be turned on the lathe with support.

The skills learned in the class can, I think, be easily applied to turning boxes and ornaments and such. I used the spindle gouge (now that I know what it is - I still cannot believe my ignorance on that one) to do most of the shaping of the mill. I also learned a bit about how to sharpen my roughing gouge (some of which I knew, but sharpening tips are always good) and my parting tool (which I had never really sharpened on the grinder - I have been using a diamond stone). My bowl gouge will need to be re-sharpened professionally before I use it on any bowls.

I have not sold any more pens through consignment, which is no real surprise given the economy, but I did sell a couple to my mom, who gave them to friends as presents, and they were well received. Supposedly, I will be getting other commissions for pens this holiday season, but I have not gotten them yet, and time is getting short.

So...the pepper mill. I really enjoyed making it. My wife tells me that it has the look of a chess pawn, which was not at all intentional. I was trying to emulate a photograph that they had in the classroom of a particular style, but I deviated from that style and made it my own. If I had somehow been working vertically instead of horizontally on the pepper mill, I could see how I would have intentionally made it into a chess piece, but I had no idea of the resemblance until I brought it home.



I have been told that I should put a layer of beeswax on it, but I am not sure exactly how to do that. I may do it, and I may not.