My Favorite Kitchen Accessory – 2-Compartment Salt Cellar

Video - December 14, 2014

After posting the video for the Kids Kitchen Step Stool, several folks asked if I built the little salt cellar we have in our kitchen. I didn’t. But I decided the design was straightforward enough that I’d try to make a copy for myself and maybe a few extra as gifts. After about 2 hours, I had my first one. It was so quick and easy that I went back and made three more the next day! If you or someone in your life loves to cook, you are definitely going to want to make a few!

Template

This project is pretty basic and really requires no formal plans. All you need to do is decide on a shape you like and draw it onto your blanks. But if you want to make the same teardrop shape I did, you’ll want to download and print this template at actual size. I pretty much just scanned the top and bottom of my salt cellar so it’s nothing too fancy. Cut out both shapes and use the larger one when cutting your blanks to rough size, then use the smaller one just prior to bandsawing as shown in the video.

The Wood

You’ll need two blanks milled to 1 5/8″ thick and one piece milled to 1/2″ thick.
*CORRECTION* – The blanks should all be about 5″ W x 6″ L, not 5″ x 5″ as stated in the video. Don’t be afraid to mix your species for visual effect. This is a great project for large 8/4 cut-offs that might not have any other use for!

Hardware

Just about any threaded insert intended for hardwood will do the trick, but here’s one that should work quite well. As for bolts, I recommend 2 3/4″ long connector bolts.

Other Stuff

Rockler Circle Template
Bowl & Tray Bit
Double-Sided Tape

Discussion

Lancer McCullin December 14, 2014 6:56 pm

Great video. I’ll defently making these.

Reply
Jerry Sateriale December 14, 2014 7:05 pm

Thanks for squeezing this vid in . I’m gonna knock a few out this week . Did you finish the inside too ?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo December 14, 2014 7:31 pm
  
  Yes. But just one coat. Just enough to seal it.
  
  Reply
Wes December 14, 2014 7:13 pm

What a great practical gift idea…and finally a use for some of that wood that I can’t seem to find a use…thanks Marc

Reply
Carpintero December 14, 2014 10:04 pm

A great idea, thanks again for making the video.

Reply
Richard December 15, 2014 6:05 am

Thanks Marc, great idea for a last minute shop made gift.

Reply
David December 15, 2014 2:26 pm

Great gift idea! Is that spray finish food safe? Which finishes are?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo December 15, 2014 5:09 pm
  
  There are many who believe that all film-forming finishes are food-safe upon curing. I’m one of them. But having a film isn’t always the best option especially for wet applications like cutting boards. For dry applications, like this, you have more room to play. Frankly. I’d say any finish is fine. But you’ll have to make that call for yourself since I never speak in absolutes when it comes to food safety.
  
  Reply
Jon Emmons December 15, 2014 2:49 pm

Nice little project! Some thread lock (Loctite or similar) on the bolt might be a good move to keep it from loosening up. Just stick to the blue stuff and avoid the red unless you want it really permanent.

Reply
John Reinhard December 16, 2014 11:21 am

I was wondering two things:
1) Is purpleheart safe to use for this project?
2) What was the type of lacquer you used?

Thank you! Great site and videos.

John

Reply
Steve Lyde December 16, 2014 12:45 pm

John the lacquer Marc used was Deft. I will be using Mohawk lacquer on mine.

Reply
Jeff Hewitt December 16, 2014 1:14 pm

Marc,

What a great recommendation. Thanks for taking the time to share this with us. What do you recommend for a template since we don’t already have the salt cellar to use as a reference? Would you provide a little more detail about “thick” paper.

Thanks—Jeff

Reply
- Mr. Jeffrey Hewitt December 16, 2014 1:16 pm
  
  Sorry, I missed the template reference in the write-up.
  
  Reply
John Horgan December 18, 2014 5:08 pm

On the pattern you scanned what is the dimension supposed to be. It seems to big for a 5″ X 5″
block.

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo December 19, 2014 7:18 am
  
  I goofed on that. It’s actually 5″ x 6″.
  
  Reply
Keith December 19, 2014 4:52 pm

Pretty cool, I wish I had a band saw. And WOW, $16 for a threaded insert. I’m glad I gave up salt. Thanx for the video.

Reply
- Ryan December 20, 2014 7:52 pm
  
  Any tip on trying to do this without a bandsaw? I have a cheap jigsaw but have spindle sander, etc that could probably help me with the rougher cut. Any ideas on technique if jigsaw could be a short term solution?
  
  Reply
  - Marc Spagnuolo December 21, 2014 8:40 am
    
    The only way I could imagine doing it with a jigsaw is by tracing each piece out and cutting those pieces individually. You might have a lot of sanding and finessing to do after they are clamped together with the bolt but I doubt you’ll be able to cut all three at once.
    
    Reply
    - Ryan December 22, 2014 3:30 pm
      
      Yeah, Thats what I was thinking as well. Sketchup template printing may come in handy on that front to get pretty close sizing.
Brett December 19, 2014 10:27 pm

Well done project and video! Thank you for taking the time to share this with us.

Reply
Jos van Diepen December 20, 2014 11:50 am

One final tip. You could lock the bolt into the insert whit some Loctite.

Reply
Bob Smith December 21, 2014 12:27 am

We have a bamboo salt cellar and a pair of 3/16″ magnets were used in the cover and the body as a “latch” to keep the cover closed.

Reply
Thom Strizek December 22, 2014 3:17 pm

As I have a small bandsaw that lacks the horsepower to hog through 3-3/4″ of hardwood, so I had to cut all three pieces individually. The problem with this, of course, is what size do you make the various pieces to match the 5 degree angle?

You could, of course, sit down and do the trigonometry, knowing the length of the large leg and all three angles, but that’s a lot of damn work and measuring, and if your math is even a bit off, you’re spending the next decade in front of the belt sander smoothing it out.

My fix was multi-step process:

First I drew the original teardrop shape (found an appropriately-sized circular object in my shop, traced it, and then made the elongated part with a French curve) onto a piece of MDF, then cut it out and sanded it smooth. I then traced it onto two more pieces of MDF.

Then I took another piece of scrap lying around and drew two lines on it, one about an inch away from and parallel to the left edge, and one an inch from and parallel to the bottom edge (I guess I could have done it on paper, but meh) then measured from the horizontal line up 1-5/8″, drew a horizontal line there, then another 1-5/8″ above that, then on 1/2″ above that.

So we have a pseudo grid: one vertical line, and four horizontal lines.

I set my protractor to five degrees, and at the bottom left corner of the grid, I drew a 5 degree angle up to the top of the grid.

I set my compass to the distance between the vertical line and the 5 degree line where it crossed the first 1-5/8″ horizontal line, and used it to draw that distance inside the large teardrop in my second template. I repeated the compass setup for the second 1-5/8″ line and drew that inside the third template.

Then I cut them out and sanded them smooth, and had three templates. Set the band saw to 5 degrees, cut them all out, and it worked out damn near perfect. Close enough that I didn’t spend too much time in front of the belt sander, and I now have three templates to use in the future.

Reply
Ryan December 22, 2014 3:32 pm

One more question. Would it be unsafe to use a 2 3/4″ -3″ forstner to try to drill the large hole (or at least get the hole started) in stead of fussing with the template? What do you think?

Reply
- Thom Strizek December 22, 2014 10:05 pm
  
  Your major issue would be clamping it in place to prevent the bit from grabbing it. With the 5° slope, the only true clamping surface without some sort of angled clamping jig is only at the very bottom edge of the piece. I found I had some fair serious problems holding it in place. It’s possible that if you were able to cut it free from the blank with just one cut of the band saw, you might be able to use your cutoff blank as an angled clamping pad for a hand screw, which you could then clasp to your drill press table.
  
  Reply
  - Ryan December 23, 2014 9:06 am
    
    what do you think about drilling with a large forstner before cutting out the teardrop in order to get a little more clamping area. Once the hole is cut (i am thinking about just cutting a quarter inch as a template and then hogging out most with smaller bits) to the right spot based on a template, it shouldnt be too much of a problem to then cut it out.
    
    Reply
Richard Reynolds December 22, 2014 4:31 pm

What are these used for?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo December 22, 2014 7:38 pm
  
  Did you watch the video? :)
  
  Reply
Jon RObelia December 23, 2014 10:18 pm

I built a couple of these as gifts and they turned out pretty well. I found adding a shallow counter bore for the bolt, leaving it just below flush, had a couple benefits. First, it allowed me to tighten up the assembly and put it back on the belt sander for final sanding without the bolt head getting in the way. Second, I got lucky and my bolt head was just slightly larger than the forsner bit I used for the counter bore. This made a short of press fit for the bolt head and held it in place even after loosening the bolt slightly. As a result it acts more like the bamboo version in the video. Thanks for the great idea Marc!

Reply
xAbdulRhman January 1, 2015 9:18 am

Hi my name is AbdulRhman and I want to start to do things with wood “woodworker :)” so I don’t no where to start :( , So please tell me where should I start .-what is the things I have to buy , from where I am going to learn ,…etc- and I love you show I just subscribed but I watched most of your videos !!

Thanks :)

Reply
Banjo York January 4, 2015 12:31 pm

I just built one of these and was very happy with the result. Like Jon Robelia I counter bored the bolt but I also hid it by reversing the design. I left the top an inch thick and drilled from the bottom so the bolt is hidden. The end result is a bit bulkier but I think it looks a bit sleeker. I also used this project as an opportunity to try some inlay work.

Reply
Ryan E January 16, 2015 10:58 am

About to start cutting these out. Just wondering about the thought process between using the glue and paper method instead of just using Turners tape to hold everything together. Is turner’s tape too thick?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo January 16, 2015 11:53 am
  
  It’s not so much the thickness that worries me, it’s the fact that under pressure it can creep. So give it a shot and see what happens. Might work just fine but I’m being cautious in my approach.
  
  Reply
  - Ryan E January 17, 2015 8:18 pm
    
    Yeah, totally makes sense. Thanks! Now that I got my bandsaw (Grizzly 555LANV) I am able to fulfill my IOU christmas gifts :)
    
    Reply
Ryan E January 19, 2015 7:42 am

Just an update on progress:

I made a padauk version (same shape). Since I did not have 8/4 padauk, I opted to glue 2 pieces of 4/4 together. even though there are seems, I still like the look of it. I am awaiting my bowl bit and circle template so that I can route out the dish, but I am loving the look of this! After going through the entire process, my imagination is running wild with different variations and shapes.

I ended up using the same glueup paper method. I was impatient(i am not giving advice, only mentioning what I did), but after about 1 hour, the glue was more than strong enough on a long grain to long grain bond to hold the pieces for shaping(and the pieces came apart easily when popping a thin putty knife between). since the glue was not completely dry, instead of using scrapers, I used a rag and some water and quickly washed off the surfaces, a light sanding got the paper/glue out of the grain pores. It worked out, a day later, everything is still flat.

Thanks Marc! Great idea

Reply
Margaret Munoz February 26, 2015 10:24 am

My daughter-in-law decided she wanted to become a woodworker with me. I thought your salt cellars were the perfect beginner project. We built three cellars from Bubinga, following your plan exactly. Thank you! We went a step further: we added rare earth magnets for quick-close and lineup. We also used the remainder of the board and re-sawed it to 3/4″ thickness. We book-matched the lumber and created matching cutting boards in the same shape as the cellars with a large hole where the screw would go, and with 1/4″ roundover on all edges. They turned out beautiful! Thank you, Mark for this idea and all you do!

Reply
- Bruna Barker March 3, 2015 11:03 am
  
  Thank you Margaret for being a great teacher!
  
  Reply
  - john flynn August 1, 2015 3:09 pm
    
    Hello Marc.
    
    Loved these salt cellars. Want to make some as gifts.
    
    What size wood did you start with and do you have a source for the wood used.
    
    Thank you
    
    Reply
    - Marc Spagnuolo August 2, 2015 8:08 am
      
      I get all of my material locally at Spellman Hardwoods and Woodworker’s Source. Always best to buy local if you can but there are online vendors like Bell Forest Products that have great stock and service. As for the dimensions, check the writeup. ;)
hammer332333 November 10, 2015 4:23 am

How would you cut the angle without a band saw ?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo November 10, 2015 6:44 am
  
  I suppose if you’re good with a bow saw…. If I didn’t have a bandsaw I’d be more inclined to use some sort of stationary sander to do the work. The piece is so small that unless you can bring the work to the tool, it’s going to be pretty tricky.
  
  Reply
John T November 29, 2015 5:35 am

Your template provides for two different sizes but when watching the video, you only cut the block to the size of the lid. What happened to the larger, lower pieces?

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo November 29, 2015 9:29 am
  
  The two sizes are there for reference. Since the the cut is at an angle, the top is smaller than the bottom. So that’s what you see in the templates: an outline of the top and an outline of the bottom.
  
  Reply
Elizabeth Nelson February 29, 2016 6:51 pm

Anyone out there wanna make 3 of these out of whatever wood you have around for me? Unfinished? No hinge or magnet? I want to give them to my adult kids for Christmas gifts. I will etch/burn birch trees on the tops and then finish them so they match the one I’ve used for years. But, I don’t have any woodworking equipment…..

Reply
Alison August 23, 2017 9:02 am

How did you sand out the scallop marks on the inside left by the forstner bit?

Reply
Billy D December 22, 2017 6:21 pm

This are awesome! Just made 8 of them… However I am having one issue;
The bolt always comes loose. – any Suggestions on keeping it snug?
Thanks again,
Bill

Reply
- Marc Spagnuolo December 22, 2017 7:20 pm
  
  I never did anything to address it on mine other than to gently hand-tighten. You could try to put some of that blue stuff on the threads to help tighten it up. I honestly don’t recall the name but it coats the threads and tightens them up.
  
  Reply
  - Billy D December 22, 2017 10:41 pm
    
    Thanks for the idea Mark!
    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!
    
    Reply
    - David Doria May 9, 2018 7:51 am
      
      I think it’s Loctite Threadlocker Blue 242 that Marc is referring to: https://www.amazon.com/Loctite.....ctite+blue
ada heredia December 29, 2017 12:14 pm

Beautifully made. You showed a video on how to make it, but what about us who don’t make things but like them and would like to purchase one. Do you sell them or is there a place to purchase one?

Reply
HMcClain November 29, 2018 7:52 am

I’m banging these out for Christmas presents as we speak!

Reply
Adriaan Sachtler December 4, 2020 9:45 am

Salt cellar: nice project, I started to make four of them. However, I ran into an unexpected serious problem: when drilling the larger holes for the threaded inserts I find that the drill bit invariably “grabs” the wood doing horrible things. One of the salt cellar pieces now has a misshapen hole I have to fix, after that I used scrap wood to test things out. I have bought three different drill bits (7/16″) and all of them have the same problem. Once the bit grabs the wood it rides up to the top of the drill bit and is very difficult to remove. My wrist also got stuck by the wood once this happened, luckily only a bruise. I think a Forstner bit will work much better, but I’ll have to come up with a different way to center the holes.
I appreciate any comments you have on this.
Thanks.

Reply

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My Favorite Kitchen Accessory – 2-Compartment Salt Cellar

Template

The Wood

Hardware

Other Stuff

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