Long time gone, but I'm back and with a question

[waltben]

I've been selling Penn State pepper grinders very successfully since they first came out with them. Certainly well over 500 of them over the years. Long time back I made a few Crush Grind salt grinders to match (somewhat), back when they had a metal screw holding everything together. About 4 years after someone started using one, they complained that the screw had corroded and fallen out, so I stopped making them. Penn State now has a 'salt grinder' that matches their pepper ones and I jumped on it, buying a 25 lot, before finding out that there's a little metal spring inside it that will be exposed to salt. Has anyone found out how long these things last in actual use?

 

[Brian Horais]

Walt, I use the Penn State Crush Grind peppermill mechanism (PKGRIND) that has a plastic body and a ceramic grinder. I place three stainless steel screws in the bottom to hold it in place and guard against corrosion. I have not received any comments on the few salt mills I've made, but the ceramic grinder should work well. The Penn State writeup for what they call the 'Pro-Grind Variable Length Peppermill Mechanism' states "Grind peppercorns or any spice - it will never rust. " I like this mechanism because it does not have any visible hardware. The adjustment knob is on the bottom as shown in this image of one of my peppermills. Hope this helps.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

That’s a beautiful peppermill Brian!

 

[waltben]

Walt, I use the Penn State Crush Grind peppermill mechanism (PKGRIND) that has a plastic body and a ceramic grinder. I place three stainless steel screws in the bottom to hold it in place and guard against corrosion. I have not received any comments on the few salt mills I've made, but the ceramic grinder should work well. The Penn State writeup for what they call the 'Pro-Grind Variable Length Peppermill Mechanism' states "Grind peppercorns or any spice - it will never rust. " I like this mechanism because it does not have any visible hardware. The adjustment knob is on the bottom as shown in this image of one of my peppermills. Hope this helps.

That's the same mechanism I used that fell apart. The whole thing is held together by a screw in the center and after four years it corroded to the point of failure. By the by, the CrushGrind is made in Denmark: https://www.crushgrind.com/.