Wooden Mallet

[Jim H]

I could buy one, but I could also make one. If I was to make one, what would be the best way to do it? I need it to use with my new mortise chisel.

[Bruce Hooke]

Well, I like this variety. All you need is a lathe and a chunck of nice dense wood (the denser the better)...

http://shop.woodcraft.com/Woodcraft/assets/product_images/141342.jpg

This one is from Woodcraft (http://www.woodcraft.com) and it is described as:

"This hard maple mallet features a traditional design that is perfect for novice or experienced carvers aloke. The comfortable handle and large head lend themselves to long carving sessions. Weighs 15 oz., 3" diameter, 9" long."

[Jim H]

Bruce, that's a nice mallet but I don't have a lathe. I figured that the handle could be shaped from a 1x2 piece of oak or maple with a spokeshave. I guess I could do the same for the whole thing?

[gary porter]

Jim, there is a nice pattern for a very useable mallet in the "Boatbuilding Manual" by Steward. Unless I've slipped another memory cog. Its a glued up mallet that can be made of whatever you have laying around. I use leftover epoxy on mine and have made them out of white oak, birch, walnut, and some pallet wood. If the pattern is not in that book then its probably in Gregg Rossel's How to build a Small Boat.
Gary

[Jim H]

Thanks Gary, I'll take a look.

[Nicholas Carey]

on Shavings.net (http://www.shavings.net/) are a couple of ideas:

Joiner's Mallet (http://www.shavings.net/images/club.jpg). Simple. No turning required.

Turned Mallet (http://www.voicenet.com/~rburton/mallet/index.html). This is an interesting turned mallet (since the head is turned on two different axis:

http://www.users.voicenet.com/~rburton/mallet/mallet.jpg

[Bob Perkins]

That is a really cool looking mallet. I printed out the directions. I might give it a try this weekend...

What a great place this is smile.gif

BOb

[Paul Scheuer]

You're going to mortise the head for the handle, right ? ;)

[Alan D. Hyde]

XX**XX*********************XX***XX***XX
XX**XX____ZZZZZZ____XX***XX***XX
XX**XX*********************XX***XX***XX
XX**XX*********************XX***XX***XX

This pitiful diagram is intended to represent an old-fashioned lathe, which you can build in an hour or two for almost nothing.

The asterisks are nothing-- air-- they're just there to keep the X's where they belong. The X's are vertical planks (seen from their side)-- 2x 8 or 2 x 10 will work.

The____ is galvanised pipe. The ZZZZ is the work in the lathe.

On the left, you have two planks about six inches apart, with some X braces lower down, a two x four crosspiece (two feet long, for a foot) on the bottom of the outer (leftmost) plank. The planks have a hole drilled thru them which is only very slightly larger than the pipe. A pipe coupling on the right side of the left-most plank and the left side of the right most plank (of these two) keeps the pipe from sliding. Warm candle wax has been pushed into the cross-grain of the plank holes to reduce friction.

Same thing on the rightmost side, except the rightmost (additional) row of X's represents a big old chunk of concrete, more or less disc-shaped, the heavier the better. It's fastened to the pipe by a pipe flange, or, you can take a star-drill, make a hole, and then put the pipe right thru it. If you do this, though, you'll need to drill a small hole thru the pipe, even with the surface of the concrete, and stick a spike thru this hole, fastening both ends of the spike to the concrete so it can't rotate on the pipe.

(This is the kind of half-assed contrivance we spent winter nights in the cellar making as boys, but bear with me, it does work, and surprisingly well, too.)

Drill a hole in the concrete near its outer edge and put an old bolt in it. Tie a string to this bolt when the bolt's at the bottom of the circle thru which it rotates. The other end of the string should just reach the floor, where it's tied to one end of a 1 x 8 about a foot long.

Start the rig spinning by hand, and every time the bolt gets to one o'clock or so, keep it spinning by pushing down on the board with your foot.

Vary the distance between the two sides as necessitated by what you're making, just nail horizontal boards across halfway up from the floor. These can serve as support for whatever chisel rest you make up. The pipe on one side of the work has a flange, on the other side we ground down an old steel plumb bob and stuffed it into the pipe for a point.

Lay a couple of 2 x 4's on the floor and nail them and some angle braces to the frame so it's good and sturdy, and doesn't get tipped over by the weight of the concrete flywheel.

Extremely basic, but it works. I've still got a cherry table lamp I turned on a contraption like this.

Alan

[ 01-09-2004, 03:13 PM: Message edited by: Alan D. Hyde ]

[Bruce Hooke]

Yup, as you've seen there are plenty of mallet designs that do not require turning. I like the turned variety but the other variety will work well too.

One thing I would be careful of is not making the mallet too large. Particularly with the non-turned variety of mallet it's easy to overdo it on the size. Unless you are working with big heavy timbers you generally don't have to hit the chisel with huge amounts of force, and a heavy mallet is more work to swing and harder to swing precisely, especially if you have to use it for any length of time.

[Bob Smalser]

http://www.shavings.net/images/club.jpg

I use them for everything…not elegant, but effective and dirt-cheap. Note even the handles below on those 25-year-old ones are laminated hardwood scrap.

I've heard folks complain that the square corners can ding the work, but I haven't found that to be a problem.

When I get a space for a lathe, I'll make some others and that corking mallet I need.

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/2594266/31846157.jpg

[Nicholas Carey]

Originally posted by Bruce Hooke:
One thing I would be careful of is not making the mallet too large. Particularly with the non-turned variety of mallet it's easy to overdo it on the size. Unless you are working with big heavy timbers you generally don't have to hit the chisel with huge amounts of force, and a heavy mallet is more work to swing and harder to swing precisely, especially if you have to use it for any length of time.Which is why I like this type of brass mallet:
<a href="http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/indextool.mvc?prodid=EE-BM515.XX" target="_blank">
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/prodimg/ee/reg/EE-BM515XX.gif
</a>

(mine's from Hardwick's (http://www.ehardwicks.com/) here in Seattle and cost considerably less. Most things at Hardwick's cost considerably less than anywhere else.

[ 01-09-2004, 03:23 PM: Message edited by: Nicholas Carey ]

[Jim H]

Originally posted by Paul Scheuer:
You're going to mortise the head for the handle, right ? ;) :D What came first the chicken or the egg? :D

I'm going to cheat on the mortise for the mallet by laminating two full-size side pieces to a couple of interior blocks. I'll make the handle first and use it to setup the smaller pieces.

[Jim H]

Originally posted by Alan D. Hyde:

This pitiful diagram is intended to represent an old-fashioned lathe, which you can build in an hour or two for almost nothing.
AlanGreat idea Alan, I'd never thought of that.

[Jim H]

Actually Nicholas this mallet looks like a prop from a Viking movie (that's a BIG mallet). :D

I think I'd have to say something about Thor or Oden everytime I picked it up... http://www.users.voicenet.com/~rburton/mallet/mallet.jpg

[Jim H]

Bob, it looks like the big one has some screws in it, is the smaller one doweled or screwed?

[Bob Smalser]

Neither...the big one is for wood stakes, got left outside too many times in the rain overnight, and the resin glue failed.

So the epoxy and deck screws are a hasty repair on a job site.

Have made literally dozens of these and they last a long time.

I would like to find a design and dimensions for a corking mallet, if anyone has them. One of those would be worth buying a chunk of heavy tropical hardwood.

[Jim H]

All I could find were catalog descriptions here:
C. DREW & CO. Caulking Mallets (http://www.numismalink.com/drew.ency.34.81.html)

http://www.numismalink.com/drew.34.081.jpg

[Bob Smalser]

That's perfect, Jim...thanks!

[Bruce Taylor]

I posted some links about shopbuilt lathes a couple of months ago:

A homemade lathe (http://media5.hypernet.com/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=012365&p=)

Some other DIY tools:

Bugbear on Bowsaws (http://media5.hypernet.com/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=012367&p=)

Roll Your own Belt Sander (http://media5.hypernet.com/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=012364&p=)

Make Spokeshave, Handplane (http://media5.hypernet.com/cgi-bin/UBB/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=012364&p=)

Oh, and one of my own, from Resources/Product Search:

Homemade Thickness Sander (http://media5.hypernet.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=001090)

[ 01-10-2004, 11:15 AM: Message edited by: Bruce Taylor ]

[HOWdie]

Jim:

Sorry about not having a pic to detail the mallet but I used mesqite to make on similar to the first on described.
I chucked up a piece of mesqite between a couple of 2x4's in a "workmate" bench with a bolt on both ends, After I had rounded off the blank edges with a hatchet. I used an electric drill with a wooden spool chucked into the business end and a loop of rope to turn it with. If i'm remember correctly I used my regular wood chisles for gouges.

I love the thing. Its user friendly and takes my chisles well. It won't do much for your burning desire to use that new mortise chisle other than giving you something to hit it with. :)

[LandLubber No More]

Lathes, Blueprints? YOu know, I am far from an experienced boat builder and in no way am I a carpenter but I did grow up around boats and went through the rite of spring each year when we had 3 or 4 wooden boats to maintain. This is a mallet we are talking about here is it not. Find ( or to be really wild, buy) a hammer handle, take a piece of suitable stock wood, cut/whittle it down to the right size and set the handle in it. My family maintained and worked 4 to 6 wooden boats for decades with simple tools and some ingenuity. This is coming out more cynical than I intended but I guess my point is that I really don't care how a tool like a mallet looks as long as it is funtional. I am a lover of boats and sailing in them, not the tools I used along the way. I know I will probably get all the old axioms about pride in your work and the right tool for the job, but in the end a mallet is a simple tool that requires a skilled arm to weild it.

[Jim H]

I made the one from the shavings.net site. It's slightly smaller because my stock was 3&1/2 X 1. I used white oak for the handle and the interior pieces that form the "mortise" and I used purpleheart for the cheek pieces. I glued it up with Devcon "2-ton" 30 minute epoxy. I glued the mortise pieces to one of the cheek pieces, which took a little longer to cure than planned, so I put the assembly in the oven which always hovers around 100*. The next day I applied the other cheek, which went directly to the oven this time, after a full cure I put it on the bench sander and finished it to 400 grit. I didn't round over the top but it works really well :D (I had to test it with my new chisel). I'll let the purpleheart oxidize for a couple of days before I spray it with "Fix-it" and buff it out. It didn't start out to be a "vanity" project but... :D

[Jim H]

Oh yeah, I've got to do some finish sanding on the handle, then maybe stich some leather on it to provide a better grip (for summer when it gets hot).

[Bruce Taylor]

I know I will probably get all the old axioms about pride in your work and the right tool for the jobNot from me, you won't. My dovetail mallet is an old maple armchair leg, with a bolt sticking out of one end and a brass ferrule on the other. And my joinery is none the worse for it, though I suppose I would enjoy using one of those pretty brass things. As the old hair commercial used to say, when you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good...etc.

Over the years, I've bopped my chisels with all sorts of stupid things: hammers, 8/4 cherry leg stock, the heel of my hand...pretty much everything but my forehead. Sometimes, the right tool for the job is the one you can reach. smile.gif

[paladin]

Jim..that's properly called "Mjolnir" or war hammer.....(Thor's hammer)

[Jim H]

Originally posted by paladin:
Jim..that's properly called "Mjolnir" or war hammer.....(Thor's hammer)Hey Chuck, it's good to see you back on the forum, I hope you are feeling better. "Mjolnir", just sprained my tongue trying to pronounce it... ;) Hmmm, I think I have a piece of maple big enough to make that 8" mallet.

[Jim H]

Bruce, I couldn't agree more, it's just that the only non-marring type I have is a rubber mallet that leaves black marks wherever it's used. The hammers I have are claw and ball peen and I didn't want to use them on the chisel. Besides, I drive the neighbors nuts with every new project. :D

[ 01-13-2004, 05:11 PM: Message edited by: Jim Hillman ]