Making a caulking mallet for myself

[Larks]

This is my first attempt at making a caulking mallet so am very happy to receive suggestions, criticisms etc. I didn't have an example or any design to work from so have made this up from one that I saw on the web or in a brochure somewhere (just can't remember where).

I've been keeping an eye out on ebay for one to buy but the idea to make one came at work after having a couple of offcuts of 316 stainless tube left over when I was cutting lengths for a job:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0116.jpg

A bit of a spin on the linishing belt:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0117.jpg

And because we are a bit quiet at work at the moment I was able to leave at 2.00 this arvo, which is our normal Friday arvo early finish time, so had this afternoon to play in the shed.

This bit of what looks like a firewood block is a piece of blackbean (I think??) that Peter Sibley gave me last year. It's been sitting quietly in the shed awaiting its fate and it looked ideal for this purpose:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0118.jpg

I chose a couple of 1.6mm x 50mm ID offcuts of 316SS for the larger central rings and some 3mm bits of the same external diameter for the outside rings, simply because they were what I had. They may not be the ideal size but the idea here is to just have a go:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0119.jpg

A bit of a trim on the band saw:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0120.jpg

to end up with this:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0121.jpg

[Larks]

A few more runs through the band saw to get this:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0122.jpg

This little project also gave me the opportunity to drag out an old toy that I've never really had much of a chance to play with since I first bought it in Darwin about 10 years ago (or more). It's been moved around the country since then awaiting the chance for me to make up a new solid base for it and set it up permanently in my shed. Here's where it's been hidden to keep it out of the way in my shed here:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0123.jpg

But for the sake of having a play with it today, the saw horses looked like they'd do the job:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0124.jpg

The only problem, after 10 years or so in storage, where the hell were all the parts?

Why, just where I left them of course - tucked neatly away under other bits of gear in a trunk under a bench:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0125.jpg

Not really much in there:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0126.jpg

But all that I need for this job:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0127.jpg

[Larks]

The next questions were would the lathe still work and how well would the stock centre?:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0128.jpg

There was really no reason why it wouldn't, I'd looked after it well enough, just hadn't been using it.

Trimming the stock down to round:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0129.jpg

(Not easy to photograph while doing this):

Then I cut in some notches to get the depth that I wanted to work through to. I don't really have any experience with working a lathe (I confess to this being the first time that I've really played with it properly and made something of consequence) so I don't know if this is the correct practice for finding your depth, but it's sort of what I'd do laying concrete (ie build up leveling pads to work to) so it seems a reasonable way of doing it for me.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0131.jpg

I took quite a bit of time to get this right so that I didn't risk cutting too deep and making the head too thin for the rings that I have:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0132.jpg

Then it was a matter of trimming down to those levels carefully:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0133.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0135.jpg

[Vince Brennan]

Dinna stop!

[Larks]

As the two rings that I have for the centre are slightly thinner than the outer rings I left the centre area raised for them to fit. Ideally I had wanted this raised area to be more pronounced but as mentioned I had these rings to work with so it is what it is, maybe the next one will be a little different:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0136.jpg

I quite like the look of the timber, here with a bit of oil on it so that I could see the lumps and bumps that needed further smoothing:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0138.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0139.jpg

By now I was loosing light so once I was happy with it I was happy to be able to get back into the shed and have a go at fitting the rings. I had my hands a bit full while getting the first ones on so didn't get any photos of them going on:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0142.jpg

in fact it was while trying to get a photo that I let one ring rest on the side of the head causing a burn mark that I had been trying to avoid

But to show how I fixed the rings so that (hopefully) they are firm and won't move. (I'd be really interested to hear if there is a better way this just seemed like a way of doing it, not necessarily the correct way)

I heated the rings over a gas ring until they were nice and hot to expand them as much as I thought they might do. I should mention that it was a bit of guess work as to what to carve the head down to not knowing how much the rings might expand but wanting the fit to be nice and firm. I ended up making the head approximately 2mm larger in diameter than the rings and that seemed to work out quite well.The rings slipped on with only some slight tapping down which gave me confidence that they'd shrink down nice and firmly when cooled.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0143.jpg

Then slipped them over a dampened mallet head (after realizing that I should have wet it down for the first one that I had burnt):

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0144.jpg

[Larks]

Then plunged it into water before it had a chance to burn too much into the timber:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0146.jpg

Next job was to find a suitable sacrifice for the handle:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0147.jpg

I still need to work out how to cut some slots right through the head between each inner and outer ring, which is something that I've seen somewhere, though I don't really know if it is necessary or what it does.

I haven't bothered trimming the ends of the lathe marks, I figure they'll bash out eventually and I didn't want to loose any more length:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0153.jpg

This also shows the tightness of the grain a little:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0155.jpg

And here is the result:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0157.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0151.jpg

Finished in time for the evening news, all up about 3 to 3 1/2 hours work, including dragging the lathe out and finding the bits and pieces

I'm rather chuffed with it actually. Might have to make a few more, any ideas???

[Jay Greer]

The slots do two things. They lessen the rebound and also allow the mallet to ring. I have made a few dead mallets in my time that look good but were made from bad wood. Live oak or Black Locust are the norm.
Jay

[peter radclyffe]

jes wunnerful Greg

[Sailor]

We'll be expectin' some reports on it's UM, report! ;)

[ILikeRust]

Pretty sweet!

If those rings are stainless steel, howcum they look kinda bronzish. Did you apply some kind of finish to them? Or is it just from having been heated.

That wood is gorgeous.

[Larks]

Pretty sweet!

If those rings are stainless steel, howcum they look kinda bronzish. Did you apply some kind of finish to them? Or is it just from having been heated.

That wood is gorgeous.

You are right, the colour is just from having been heated but I really like how they have come up. The wood seemed dense enough for the job but I don't know what really makes a good wood for a caulking mallet. I don't have access to black locust or the oak that you would have in the states but I might try a few more and try a few different timbers and see how they compare.

[Ethan]

Jay, did you mean black locust or black mesquite? I thought it was mesquite....

[Bob Cleek]

You can make the slots by drilling two small holes at either end of where you want the slots to end, inserting a jigsaw blade (nomenclature check here: a "jigsaw" blade like you'd put in a coping saw, not like you'd put in what they call a jigsaw these days, which we used to call a sabre saw.) and sawing to connect the holes. The holes, maybe 1/8", are important, as they help prevent splitting along the saw kerf.

It's hard to see exactly from the pictures, but you will want to relieve the facing edges of your outer rings with a bevel. This will minimize dents and nicks on the heads of your irons that could be caused by a mistrike by the sharp edge of of the ring, particularly when your wooden striking edge gets worn down a bit over time. (The outer rings can be moved inward at that point a little to offer a bit more wood to the iron. Old mallets get stubby that way!)

As for making more, may I tactfully suggest that you read up on lathe operation before proceeding. In the picks, IMHO, your tool rest is WAY too far from the workpiece. The tool rest should be as close to the work as possible without touching the spinning workpiece. The way you have it set up in the pics, if you raise your cutting tool handle above perpendicular, the blade can catch and be pulled downward between the edge of the tool rest and the workpiece, flipping the handle of the tool up (with great force) and sending the tool flying... perhaps with the cutting edge coming right back at you. Not good shop procedure, to say the least!

Here's a how to do it video: http://www.ehow.com/video_4943907_adjust-tool-rest-lathe.html

[The Bigfella]

Good work Greg.

Yep... I'd spotted that tool rest too. Ask me how I know! A lesson I learnt when I was a teenager. You'd be amazed at the energy contained in all that spinning.

[PeterSibley]

Great stuff Greg, I would never have thought to use blackbean for a mallet. It might be good though as it's about the same density as white oak,a little splintery though but the rings should control that . Well done !

Jay , if you look in again .Why the timbers you mentioned ....... for we ho have no access to them How do we choose a substitute? Are we after weight, split resistance, bounce? Can you specify?

[Larks]

Thanks Bob, I noticed on another thread about a mallet for sale on ebay that the rings were set further back and realised my mistake on seeing that, I'll see how easily the might be knocked further on without loosening them. I did bevel them slightly on the linishing belt, which I didn't explain up top, but next time I might try and make that a bit more pronounced. Meanwhile there's no reason why I can't take a bit more off on the belt anyway.

Also thanks for the advice re the lathe, it really is very much appreciated, as I mentioned I'd not had the opportunity to really have a go at it before so was going on what I remembered seeing elsewhere (and as usual I have the possibly foolish tendency to have a crack at working things out myself before going back and reading up on how it should be done). I did have the rest even further out when I started but gradually moved it in to get more control over the chisels, I just didn't know how far to move it in nor what angle I should be using the chisels on, so ended up with what you see in the last photos which allowed me to play with the angle a bit. However I can see now that by being closer I'll still have the same flexibility with the angle of the chisels.

Is there a smarter way of measuring the diameter of the stock as it's turned? I wondered about getting the rest nice and square and measuring off of that but doubted the ability to get keep a consistent angle with a ruler between the rest and the stock when measuring.

Peter, I'd like to try a few other timbers as well if you have any suggestions, I have plenty of tallowood here and some Tassie Blue gum (the control piece from my "expansion" test bed), some Tassie Mountain ash plus a few other bits and pieces of gums of various origins, not to mention another piece of the black bean that you gave me which I reckon I could get a couple more from (I do think that this has proven to be a nice timber for the job, though I also don't really know what properties should make a good mallet). I'm sorry that I didn't get a couple of more solid flitches of Queen Ebony from the woodworking show in Bris' a couple of weeks ago.

I'll also have a scrounge around at work and see what bits of scrap tube we have that I can get some different sized rings from.

I might put together a bit of a comparison of different timbers and see what qualities the timbers that Jay mentioned have in common with anything we have here.

If I can get these right I might even see if I can flog a couple off at the Boaties market up in Brisvegas in July.......perhaps......??

[PeterSibley]

As Jay hasn't given us any parameters yet I'll go for density and split resistance .In that case iron bark ,blue gum or tallowwood .Crows ash if there is any available would be a good match for white oak .I'm curious as to what Jay specifies .

The ebony would be good , gidgee is as heavy a timber as you will find anywhere at around 85 pound per cubic foot .A bit hard to come by though .There is even a scrub wood called mallet wood , perhaps that is the ideal !

[Larks]

Thanks Peter, I might see if I can find someone in Alice that can send me some Gidgee, I have a bit of a fondness for that wood but didn't think of it. I wonder about mulga? I used to make a few things out of that in Alice as well. I've not seen crows ash anywhere and although I've heard of it I am not familiar with it.

I've just been following Bob's link to the how-to video's and am pretty pleased that what I was doing on the lathe wasn't too far from what is instructed, particularly on getting the stock ready for use and for setting the thickness depth: http://www.ehow.com/video_4755542_wood-lathe-techniques.html

However I certainly wasn't using the right chisels for removing the bulk stock. I used a skew instead of a gouge, it worked OK but I now know for next time.

[The Bigfella]

I reckon Bernadette's Dad might be able to suggest a timber or two

[PeterSibley]

Crow's Ash is flinderia australis, some people call it Australian Teak .It's not much like teak but it was used extensively for decking , a bit oily and rot resistant but lighter than eucalypts .It's local to SE Qld , plenty around Beaudesert.

BTW ,be careful not to breath black bean dust , it's nasty stuff I have heard .Outside was a good choice .

[Larks]

BTW ,be careful not to breath black bean dust , it's nasty stuff I have heard .Outside was a good choice .

I remembered you saying that when you gave it to me, I'm pretty conscientious with a mask these days.

Thanks for the suggestion Ian, I might send Bern' a PM.

[boattruck]

Larks, Looks great! Second the urging to move your tool rest in a bit... one suggestion, from one who holds a mallet more than he would like, the best ones, in my arthritic middle years opinion, have a handle that tapers or swells up quite a bit larger to ease the strain of swinging it, to say to about 35 or 40mm, in a pinch I have modified one with duct tape, but you have the lathe staring you down....Cheers, BT

[Jay Greer]

Jay, did you mean black locust or black mesquite? I thought it was mesquite....
Yes, you are right! In my haste I misquoted myself. First, I should say that Greg's mallet is a work of art as is all of his work!

I have made several mallets for myself but failed to end up with one that was not dead as a door nail. I used honey locust and it deffinatly does not make for a talking mallet. Both black misquite and black locust are of the family Fabaceae and may both yield good sounding mallets. One of the best mallets I ever used was made of Live Oak, not white oak. Since I found a good mallet maker, at the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, many years ago, I gave up on making my own light decking mallet as his was top grade and sings like all get out. I solved the problem of cutting slots and drilling the hole by working the blank before turning.
The holes were filled with glued in scrap pine durning the shaping. But all was lost in the choice of the wrong wood.
Jay

[Bob Cleek]

Is there a smarter way of measuring the diameter of the stock as it's turned? I wondered about getting the rest nice and square and measuring off of that but doubted the ability to get keep a consistent angle with a ruler between the rest and the stock when measuring.

I may be misunderstanding your question, but the way that the diameter of the stock is measured on a lathe is generally with a pair of calipers. Just set the calipers to the diameter you wish and then use them intermittently while turning until the work gets thin enough that the calipers just pass over the piece and you've sized it. When turning a spindle, do as you did, cut spaced groves, all measured at the same depth set by your calipers and then "connect the dots." There are lots of different caliper styles. For turning, I have a set of turning calipers which have ends hooked inwards with rounded edges. These clear the workpiece and the rounded edges don't catch on the wood like pointed ends would, so you can measure with them without having to stop the lathe. http://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/store/Measuring___Calipers?Args=

http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/50029.jpg

I've never seen "ball ended" calipers before, but these would work well, so long as the balls weren't too wide for the width of the notch you were measuring. Mine are simply rounded edges and "don't have any balls."

http://aroundthewoods.com/woodturningbasics/projects/filehandle/images/image06.jpg

What's wrong with this picture? He's using the wrong type of calipers, but the picture explains the measuring technique. His tool rest is a bit too far away from the work as well. A common mistake, but a dangerous one, especially when turning single handed! NOT recommended. On a very small piece with a small one handed tool, you might make an exception, but on larger work, such as a mallet head, a two handed tool should be used with TWO hands. Put the tool down, make your measurement with the calipers, and then put the calipers down and take up the tool again, puleeze!

While we're at it here in "shop class," it bears mentioning that reaching over the workpiece on any lathe with your left hand, as this clown is doing, is a huge no-no. So's long sleeves, which he isn't wearing. Any sort of jewelry is also verbotten, like the huge watch he's got on. Gloves are especially dangerous. Sleeves, gloves, jewelry and such can catch on the work or the chuck with disasterous results! When one reaches over the turning chuck with the left arm, it becomes very easy to inadvertently hit the spinning chuck jaws with your arm, which is blocking your view of the spinning chuck. At any fair speed, the edges of the chuck jaws, set screws, lathe dogs, or whatever, become invisible, like the teeth of a circular saw blade, and can do much the same sort of damage. If a sleeve gets caught up on the chuck, it can get really ugly. As the lathe turns, the cloth wraps around the work and drags you into the lathe!

The same principle applies when using a file or rasp on a turning. Always hold the handle in your LEFT hand, even if you are right handed. This way, it's your right hand that is reaching over the spinnng work to hold the end of the file or rasp and you can keep a safe eye on the chuck.

Just last month, a Yale student was killed when her long hair was snagged while leaning over a lathe. http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2011/04/13/news/doc4da58c22c4b1f135149346.txt And, in Australia a few of years ago, a fellow was wrapped around a workpiece and ripped to shreds by a large lathe. This was not a freak accident nor was it the first time it has ocurred. (GRAPHIC CONTENT: Not for the squeamish.) http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?60391-Lathe-accident-(very-graphic)

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQBRwUjk_iptKHgcYnpZrTSLU9SYlc3v tb1_x-NcyfkzC1QGHn5&t=1

While the greater number of other stationary shop tools account for a greater number of injuries, bar none, the lathe is the most dangerous stationary power tool of all. Treat it with great respect!

[Larks]

Boattruck thanks for the advice regarding the handle, I'm not happy with the broom handle approach but couldn't recall seeing anything but such a handle on any of the examples that I'd seen, I'll certainly have a go at making something a little more suitable as suggested.

Bob, thank you yet again for your interest and for going to the trouble of responding with such good practical advice again. I had used my verniers to set the depth and they worked OK on this smaller stock, but I'll go and find myself a decent set of dividers as I hope to try a few larger jobs now that I have the lathe recommissioned.

Jay, thankyou for your very generous compliment. I did a search for "deck caulking mallet" to see what you were talking about and came up with a particularly useful thread of yours from 2007 - "At last, a proper caulking mallet", that has a little gold mine (for me) of wonderful comments, information and photos of mallets:
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?69706-At-last-a-proper-Caulking-Mallet
including an interesting post from Bob Smalser on what may make up the desirable qualities of a good mallet, being high specific gravity though with a relatively low resistance to end grain crushing.

Here are a couple of photos lifted from that thread that give me some wonderful incentive to make a few more, including some examples of the handles that Boattruck suggested:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5313557/277998735.jpg

a shot showing the end grain and size of two mallets:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5313557/277998731.jpg

Gentlemen once again my sincere thanks for your input, I don't really expect to achieve the ideal mallet here but I'm pretty keen to have a crack at producing something that is functional, durable and pleasant to hold, use and own.

[PeterSibley]

Bob , thank you for terrifying the hell out of me ...for a very good cause .http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?60391-Lathe-accident-(very-graphic)

[boattruck]

Larks, That what I am talking about on the handles, any time a sledge or top-maul gets a broken handle, I throw the remainder under the bench, and eventually it will get reworked into a couple of handles for whatever needs 'em, here in the states, the wood for handles seems to be Hickory... I bought a new build C-mallet once that looked like those examples shots you posted, it also had a hard maple handle, and I could never love it, to me the 'texture' of maple is too smooth for a mallet handle...Cheers, BT

[Larks]

Thanks again BT, most of the hammer and axe handles that we geet here seem to be hickory as well and I'd actually been eyeing off one of my hickory sledge hammer handles yesterday to see if I might "reassign" it - but figured it still had a little more life in its current use yet. I'll get a hold of a couple of smaller sledge handles from the local hardware store and rework them a bit, they're cheap enough to buy and I don't know of any other source of hickory in Australia.

[Peerie Maa]

Jay, thankyou for your very generous compliment. I did a search for "deck caulking mallet" to see what you were talking about and came up with a particularly useful thread of yours from 2007 - "At last, a proper caulking mallet", that has a little gold mine (for me) of wonderful comments, information and photos of mallets:
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?69706-At-last-a-proper-Caulking-Mallet
including an interesting post from Bob Smalser on what may make up the desirable qualities of a good mallet, being high specific gravity though with a relatively low resistance to end grain crushing.

Here are a couple of photos lifted from that thread that give me some wonderful incentive to make a few more, including some examples of the handles that Boattruck suggested:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5313557/277998735.jpg



I will only offer one comment. Those mallets with "Hammer" handles are unusual and difficult to stow in the tool box. Most caulking mallet handles are made with a swelling at the head end rather than wedged, like this http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/store/img-hydroponics/early-20th-century-shipwrights-caulking-mallet-hammer_120700841472.jpg and this http://www.bobstoolbox.com/images/caulkmallet1.jpgso that they come apart easily for storage.

[shade of knucklehead]

I think the question wasn't about how to measure the stock, but how to determine how much larger than the inner diameter of the ring the stock should be so it will hold. I don't have the answer to that one, for collars on metal shafts I usually use about 5 thousandths, I imagine for wood it would be more since you should be pounding the crap out of this mallet in the future.

My current mallet has a purpleheart handle, why? Cause I had a piece and it smooths up real nice. I also put a sort of knob at the bottom of the handle because I like to swing it down and hang it between my legs when I need both hands free for something and the knob makes it easier in my opinion. I have never seen one like that, and I think more than sticking with tradition I would rather be comfortable especially when swinging it all day long.

I will snap a pic of it this week, its still nice and long cause I have only used it for a couple years now.

[Captain Intrepid]

There's a formula you can use to find the linear expansion due to heating, I'll look her up when I get back to my cabin.

[Larks]

I will snap a pic of it this week, its still nice and long cause I have only used it for a couple years now.

Thanks knucklehead, I'd appreciate that, I'm keen to see as many options as possible at the moment.

The question about measurement was actually about how to measure the stock as it's being carved down and while I'd been using the verniers I will get myself a set of dividers for future use. As far as determining the size to take it down to, I took a guess based on what I thought the rings might expand to when heated and made the stock roughly 2mm thicker than the inside diameter of the rings were when cool and that worked OK.

[PeterSibley]

Larks, That what I am talking about on the handles, any time a sledge or top-maul gets a broken handle, I throw the remainder under the bench, and eventually it will get reworked into a couple of handles for whatever needs 'em, here in the states, the wood for handles seems to be Hickory... I bought a new build C-mallet once that looked like those examples shots you posted, it also had a hard maple handle, and I could never love it, to me the 'texture' of maple is too smooth for a mallet handle...Cheers, BT

or spotted gum .There's a big plant at Grafton, can't recall the name (used to be up at Ipswich ).All their handles are spotty ,very good indeed .

[Captain Intrepid]

The equation for linear thermal expansion is L'=L+aL(T2-T1) where L' is your new length, L is the original length, a is the co-efficient of linear thermal expansion, T1 is the original temperature in degrees celsius and T2 is the new one. 17.3 is the co-efficient given on wikipedia for stainless steel, though I'm sure each type of stainless has it's own number. I can't remember if it'll work for the diameter of a piece of pipe, but it should work decently for the circumference.

[Larks]

Thanks Cap', I couldn't quite make that work but it did prompt me to find this online calculator: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/linear-thermal-expansion-d_1379.html which has been interesting in itself.

It looks like 304 stainless is 17.3 and 316 stainless is 16 though that needs to be treated as .000016 for the calculation. I have no idea what temp' I had heated the metal to but whether it was 100deg C or 300deg C, the expansion was nothing like I was guessing, if I have it right it's more like less than half a mm expansion of the radius.

Either way the rings seem to have bedded quite firmly so I guess I guessed OK at the time and I have discovered something new already today!!

[Vince Brennan]

Well, the proof will be in the caulking, but it's a very pretty mallet ye've made there! I do hope it comes up to all your expectations!

[Larks]

Well, the proof will be in the caulking, but it's a very pretty mallet ye've made there! I do hope it comes up to all your expectations!
Thanks Vince, I intend to make up a caulking "test bed" this weekend so that I can try it out and compare a few different timbers as I make them.

[Jay Greer]

Great stuff Greg, I would never have thought to use blackbean for a mallet. It might be good though as it's about the same density as white oak,a little splintery though but the rings should control that . Well done !

Jay , if you look in again .Why the timbers you mentioned ....... for we ho have no access to them How do we choose a substitute? Are we after weight, split resistance, bounce? Can you specify?
The woods I mentioned are those that are known to work. They are woods that were used by the Drew Company for their commercially produced mallets. The US Navy supplied a lot of mallets during WWII that were made of red oak and weren't worth a damn. They ended up as usless curiosities in antique shops. The only thing that was good about them was the the fact that the rings were made of forged heat treated steel. I have never had the proper wood for making a mallet, although I have considered trying Desert Iron Wood or Paduke or Rose Wood which is used for marimba bars.
Jay

[Lew Barrett]

THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE (http://www.sydnassloot.com/caulking.htm) on ships' caulkers and their tools. I have linked to it in the past.

The tools are all named, as well as the "slot" (which is called a "tuning slit"). Different areas have different customs in regard to design. Note that English mallets are different than US mallets and old ones (shall we say "Pre-Drew, but understanding that they are generally thought of as "English"?) were frequently made in lignum vitae.

The article names the irons in generic fashion too, and suggests various ways caulkers worked in gangs. If you haven't read it before, you will enjoy it now; a link worth following.

Great thread, Greg, and a lovely bit of work you are doing. I am motivated to dig up some photos I have of a really serious bag of caulker's tools! My friend Tim would be aghast to even let me touch them, I am sure, which gives some truth to the notion that caulkers guard their tools jealously.

[Bob Cleek]

THIS IS A GREAT ARTICLE (http://www.sydnassloot.com/caulking.htm) on ships' caulkers and their tools. I have linked to it in the past.

The tools are all named, as well as the "slot" (which is called a "tuning slit"). Different areas have different customs in regard to design. Note that English mallets are different than US mallets and old ones (shall we say "Pre-Drew, but understanding that they are generally thought of as "English"?) were frequently made in lignum vitae.

The article names the irons in generic fashion too, and suggests various ways caulkers worked in gangs. If you haven't read it before, you will enjoy it now; a link worth following.

Great thread, Greg, and a lovely bit of work you are doing. I am motivated to dig up some photos I have of a really serious bag of caulker's tools! My friend Tim would be aghast to even let me touch them, I am sure, which gives some truth to the notion that caulkers guard their tools jealously.

Thanks, much, Lew! That's a great article. Reading it reminded me of a fact that hasn't been mentioned in this thread before, and which Jay Greer may have some comment on. Many have commented that the mallets they have made don't "ring." While the style of mallet will indeed affect the "ring," as you mentioned with respect to the "tuning slit," that affects the volume and, to some extent, the tone of the "ring." The "ring" itself, however, is a function of the caulking iron, more than anything else, because it is actually the iron that rings, not the mallet. A good, old fashioned iron, such as a Drew, was forged in such a way that the metal will indeed ring when struck. The "store boughten" irons I've seen around today (as opposed to the few custom ones available from artisan blacksmiths) do not seem to ring at all and this is a function of the way they are made. Simple as a caulking iron appears to be to make, they are really much the same as samurai swords. The quality is in the metal and the smithing, not in the mere appearance of the thing. If you are old enough to have ever flipped a real silver coin, such as a silver dollar or fifty cent piece, you know when your thumbnail hits it and sends it spinning in the air, it rings sweetly. Not so today's cupronickel sandwich coins, which don't ring at all. If you drop a good caulking iron on a concrete floor, you will hear it ring the same way when it bounces, as it will if you hang it from a thread adn strike it like a musical triangle. The modern day ones don't do that. So, if your new mallet doesn't "ring" at all, consider whether it's the modern iron that's to blame, rather than your mallet. Jay's not getting a ring out of his mallets still remains a mystery to me, since I presume he must have collected some good old ringing irons over the years.

[Lew Barrett]

Thanks, much, Lew! ....... If you are old enough to have ever flipped a real silver coin, such as a silver dollar or fifty cent piece, you know when your thumbnail hits it and sends it spinning in the air, it rings sweetly. Not so today's cupronickel sandwich coins, which don't ring at all. If you drop a good caulking iron on a concrete floor, you will hear it ring the same way when it bounces, as it will if you hang it from a thread adn strike it like a musical triangle. The modern day ones don't do that. So, if your new mallet doesn't "ring" at all, consider whether it's the modern iron that's to blame, rather than your mallet. Jay's not getting a ring out of his mallets still remains a mystery to me, since I presume he must have collected some good old ringing irons over the years.

My pleasure Bob!

Here are some photos in support of your comments.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff76/LewBarrett/bagodrews.jpg

Tim Regan's working bag. When I told him I wanted a photo of his tools, Tim made it a point to balance one of his gorgeous Drews on end to show that the balance of the tool was perfect....and important. Also note the burlap wrapping. Very "old school" as they say.
Note that the Drews in his bag are all unadorned, very clean and look almost "nickled" just as Bob suggests. I think that's Rodger Morris toe in the picture!


When I asked Tim if there were any special irons in the bag, he pulled out the one below. I suspect as they are alll Drews, they are all somewhat special, but maybe somebody can say why this one is especially prized.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff76/LewBarrett/cuttingiron.jpg


http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff76/LewBarrett/oi.jpg
This above picture is included because it shows the other important caulker's item, the rolling stool. If you look closely you see Tim sitting on the stool, fabricated exactly in the style of the tools discussed in the article linked to above. Also, you see his bag of irons, his wooden tool box and the mallets in the corner of the shot. With this stuff he caulks the bottom in unbelievable speed. The other "Tim the caulker" is similarly equipped, shows up in coveralls and gets down to work ion similar fashion. I love watching professional caulkers ply the trade.


It seems such a simple craft but the reality is that you cannot hope to match them without a great deal of practice. I can't, anyway. They move with speed and make a perfect, even seam of cotton. My efforts are like a toddler's by comparison. It would barely matter what kind of mallet I might have, but I would like to have a good one anyway :)

[Canoeyawl]

Every bit as important as the stool, Tim has the right hat also. Note how it just fits the curve of the bilge...

[Larks]

Lew, thank you indeed for the link to that article, I hadn't seen it before but is especially informative and, in fact quite inspirational. As I think I said above, I have no misconceptions that I might be able to match the traditional mallets, but I do hope to be able to come up with a combination of all of the elements that might come close to imitating what the caulkers must have looked for in a decent, useable mallet, albeit using available Australian timbers.

And thank you also for going to the trouble of posting the photos of Tim Regans bag of tools. Not knowing what black locust or mesquite look like, are those mallets ebony or perhaps black locust or mesquite?

[Lew Barrett]

Every bit as important as the stool, Tim has the right hat also. Note how it just fits the curve of the bilge...

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff76/LewBarrett/RgerTimEvie.jpg

Tim is under the hat! That is Rodger Morris, ace surveyor/shipwright on the left (posts here very infrequently as RGM) and the young lady in the middle is his daughter Evie.

Greg, I don't know what the wood is. It does look a lot like ebony doesn't it, but as it's a genuine Drew, it could be the mesquite. The handles are Tim's; I am sure of that. They are quite beautiful aren't they?

[PeterSibley]

Thanks, much, Lew! That's a great article. Reading it reminded me of a fact that hasn't been mentioned in this thread before, and which Jay Greer may have some comment on. Many have commented that the mallets they have made don't "ring." While the style of mallet will indeed affect the "ring," as you mentioned with respect to the "tuning slit," that affects the volume and, to some extent, the tone of the "ring." The "ring" itself, however, is a function of the caulking iron, more than anything else, because it is actually the iron that rings, not the mallet. A good, old fashioned iron, such as a Drew, was forged in such a way that the metal will indeed ring when struck. The "store boughten" irons I've seen around today (as opposed to the few custom ones available from artisan blacksmiths) do not seem to ring at all and this is a function of the way they are made. Simple as a caulking iron appears to be to make, they are really much the same as samurai swords. The quality is in the metal and the smithing, not in the mere appearance of the thing. If you are old enough to have ever flipped a real silver coin, such as a silver dollar or fifty cent piece, you know when your thumbnail hits it and sends it spinning in the air, it rings sweetly. Not so today's cupronickel sandwich coins, which don't ring at all. If you drop a good caulking iron on a concrete floor, you will hear it ring the same way when it bounces, as it will if you hang it from a thread adn strike it like a musical triangle. The modern day ones don't do that. So, if your new mallet doesn't "ring" at all, consider whether it's the modern iron that's to blame, rather than your mallet. Jay's not getting a ring out of his mallets still remains a mystery to me, since I presume he must have collected some good old ringing irons over the years.

Aside from the pleasure of listening , what is the reason to value the RING Bob ?

[Larks]

Aside from the pleasure of listening , what is the reason to value the RING Bob ?

Peter, have a read of the article that Lew linked to, which is quite a wonderful insight in itself. To take the relevant section from that though, it sounds like the ring had as much to do with early OH&S as it did knowing when the caulking was bedded home:

"Finally, the meaning of the slots and drill holes in the heads of caulking mallets used in New England deserves some commentary. These purposely made and modifiable slots were not, as commonly thought, to prevent splitting of the wooden mallet heads. The teams of caulkers working on large whalers and merchant ships could comprise 20 or 30 men. When a steel caulking iron is struck with force by a wooden mallet against a hollow hull, the sound is a loud, sharp “ping,” that becomes sharper as the caulking proceeds and the hull tightens up. The cumulative noise from a vigorous crew of caulkers is loud, and potentially discordant and annoying. To allay this discomfort, the caulkers modified their mallets, by creating or extending the slots in them, and by drilling holes in them. The effect was to “tune” the mallet, putting it, as it were, in the same “key” with others on the crew and making the noise more musical. It is interesting that caulking mallets from areas where caulking crews were smaller (on Erie Canal barges, for example) often lack this feature."

[JoshuaIII]

Nice work Larks! I am jealous :)

My Mallet was made by the US Navy during WWII...Oak with steel ring, rough but work well...
Just read comment of Jay comment about those at that time was really bad... Oh Well... My seams caulked with it still work so I guess I am a lucky one, but I sure don't do it all day long :)

[JoshuaIII]

When I need to do tight fit like you have done with the ring, I do the opposite.
I will put my timber close to the wood heater during the winter, or in a really dry area during the summer (Sometime the oven, as it work with wood and can be kept a low temp for days).

When the wood is really dry, I shape it and put it in place. When it take back the moisture in the air it make a tied fit. A bit like kiln dry wood...

Nice to see another way that work well and faster ;)

[PeterSibley]

Peter, have a read of the article that Lew linked to, which is quite a wonderful insight in itself. To take the relevant section from that though, it sounds like the ring had as much to do with early OH&S as it did knowing when the caulking was bedded home:

"Finally, the meaning of the slots and drill holes in the heads of caulking mallets used in New England deserves some commentary. These purposely made and modifiable slots were not, as commonly thought, to prevent splitting of the wooden mallet heads. The teams of caulkers working on large whalers and merchant ships could comprise 20 or 30 men. When a steel caulking iron is struck with force by a wooden mallet against a hollow hull, the sound is a loud, sharp “ping,” that becomes sharper as the caulking proceeds and the hull tightens up. The cumulative noise from a vigorous crew of caulkers is loud, and potentially discordant and annoying. To allay this discomfort, the caulkers modified their mallets, by creating or extending the slots in them, and by drilling holes in them. The effect was to “tune” the mallet, putting it, as it were, in the same “key” with others on the crew and making the noise more musical. It is interesting that caulking mallets from areas where caulking crews were smaller (on Erie Canal barges, for example) often lack this feature."

I like it ! Early OH&S :D ! An attempt to stop early industrial deafness .Well done !

I don't think I'll worry too much and I might even cast caulking tools in manganese bronze if anyone ever lends me a set to ram up .

I hope Bob never sees them !

[Larks]

I like it ! Early OH&S :D ! An attempt to stop early industrial deafness .Well done !

I don't think I'll worry too much and I might even cast caulking tools in manganese bronze if anyone ever lends me a set to ram up .

I hope Bob never sees them !

I have the one that I bought at the WBF in Tassie (which is in the last pic in post #6) that you are welcome to cast one from.

I bought some "Wenge" this afternoon from Paradise Timbers and had a go at turning that up into another mallet this evening. I went in to have a rummage through their rack of "exotics" and it looked like it might be worth a try, I'll post some pics of progress and some info on the timber shortly.

[shade of knucklehead]

Two things I noticed while looking at the pictures.

1. I prefer to remove the tool rest entirely when sanding or buffing, might just be me but I just hate the idea of losing more finger than I already have...
2. I can't really tell if that is a skew chisel you are using, but if your not here is a little video of the use of one. Its fast become my favorite wood turning tool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQTo1pAIpQ4


I promise to snap pics today, I keep forgetting...

[PeterSibley]

I might take you up on that when I see you next Greg .Do you have any ironbark ?

[Larks]

Thanks for that link knucklehead, I had mentioned in another post that I've corrected the rest distance (from other suggestions here), but seeing that link gave me a better idea of the rest height as well, not to mention a better idea of how to use my skew chisel, which I had completely wrong.

Re the ironbark Peter, no I don't, do you think it worth a try as well?

[PeterSibley]

Very much so Greg ,I think it would be excellent .It's very dense with a nice tight grain and turns well ,if slowly .

[Larks]

One of the guys at work has this mallet which shows much larger tuning slots than anything else I've seen:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0169.jpg

however they gave me sufficient incentive to try cutting some slots with the longest and narrowest router blade that I have. I must admit, although the concept needs some refining and I did make a bit of a mess, it does have some merit. Ideally I should have made up a box with two even sides to hold the router properly level instead of trying to do it by eye and control (or lack thereof as it turned out - fools rush in.......):

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0171.jpg

But again, as this is more about the learning and developing something suitable, I am happy enough with the attempt and what I have learned. I did this before seeing Lew's photos based on the pic above, I'll do something completely different next time.

[Larks]

'not sure if this may interest anyone, but in comparing the qualities of some of the mentioned and available timbers to see what might make up the ideal mallet (with what we have available here in Oz), I've started to put together the following table. If anyone can help fill in some gaps I'd be very appreciative.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/CaulkingMallettimbercomparisons-1.jpg

[PeterSibley]

I'd be tempted to drill out the waste on a drill press first Greg .

How about a bit of gidgee and ironbark on that list ?

[Larks]

I'd be tempted to drill out the waste on a drill press first Greg .

How about a bit of gidgee and ironbark on that list ?

Yes, I'll add them as well.

I think next time I'll try a jig saw as suggested by Bob and do them as thinner slots first up and see how they sound. That really was a case of rushing to try out a half thought out idea when I didn't have much time to do it properly last night, not a trap I normally fall into.

[PeterSibley]

Would you drill 2 x 10mm holes then join them up ? :o 1/8'' and Bob means a coping saw blade .

edited to add .....


You can make the slots by drilling two small holes at either end of where you want the slots to end, inserting a jigsaw blade (nomenclature check here: a "jigsaw" blade like you'd put in a coping saw, not like you'd put in what they call a jigsaw these days, which we used to call a sabre saw.) and sawing to connect the holes. The holes, maybe 1/8", are important, as they help prevent splitting along the saw kerf. Bob Cleek

[Bob Smalser]

I will only offer one comment. Those mallets with "Hammer" handles are unusual and difficult to stow in the tool box. Most caulking mallet handles are made with a swelling at the head end rather than wedged,..

British mallets, perhaps.

The new Kessler mallets are exact copies of the original Drews (below), and the Drew handle system works just dandy, either in pounding or stowing:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5313557/277742610.jpg

[Peerie Maa]

British mallets, perhaps.

The new Kessler mallets are exact copies of the original Drews (below), and the Drew handle system works just dandy, either in pounding or stowing:

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5313557/277742610.jpg

Very interesting, but . . .

Do they not become sloppy with age as the shaft frets in the head?

[Bob Smalser]

Very interesting, but . . .

Do they not become sloppy with age as the shaft frets in the head?

The Drew handles were hard maple and I imagine took a bit of use to wear one out. (Most of us as only occasional caulkers will never find out.) They were fitted to a hole in the head that had a slight taper in it so the handle would be mounted soundly yet easily removed at the end of the day.

The mallet pictured looks like an original handle, tho it has a replacement peg, and from the distance 'tween end ring and slot, has seen a lot of use.

But what made a premium Drew a premium Drew was Prosopis juliflora, a wood with a rare combination of high Specific Gravity (weight) and relatively low resistance to end grain crushing (Compression parallel to the grain). Heavy and hard wood produces a mallet that rings loud and hits with authority. Low crushing strength produces a mallet that eventually wears out, but is easier on the wrist and elbow over the long haul. Compare P juliflora with Ipe below to see why users of Ipe mallets and the like complain of sore elbows.


Species / SG / End Grain Crush Strength

Q. virginiana (Live Oak) / .88 / 8900lbs

P. juliflora (Black Mesquite) / .94 / 9000lbs

P. nigra (Black Mesquite) / .85 / 8700lbs

P. grandulosa (Common Mesquite) / .81 / unk

O.radiaei (Greenheart) / .80 / 12,510lbs

A. grareoleus (Goncalo Aves) / .84 / 10,320lbs

M. hidentata (Bulletwood) / .85 / 11,400lbs

Tabebria sp. (Ipe) / .92 / 13,010lbs

[Larks]

Here's that table again with those timbers added Bob, as well as with the crushing strengths shown in both MPA and PSI to better compare Australian and US timbers. Going on this info' I think I may have fluked the Blackbean first up as being one of the closest matches to the Black Mesquite:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/CaulkingMallettimbercomparisons2.jpg

[shade of knucklehead]

Your welcome,

I actually took a picture of mine today, unfortunately the camera is out in my truck and its thunder storming right now...

[Peerie Maa]

Here's that table again with those timbers added Bob, as well as with the crushing strengths shown in both MPA and PSI to better compare Australian and US timbers. Going on this info' I think I may have fluked the Blackbean first up as being one of the closest matches to the Black Mesquite:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/CaulkingMallettimbercomparisons2.jpg

No mention of lignum vitae, which "store bought" British mallets were made from.

[shade of knucklehead]

Here's mine, in its normal storage spot, tossed in my corner against the welder...

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff404/Shade_O_Knucklehead/IMG_0852.jpg

[Larks]

No mention of lignum vitae, which "store bought" British mallets were made from.

I'll correct that when I get home from dinner tonight PM, I also have a couple of others to add that I had a play with today, Rosewood (another generous gift from Peter Sibley - I must have walked away with quite an arm full that day..) as well as spotted gum and Iron bark, which I pinched out of my neighbors wood pile today (at least our best guess is spotted gum and iron bark).

Thanks Knucklehead, I like that handle!!

[PeterSibley]

Rosewood would be the Rolls Royce version Greg ! It would smell nice too. :D

[Larks]

Rosewood would be the Rolls Royce version Greg ! It would smell nice too. :D

Yes, I hope it isn't a waste having turned it yesterday, it smelt nice turning it and was wonderful to work. But can you tell me which rosewood it is Peter? I have four in Bootles, Indian, Brazilian, New Guinea and Scentless, however it doesn't seem to match any of those in description. It is a very uniform pink/red when turned.

Edit that to say - don't worry Peter, I found it - Rose Mahogany! Do you have any more that you might be willing to sell??

[Larks]

Meanwhile, a few photos of the "Wenge" that I turned on Friday afternoon. the piece that I found was only 50mm x 50mm so I've had to keep this one as one thicknes throughout to match the SS tube that I have available, but the timber is quite appealing for this use.

Here is the wiki link to some info about Wenge for anyone who may be interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenge

Taking off the corners to make it a bit easier to trim down:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0175.jpg

Sizing the tube stock that I'll use for the rings:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0176.jpg

My new calipers (I think I'll round the points off slightly today):

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0177.jpg

The stock showing the rest a bit closer to the job as suggested earlier:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0178.jpg

and being turned down to something close to size:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0179.jpg

and this is what it looks like (with a bit of turpentine on it to show the colour):

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0182.jpg

[Larks]

Here is the "wenge" piece next to the "Blackbean" as a bit of a comparison:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0185.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0186.jpg

[shade of knucklehead]

All this makes me very impatient to get my garage built. Then I can move all my lathes out of storage in the basement and start making pretty things. The wood lathes we have at work are too hard to use, one has a 12 foot bed and is just too much work to make small stuff and the small lathe is in the basement and requires about a half hour of moving stuff out of the way in order to use it....

[Larks]

All this makes me very impatient to get my garage built. Then I can move all my lathes out of storage in the basement and start making pretty things. The wood lathes we have at work are too hard to use, one has a 12 foot bed and is just too much work to make small stuff and the small lathe is in the basement and requires about a half hour of moving stuff out of the way in order to use it....

It has turned out to be quite an addictive activity, unfortunately to the detriment of work that I want to get done on my H28, but I'm having fun so what does it matter??

But why do you need to wait for your shed to be built? I've been dragging mine out daily and setting it up on the horses, not ideal I know but it's been usable enough and all the dust is kept outside. I will make up a proper and sturdy bench specifically for mine, but until then this set up allows me to get a few things done and have a play and learn a bit.

[RFNK]

Looks good to me Greg! Just a note on woodturning. Most woodturners, even some quite good ones, rely on scraping as their main approach, especially for straightforward jobs like this one, instead of cutting, the way it should really be done. The problem with scraping is that it's very messy and leaves a lot of sanding to be done, and it needs the lathe to be spinning too quickly. If you intend to do a lot of turning, you really should learn to use the skew chisel as a cutting tool. This will give you a much smoother finish right off the tool, you can run the lathe much slower, so it's safer and not so messy, and you'll spend less time sharpening your chisels. I can show you how if you're ever down this way but I'm happy to recommend a book or two if you like.

I also use calipers (the ones shown by Bob above) for measuring the diameter but I keep the ends reasonably sharp. They don't catch as the forces counteract each other and the sharpish edges give you a mark to cut to.
Rick

[Larks]

Thanks Rick, I'd be very interested indeed. I had quite a go at using the skew chisel on some spotted gum today as shown in the clip that Knucklehead posted, but to be honest I found myself going back to the gouge as I found it much easier to use, although I tried it with the rest at varying heights and so on.

I'd also be very interested in some book recommendations, I've been trawling through the youtube videos and found them very helpful but I am more of a book person.

Meanwhile, here is the updated table (for anyone who may be interested??) shoing Lignum Vitae and a couple more Australian timbers that I'm trying:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/CaulkingMallettimbercomparisons3.jpg

[Larks]

I spent a little time yesterday getting together a selection of timbers to try out and had a play with a lovely piece of Rosewood (Rose Mahogany), another generous gift from Peter Sibley, so thought I might add those pic's here. The rosewood was an absolute delight to work with:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0189.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0191.jpg

(Any eagle eyed viewers may note a subtle change to my lathe rest)

Feeling rather happy with myself and the pleasures of playing with the lathe and this lovely wood:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0199.jpg

Measuring and marking the stock to keep things reasonably uniform and even:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0201.jpg

I trimmed down to a little over size to allow for some sanding:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0207.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0209.jpg

[PeterSibley]

Looks good to me Greg! Just a note on woodturning. Most woodturners, even some quite good ones, rely on scraping as their main approach, especially for straightforward jobs like this one, instead of cutting, the way it should really be done. The problem with scraping is that it's very messy and leaves a lot of sanding to be done, and it needs the lathe to be spinning too quickly. If you intend to do a lot of turning, you really should learn to use the skew chisel as a cutting tool. This will give you a much smoother finish right off the tool, you can run the lathe much slower, so it's safer and not so messy, and you'll spend less time sharpening your chisels. I can show you how if you're ever down this way but I'm happy to recommend a book or two if you like.

I also use calipers (the ones shown by Bob above) for measuring the diameter but I keep the ends reasonably sharp. They don't catch as the forces counteract each other and the sharpish edges give you a mark to cut to.
Rick

Scraping was the method taught at TAFE in Patternmaking classes Rick ,It was regarded as slower but more accurate for turning to precise measurements although there was one young chap in the class who had been taught ''artistic'' turning by his father and his accuracy was prefect as was his finish !

[Larks]

I found the sanding block with some decent coarse sandpaper helped to give me a nice uniform flat finish - probably cheating but it works for me:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0211.jpg

The colour with a bit of turps to show it up:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0212.jpg

As well as a firewood log of ironwood one of my neighbors gave me a length of what we believe to be spotted gum, left over from his stair balustrades:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0217.jpg

I made a bit of a start on rounding a piece of that off to see how it was to work:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0215.jpg

And it worked up quite nicely, although a lot more "coarse" than the rosewood so needed a bit more care to trim down.

But by the time I had to quite to head out to dinner last night I had a nice little collection of stuff lined up on the bench.

From left - Black bean; Rose Mahogany (Rosewood); Wenge x 2; Tasmanian Oak x 2; Ironbark (off the firewood pile); Spotted gum:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0221.jpg

[PeterSibley]

Greg ,I really am going to have to find a decent little wood lathe ,mine is a strange old electrician metal lathe , neither one thing or another .A terrible metal lathe but too small for wood !

[PeterSibley]

Great stuff Greg ,you really have be busy! I look forward to the finished articles !

[Larks]

And unable to stay away from it, today I had another play and turned down the smaller length of wenge into what may pass as a small deck caulking mallet, seen in the background below - (I'll wait until it's finished with rings etc to get a decent pic).

But I also turned up a handle out of the spotted gum for my original black bean mallet, here's the stock that it started out as:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0225.jpg

and here's the finished product with a bit of tung oil on it inspired by some of the photos of other mallets kindly posted by others here (and my fly rod handle):

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0222.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0224.jpg




please note the balance........:D:D:D

[PeterSibley]

noted :dY>

[Larks]

I should add that heating the rings on hasn't worked quite as well as I had initially thought. They seemed quite solid when the job had first cooled but Friday when I took the broomstick handle out they didn't seem quite so snug, I think the rings beeing so hot that they burned into the wood briefly when I put them on had actually charred a bit of the thickness away. However I have been giving it a liberal dose of tung oil and they all seem to have snugged up again.

I think in future I'll try drying the carved mallet head a little more as suggested above and then apply some oil as I have done here to bring it back up again. We get such extremes of damp and dry weather here that I think the heads will need some decent oil to keep them reasonably stable if the rings are to stay in place long term

[Larks]

noted :dY>

I reckon it's my well studied Irish wood butchery technique.............just bloody lucky ;):D!!!

[PeterSibley]

I don't think so ,you're just good ! :D|;)

[Peerie Maa]

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/CaulkingMallettimbercomparisons3.jpg

If you assume that LV is an industry standard, being favoured for store bought mallets in the UK, you should be looking at Iron bark, Tallowood and Crows ash, Ipe and Gaboon ebony would be in there as well.

I have a small mallet turned up from a piece of Jarrah railway tie. The properties look OK : sg 0.8, hardness 8.5 kN, 61 MPa.

[shade of knucklehead]

For the record the correct cutting action of a gouge is the same as a skew. Most people however use them as scrapers. The correct way is worth working at, once you get the knack of it, it speeds things up greatly...

[Bob Cleek]

Warning! Shameless tool gloat!

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff37/rjcleek/PC010033_edited.jpg

A "mug shot" of my caulking kit, which doesn't get anywhere near the use of a professional's set. The irons aren't rusty, trust me. They are covered in wax to prevent that. Before I use them, I clean them up and buff them shiney on a buffing wheel. The smoother your iron, the less friction when driving into a seam, which is what you want. Most all of the irons are Drews with a few other brands. There's a couple of bent file reefing irons there, too. All are the old hand forged type and ring true. The mallet is one of those oak jobs the Navy pumped out during the war. I've been told by old timers they called 'em "lifeboat mallets," because they were stowed in the toolboxes of wooden lifeboats. It's no Drew, but it works adequately for my amateur use. Truth be told, for small boats, I use a smaller regular wooden mallet, which I find more convenient. No doubt if I were caulking all day long on a large hull, I'd want a proper quallity mallet. (The adzes, which certainly aren't caulking tools, just happened to end up in the shot, two "carpenters" and one "shipwright's" lipped. with its new handle just slid through the head. I hadn't hung it at the time the pic was shot.)

The two small tools with the wheels on them are for running "string" into small seams. These are modern tools. They are sold in hardware stores for use in seating the rubber gasket that is used to hold screen in modern window and door screens. They have a concave groove in the edge of the wheels that works well.

I got the caulking irons from the daughter of a professional caulker who worked in the Pacific Northwest. Paid her a couple of hundred bucks for them. Not chump change, but it was one of those "once in a lifetime opportunities" I couldn't pass up. It turned out all were "Drew Quality" irons. Drew made two lines, the professional level "Drew Quality" and the amateur level "Cape Cod." The "Drew Quality" line were of polished tempered steel and "ring." The Cape Cod line looks the same, design-wise, and were polished, but not tempered, and don't ring much.

I'll add for the uninitiated that while many of the straight irons in the picture look the same, all are different. Those that appear the same are in fact each of different thicknesses, from "00 crease" (1/32") and "0 crease" (1/16") up to "3 crease" (1/4"). The edges of the thicker irons, "1" through "3" have grooves or "creases" in them to better set the caulking material evenly in thicker seams. The creases keep the iron from "rolling" the caulking and applying pressure unevenly to the top or bottom of the material (cotton or okum) as it's hammered into the seam. It seems these days the only irons generally available (e.g. WB Store) are "0's" and "1's," which leaves you in the lurch if you have a seam that's much wider than 1/8".

If you are lusting after a Drew iron, this guy apparently has some new-old stock he's offering. $50 apiece. http://www.midcoast.com/~malone/Caulking%20irons/Caulking_irons.html

[Lew Barrett]

This thread keeps getting better. It should become one for the reference section which also needs to be invented.

[RFNK]

Scraping was the method taught at TAFE in Patternmaking classes Rick ,It was regarded as slower but more accurate for turning to precise measurements although there was one young chap in the class who had been taught ''artistic'' turning by his father and his accuracy was prefect as was his finish !


Scraping works quite well with some timber and they probably used something with very dense, tight grain for patternmaking. But generally speaking, it's bad advice. Proper use of lathe tools does take a bit of getting used to but in the long run it's worthwhile, especially if you're going to be using a range of timbers and want to turn at a safe speed. Mike Darlow has published at least two books on woodturning technique - I think his books are the best available. If you just enter Mike Darlow into any of the online book suppliers, you're sure to find his books. The one that I have is called The Practice of Woodturning
Rick

[RFNK]

a bit of tongue oil on it


That would be tung oil - thankfully!! : )
Rick

[Larks]

That would be tung oil - thankfully!! : )
Rick
Thanks Rick, corrected (and I even typed it twice - doh!!). And thanks for the advice re the Mike Darlow books.

[PeterSibley]

That's not fair , my imagination was having a ball .I saw it but preferred your spelling Greg !:D

[WX]

Nice job Greg. I have Aussie Teak growing here, I might be able to round up a bit for you if you want.
I have a lathe just like yours, belonged to my Dad.

[Larks]

Nice job Greg. I have Aussie Teak growing here, I might be able to round up a bit for you if you want.
I have a lathe just like yours, belonged to my Dad.

Thanks Gary, I'll take you up on that, it's the Crows Ash that Peter suggested earlier on and going on the numbers it looks like it'd be a good choice for the mallets. Do you use the lathe at all?

[PeterSibley]

No ,he's going to leave it at my place , but he doesn't know yet !!! :D

[WX]

Thanks Gary, I'll take you up on that, it's the Crows Ash that Peter suggested earlier on and going on the numbers it looks like it'd be a good choice for the mallets. Do you use the lathe at all?
Last time I used it was to make the drum for my mast sander. Not as nice as your mallet. What are the dimensions of the head? I have a piece of 4x2 seasoned Teak kicking around somewhere, other than that I'd have to cut a branch off something.

[Larks]

Last time I used it was to make the drum for my mast sander. Not as nice as your mallet. What are the dimensions of the head? I have a piece of 4x2 seasoned Teak kicking around somewhere, other than that I'd have to cut a branch off something.

The black bean one is 2" (50mm), the rosewood that I've done is about 60mm in the middle and 50mm at the ends, I'm just making them to suit whatever SS tube stock that I have available.

[WX]

I'll go for a wander on Thursday and Have a look at the tree in the paddock. See if there is a suitable branch I can take off. I do have some Leopard tree, it's an Ironwood, very dense. Apparently cabinet makers / woodworkers love it...hmm wonder if it's worth anything? Anyway i can give you a bit of that as well.

[Larks]

I'll go for a wander on Thursday and Have a look at the tree in the paddock. See if there is a suitable branch I can take off. I do have some Leopard tree, it's an Ironwood, very dense. Apparently cabinet makers / woodworkers love it...hmm wonder if it's worth anything? Anyway i can give you a bit of that as well.

Thanks Gary, that's very kind of you and greatly appreciated!! Sounds like some trading may be in order.

[Duncan Gibbs]

I'll also have a stack of flitches, boards and offcuts from White Mahogany, Silver Ash, Mararie, Flooded Gum and I think I have some Blackbutt as well. Caulking Mallets all round! :)

[Larks]

I'll also have a stack of flitches, boards and offcuts from White Mahogany, Silver Ash, Mararie, Flooded Gum and I think I have some Blackbutt as well. Caulking Mallets all round! :)

Yes please!!!!

[PeterSibley]

OK ,I can see Birthday Presents mounting up !

[Bob Cleek]

Okay, here's a caulking mallet that beats 'em all!

http://modelshipworld.com/phpBB2/files/2011_06_01_1924_59_edited_shipyard_caulking_202.jp g

[ILikeRust]

"When I nod my head, you hit it."

[WX]

Thanks Gary, that's very kind of you and greatly appreciated!! Sounds like some trading may be in order.
Always happy to trade.:D
Many years ago when I first started mucking about with fitting axe handles and old bloke told me the way to do. Dry the head of the handle out (I put mine in the oven for a bit), fit the axe head and use a dry wooden wedge...then drop the whole thing in a bucket of water overnight. I have never had a head come loose doing that. I just put a new handle in my blocksplitter that way.

[The Bigfella]

I've got some Ebony under the house. A previous owner left it there. They'd obviously done an Africa trip and brought home some pretty obnoxious carvings and bowls. I must see if one of the statues is big enough to "convert"

[Larks]

Always happy to trade.:D
Many years ago when I first started mucking about with fitting axe handles and old bloke told me the way to do. Dry the head of the handle out (I put mine in the oven for a bit), fit the axe head and use a dry wooden wedge...then drop the whole thing in a bucket of water overnight. I have never had a head come loose doing that. I just put a new handle in my blocksplitter that way.

I reckon that's the way to go with these too Gary. Having fiven the blackbean one a dose of tung oil the rings are as solid as could be.




I've got some Ebony under the house. A previous owner left it there. They'd obviously done an Africa trip and brought home some pretty obnoxious carvings and bowls. I must see if one of the statues is big enough to "convert"

Fantastic Ian, if you are willing to part with it I'll make bloody good use of it!!

[RFNK]

You can't use ebony for a mallet!!!
Rick

[WX]

Greg the two wobbly poles holding up the engine hoist are Leopard tree, you are welcome to both of them. They're both around 3 metres.
http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/mtwarning/engine_hoist3.jpg?t=1308110221

I have a nice new chainsaw, so I'll see what teak I can trim.

[Larks]

You can't use ebony for a mallet!!!
Rick

Watch me (if I get it that is) - good SG but possibly too high a crushing strength??. But hey, I'm willing to make anything else out of it that I can think of to turn on the lathe.

[Larks]

Greg the two wobbly poles holding up the engine hoist are Leopard tree, you are welcome to both of them. They're both around 3 metres.

I have a nice new chainsaw, so I'll see what teak I can trim.

I'm taking the week of 4 to 8 July off purely to have "selfish time" and work on the H28 so perhaps it's time I came down to see where you guys live.

[WX]

Sounds like a fine idea...EBS anyone?:D

[PeterSibley]

We'll all bring mallet blanks !

[RFNK]

I'd love to come to that but I'll be too wrapped up in these damned renovations.

Ebony's beautiful wood and great to turn with. It's just too valuable to be turned into a mallet when there's so much other suitable wood for that. I'm planning to make an ebony chess set one day .... yep, I know that's not very original but it's something I'd like to do. But there are plenty of other things that ebony can be used for.
Rick

[Larks]

I'd love to come to that but I'll be too wrapped up in these damn renovations.

Ebony's beautiful wood and great to turn with. It's just too valuable to be turned into a mallet when there's so much other suitable wood for that. I'm planning to make an ebony chess set one day .... yep, I know that's not very original but it's something I'd like to do. But there are plenty of other things that ebony can be used for.
Rick

Yes, it has had me thinking of a few since Ian sewed the seed, either way if he's willing to part with it it will be put to exceptionally good use!!!

[PeterSibley]

A piano ? ;)

[The Bigfella]

There isn't much of it.... and really, it probably should be left as some tribal folks made it.

I'll dig it out.... if I can find it.

[The Bigfella]

Yeah... found it. There's 3.5kg of it. It isn't as thick as I remembered. There's three serving plates... carved thin. One bookend head about 200mm high and a 450 mm high mask/shield thingie. Who knows how old? I might remember to take a photo tomorrow... I should have the camera out to take a photo of the carbon dashboard coming out of the mould.

I've seen ebony at Trend Timbers - but in planks IIRC. Their timber list shows a couple of species

Ebony Black ( Diospyros ebenum [India/Sri Lanka] )

Macassar Ebony ( Diospyrus spp. [Indonesia/India] )

http://www.trendtimbers.com.au/index.php?id=66

They also have

Lignum Vitae ( Guaiacum spp. [Central America] )

and

African Blackwood ( Palbergia Melanoxylon [Tanzania] ) - which may be what my carvings are.

[Larks]

Thanks Ian, I've been meaning to give Trend a call to see what they have in stock and what their prices are like. I might have to do that tomorrow.

[The Bigfella]

They know how to charge. I used to have a very good contact in the trade, Bruce Smith. He died far, far too young. He put me on to my Qld Maple and Kauri supplier. Hell, I even knocked back some cheap Teak off him. Bruce used to travel the world sourcing timbers. He was trying to convince me to use something from South America to do the cabin on Grantala.

I've got some Caledonian Oak here if you want it for anything fancy. Its a pink Silky Oak.

[PeterSibley]

Greg , I think you better post a list of desired timbers and we'll have a look .Dimensions need too .

[P.L.Lenihan]

Sounds like a fine idea...EBS anyone?:D


Rats! I live too far away to make it but would have brought some nice bits of various mahogany species, all but a few too soft for a mallet but Greg coulda made a small pile of French Ticklers or a fine broom handle for the missus,me thinks:D

Amazing bit of fancy yet precise work Greg! How about a taff rail for the H28 with some lovely each-one-a-different-wood rail posts?

I'll also echo previous sentiments about how this thread should be permanently stickied or kept in some sort of reference section. Valuable information here!!


Cheers!


Peter

[Duncan Gibbs]

I'm taking the week of 4 to 8 July off purely to have "selfish time" and work on the H28 so perhaps it's time I came down to see where you guys live.


Sounds like a fine idea...EBS anyone?:D

I could fire up the barbie for a lunch!


We'll all bring mallet blanks !

Anything we think unsuitable gets donated to the cause of lunch!

Peter has some ebony living in his back yard: The fruit of ebony bearing timber trees are known as persimmons.

The Caledonia Oak may be a little too soft Ian. 690kg p/m3 ADD just puts it on the edge of proper hard.

[PeterSibley]

You keep away from my persimmon ! I'll give you seeds instead !

[WX]

So looks like an EBS at Duncan's?
We had a tree come down a day or two back. 30+ years ago I thought it was a Black Bean but it's not. I'll have a look at it tomorrow.

[oznabrag]

Thanks again BT, most of the hammer and axe handles that we geet here seem to be hickory as well and I'd actually been eyeing off one of my hickory sledge hammer handles yesterday to see if I might "reassign" it - but figured it still had a little more life in its current use yet. I'll get a hold of a couple of smaller sledge handles from the local hardware store and rework them a bit, they're cheap enough to buy and I don't know of any other source of hickory in Australia.

If you're after hickory hammer/mallet handles, it is important to get a piece that has widely-spaced annular rings. It is MUCH more resilient and resistant to splitting than the close-grained stuff.

Your mallets look very nicely done, Greg (?).

I just broke my last Osage Orange mallet head yesterday, so I'll be turning out a new batch soon. I'll be applying a lot of what I've learned from you, when I do!

Thanks!

[Larks]

Thankyou Oz'. And I'd better add Osage Orange to the comparison list.

[shade of knucklehead]

Okay, here's a caulking mallet that beats 'em all!

http://modelshipworld.com/phpBB2/files/2011_06_01_1924_59_edited_shipyard_caulking_202.jp g

Let me tell you, swinging one of them is hard freaking work...

[WX]

I wandered down to the fallen tree with my nice new chainsaw this morning and cut a few bits free. I then cut a breadboard sized piece out and brought home, planed and sanded it back and this is what it looks like.
http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/mtwarning/FindersiaDry.jpg
That's dry and the next one is wet.
http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd476/mtwarning/FlidersiaWet.jpg
It smells like Oz Teak but I think it's Bennett's Ash, Flindersia bennettiana. Here's a description of the timber.

Straight grained and easily worked. Previously used for timber in the construction of coaches, boat building, cabinet and joinery work. It is an excellent carving wood.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flindersia_bennettiana#cite_note-2) The weight is between 800 and 850 kilograms per cubic metre.
The piece above was cut from the top of the trunk and I cut another section about 2 metres off it. I'd say there's still a good 5-6 metres of usable timber in a diameter from 30cm up to around 60cm.

[WX]

Ah, going by the bark I think it is actually Yellowwood. The species name xanthoxyla means "yellow wood".
The trunk is cylindrical and straight with grey or brownish grey bark. The bark features vertical fissures, and the bark flakes off in plates

An ornamental tree. Also planted for shade. Previously used for timber in the construction of coaches. Also cabinet making, flooring, tool handles, lining, ammunition boxes, artificial limbs and joinery. The timber has steam bending qualities.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flindersia_xanthoxyla#cite_note-4) The weight is between 575 and 900 kilograms per cubic metre.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Just reminded myself of this shot Greg: She obviously needs one of your mallets mate!

http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL1913/10058894/23700887/395237173.jpg

[shade of knucklehead]

corkin with a broken foot sucks...

[Larks]

corkin with a broken foot sucks...

It would, surely it'd be easier to use a mallet??

[WX]

Well the section I cut off the Yellow Wood log got cut up for firewood by a well intentioned neighbour. He though it had been dumped there when the log was moved...so he removed it. I'll have to cut another bit when I get back from Rick's.

[KAIROS]

http://www.yachtflyers.com/forum_images/caulking.jpg

[RFNK]

Sorry if this is already covered above but why does the caulking mallet need to have that awkward shape? Surely an ordinary mallet, like the one the little girl is using, would be fine? Of course there must be a reason but what is it?
Rick

[shade of knucklehead]

It would, surely it'd be easier to use a mallet??

Haha

Nice to meet a fella smartass...

[PeterSibley]

Sorry if this is already covered above but why does the caulking mallet need to have that awkward shape? Surely an ordinary mallet, like the one the little girl is using, would be fine? Of course there must be a reason but what is it?
Rick

I guess it depends on how much you do .I seem to recall Bud MacIntosh saying he just used an ordinary mallet as he didn't do enough caulking , only built 50 odd decent sized boats .

[Jay Greer]

We woodenboat builders are prone to have our own pet ways of doing things. God forbid that some one should try to confuse my mind with facts when my head is already made up! For me, my Drew is just fine.
Jay

[Peerie Maa]

Just reminded myself of this shot Greg: She obviously needs one of your mallets mate!

http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL1913/10058894/23700887/395237173.jpg

She needs a box to stand on.;)

[Larks]

Cutting tuning slots - for anyone who may be interested, here's a bit of a photo essay on how I've been cutting the tuning slots on the mallets:

I made up a MDF jig to hold the turned block in place and to provide a flat bed to run a router along:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0241.jpg

The slot in the base is to allow it to fit into my table vice. With the turned mallet clamped in place I marked in where the slots were to run:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0242.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0244.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0246.jpg

and drilled the ends of the slots as well as a pilot hole for the exact centre where the handle will be fitted. I'd add that I've done this prior to the final sanding of the mallet so please ignore the imperfections in the timber that you see here:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0248.jpg

then clamped the whole lot into my bench clamp

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0249.jpg

[Larks]

Using the drill bit I made sure the drilled holes were sitting nice and square to the jig:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0250.jpg

then attacked it with my very handy small router/trimmer. I used the jig for a straight cut and a clamp to give me an end stop and took it quite slowly:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0251.jpg

However in my foolish rush to press on I bit off a little too much making the first cut too deep


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0252.jpg

and snapping off the router bit:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0255.jpg

so with a new router bit, I then pressed on but taking more care and smaller bites:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0271.jpg

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0273.jpg

[Larks]

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0275.jpg

until I got to the maximum depth that I could achieve with the router bit:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0276.jpg

which was not quite through to the centre:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0277.jpg

meaning that I'd need to cut the final section out with a jig saw blade.

One minor problem was that the pin of the jig saw blade was too big to fit through the hole that I'd drilled through the mallet head:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0281.jpg

so a bit of a touch up on the wheel:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0282.jpg

until it would just fit:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0285.jpg

[Larks]

but still have enough meat to grab in the jig saw:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0286.jpg

Now this was the most difficult bit, for me anyway, achieving a straight cut both sides while only being able to see one at a time. (Eventually I grabbed a mirror which did make it a little easier, however didn't bother photographing that)

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0288.jpg

The timber is very hard so this was a quite slow and tedious process to try and keep a straight cut:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0290.jpg

so achieved this rather depressingly ragged looking cut:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0293.jpg


which I attacked with some course sandpaper and the thinnest files that I could find to fit through the slot. The sandpaper worked the best when pressed with the back of one of my set square blades

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0297.jpg


The final result is still not ideal but it is superior to my very first attempt:


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0298.jpg


Despite the painstaking care that I took with the jigsaw, I do need to get a better first cut to minimise the sanding. I am also considering buying myself a scroll saw to use on my H28 refit and "possibly" to cut these tuning slots. I'll let you know how that goes if I do end up getting one.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Which timber is that Greg? Is that the Wenge? Nice grain!

What about using the drill press and just milling out the slot with a very, very sharp Jennings auger bit, just moving the feed in screw along only a small amount; just enough to make a clean cut each time. I'd put a long wedge on each side as well. That will help prevent any tear-out on the exit side.

Have you had a crack at that wee White Mahogany log yet Greg? I'd be really interested to know how it works.

[Larks]

That's the wenge Duncan, I'm looking forward to oiling it to see how it finishes up.

I haven't had the lathe out again yet, but did start to have a go at making a couple of blanks up for it from the mahogany. The plan was to split it then start squaring it through the band saw like I'd done for some of the other blocks that I have, however....................man that is one bloody tough log!!!!.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/IMG_0414.jpg

I saw where you (or someone) had tried to cut it down the middle with a chain saw so I think I'll save my band saw blade on this and wait until I get a nice sharp and sturdy table saw to see what damage I can do with that.

[Paul G.]

My old boatbuilder friend made me a mallet, its octagonal from a 75 x75 about 150 long with a bit of old broom handle for, well, the handle! We caulked for days with it. All good! He said the long trad type are for guys who do it all day every day as its easier to use, but for one boat any old mallet will do.

[shade of knucklehead]

Even though I use traditional mallets, I end up using what is most comfortable. Sometimes a claw hammer, some times a 2 lb short handled sledge. For irons sometimes there is nothing that will work better than a screwdriver....

Whatever works.

[Paul G.]

agreed! he used screwdrivers, old chisels (blunted) an old bent caulking iron, claw hammer, mallet, dumpy- in fact whatever we had handy and they all worked!

[shade of knucklehead]

We have a couple of special irons made especially for our railway. Because the keel is normally sitting on 4 inch wood blocks on top of 8" I beams its very hard to caulk above them. So we took ordinary floor chisels, cut a radius on one side and bent them. You sit the shaft of the floor chisel on the keelblock and hit downward with a small sledge, it pivots on the keelblock and the flat part of the floor chisel drives up into the gar board seam.

[Larks]

I finally put a couple of handles on my last mallets that had been sitting on the work bench for the last few months, plus got some rings on a smaller mallet that I'd turned up out of a small bit of "wenge" rather than waste it.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/4ed21c15.jpg

From the left, my favourite in a wonderful scented rosewood, then my original Blackbean one, the small "wenge" one and then a larger "wenge" one.


The Rosewood one not only looks and feels the nicest but it also sounds the nicest. I wish I had an ear for music to put a note to each one because they each have a quite distinctive note, the small wenge one, without tuning slots, being the sharpest note, the larger wenge one is also sharp and I'd say both are just a bit too sharp for my ear for pleasant use.

The blackbean one sounds quite nice and would be quite useable all day long (I deliberately left the shorter handle on it because I find it quite acceptable), but the Rosewood one, that has the best sound of all of them, a very pleasant ring that is not sharp at all and which I think anyone would be happy to hear.

Here's another pick of it just because I like it so much:

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii11/Larks_01/551a6401.jpg

[Ethan]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

[Duncan Gibbs]

Lovely Greg! I'll have to get you to turn me up one for when I caulk Erica... Eventually! :o

[Larks]

Thanks Ethan and Duncan. And I'd be happy to Duncan, as long as you don't want one in white mahogany....too hard and I reckon it'd rink too sharply.

I've been doing the garboard seam last night and this morning and although the rosewood mallet is my favourite, I've found the shorter handled blackbean one to be the most convenient and useable for that area as the longer handle, whilst only slightly longer, just kept getting in the road of a clear and straight swing. Bearing in mind that it doesn't need a particularly bit whack to bed the caulking home, just a reasonably straight few decent taps.

I had the blackbean mallet at a boaties market a while ago to see what interest there may be for me to make a few and sell them and all sorts of guys came up sounding all experienced and important about their knowledge of caulking mallets and they all criticized my short handle. I was a bit surprised at that because it just "felt" right when I put it together, even though I'd not used it and those at the market who were so vocal and who I questioned about caulking actually didn't seem to have done any caulking at all but were still quite happy to postulate on it as if they'd been doing it all their lives.

Anyway, the proof is in the pudding and it really has proven to be the ideal length for the job.

[fishrswim]

I've never used a caulking mallet, but I think the one you made is a work of art. It might not be perfect, but it's an amazing first attempt. I especially admire your ingenuity. Good on ya!!

We all learned from your go at it.

[shade of knucklehead]

Thanks Ethan and Duncan. And I'd be happy to Duncan, as long as you don't want one in white mahogany....too hard and I reckon it'd rink too sharply.

I've been doing the garboard seam last night and this morning and although the rosewood mallet is my favourite, I've found the shorter handled blackbean one to be the most convenient and useable for that area as the longer handle, whilst only slightly longer, just kept getting in the road of a clear and straight swing. Bearing in mind that it doesn't need a particularly bit whack to bed the caulking home, just a reasonably straight few decent taps.

I had the blackbean mallet at a boaties market a while ago to see what interest there may be for me to make a few and sell them and all sorts of guys came up sounding all experienced and important about their knowledge of caulking mallets and they all criticized my short handle. I was a bit surprised at that because it just "felt" right when I put it together, even though I'd not used it and those at the market who were so vocal and who I questioned about caulking actually didn't seem to have done any caulking at all but were still quite happy to postulate on it as if they'd been doing it all their lives.

Anyway, the proof is in the pudding and it really has proven to be the ideal length for the job.

I have been told by a couple of people that my handle is all wrong. I ignore them because it feels right to my lopsided short fingered giant hand...

[jsjpd1]

Greg,
I'll be the first to admit very little experience in caulking. Just one small deck so far. But the mallets you've made are very attractive and seem to fit pretty well with this old one of my grandfather's I found in the garage. It's seen a lot of use so I can't imagine it was too uncomfortable.

http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/jsjpd1/DSCN1308.jpg

http://i646.photobucket.com/albums/uu186/jsjpd1/DSCN1310.jpg

Jim

[galeao]

I'm looking for a cauking mallet detailed design, can anyone supply me it ?

[Larks]

I'm looking for a cauking mallet detailed design, can anyone supply me it ?

I doubt you'll find one, there's nothing particularly scientific to them and they came in many shapes and sizes depending on the shipwright who made it for himself at the time (as most mallets were). I just made up the shapes and sizes to what looked and felt right to me as I went.

[Harbourmaster]

A trick I learned form an old timer when I was first starting out as a mechanic.... To ease the installation of pinion and axle bearings (that required a press fit) was that he would heat the bearings in an oil bath (using an old pan full of light oil on an electric hot plate) for an hour or so before they were installed. This swelled the bearing up slightly making it easier to press over the shaft and the oil also provided some slight lubrication that aided the installation.

You could probably do the same with your metal rings here....

[Peerie Maa]

A trick I learned form an old timer when I was first starting out as a mechanic.... To ease the installation of pinion and axle bearings (that required a press fit) was that he would heat the bearings in an oil bath (using an old pan full of light oil on an electric hot plate) for an hour or so before they were installed. This swelled the bearing up slightly making it easier to press over the shaft and the oil also provided some slight lubrication that aided the installation.

You could probably do the same with your metal rings here....

The rings should have a slight taper, so that they drive on tight, and stay tight as they are driven further on with the wood wearing away.
Procure your rings first, and turn the mallet to fit the size of the rings that you have.

[Larks]

A trick I learned form an old timer when I was first starting out as a mechanic.... To ease the installation of pinion and axle bearings (that required a press fit) was that he would heat the bearings in an oil bath (using an old pan full of light oil on an electric hot plate) for an hour or so before they were installed. This swelled the bearing up slightly making it easier to press over the shaft and the oil also provided some slight lubrication that aided the installation.

You could probably do the same with your metal rings here....

Sometimes it pays to read the thread a bit.....not an oil bath but have a read down the first page of the thread.

[Rich Scheffer]

This is avery interesting thread. I spent many years back in the seventies caulking,[or corking as the oldtimers called it] in a yard in the northeast. We would caulk as a team on big hulls, rotating jobs to break up the monotony and use different muscles. The mallets I used, and still have, I was told were live oak, black mesquite was a close second. The handles were black locust. The guys said the ring of the mallet told you how tight your cotton was. The resiliency or bounce of the live oak did a lot of the work for you. When I first started I tried an old mallet that was as dead as 'Kelseys n--s " the work was very fatiguing. Later I was given a perfect old mallet, that you could hear ring a block away, The job became a pleasure with the right tool. If you ever tried to split locust for firewood, [ almost impossible] you will know why the old guys made their handles out of it. Black locust is very rubbery,the handle doesnt transmit the ring, or shock of the mallet to your hand. Today for spot caulking or small jobs almost any mallet will do in the hands of a knowledgable caulker. I have stopped some pretty bad leaks with a ballpeen hammer in an emergency, but couldnt imagine working with one for weeks. There is a wood down under that we have a lot of here in Florida. We call it Austrailian pine, my Aussie buddy Capt Eric calls it River Oak This stuff is hard, dense and might be just the thing for a real "ringer of a mallet" My buddy said they used to burn this River Oak for firewood in the bakeries when he was a boy at home. As to irons, the junk they sell im most marine catalogs today are only good for paper weights or pry bars.My caulking irons, as my mallets, are well over a hundred years old though I havn't done a caulking job with them for 25 years were an absolout pleasure to work with. Hope this helps some. Rich

[Larks]

This is avery interesting thread. I spent many years back in the seventies caulking,[or corking as the oldtimers called it] in a yard in the northeast. We would caulk as a team on big hulls, rotating jobs to break up the monotony and use different muscles. The mallets I used, and still have, I was told were live oak, black mesquite was a close second. The handles were black locust. The guys said the ring of the mallet told you how tight your cotton was. The resiliency or bounce of the live oak did a lot of the work for you. When I first started I tried an old mallet that was as dead as 'Kelseys n--s " the work was very fatiguing. Later I was given a perfect old mallet, that you could hear ring a block away, The job became a pleasure with the right tool. If you ever tried to split locust for firewood, [ almost impossible] you will know why the old guys made their handles out of it. Black locust is very rubbery,the handle doesnt transmit the ring, or shock of the mallet to your hand. Today for spot caulking or small jobs almost any mallet will do in the hands of a knowledgable caulker. I have stopped some pretty bad leaks with a ballpeen hammer in an emergency, but couldnt imagine working with one for weeks. There is a wood down under that we have a lot of here in Florida. We call it Austrailian pine, my Aussie buddy Capt Eric calls it River Oak This stuff is hard, dense and might be just the thing for a real "ringer of a mallet" My buddy said they used to burn this River Oak for firewood in the bakeries when he was a boy at home. As to irons, the junk they sell im most marine catalogs today are only good for paper weights or pry bars.My caulking irons, as my mallets, are well over a hundred years old though I havn't done a caulking job with them for 25 years were an absolout pleasure to work with. Hope this helps some. Rich

That's very interesting Rich, thanks for posting it. I'd be interested to know a bit more about what your mate is calling river oak, I wonder if it's a She-oak, looking on Wikipedia they are an invasive species in the everglades in Florida "Casuarina cunninghamiana"

[Rich Scheffer]

Larks, we have two species of trees in florida, that are considered nuisance trees. I think they are both from Australia One is Maleluca or paperbark, the other is the Australian Pine or as my buddy calls it River Oak. This tree has needles like a pine tree, but is actually not a resinous pine at all. It drops spiny little seeds about an inch in diameter, the locals here call them Porcupine eggs. I cleared about two or three acres of these pines on my land, it is much harder to cut than northern white or red oak. It really dulls chain saw blades in a hurry. Rich