Another carving mallet

[tombear]

having discovered the wood i had ready to turn wasn't suitable for a job on hand and the weather being unsuitable to process some logs outside into blanks I decided I needed some practice turning as Ive not done any for a few months.

A while back i acquired some knackered lignum vitae bowling balls and a jack for a few quid and since I had half a beech rolling pin left over I decided to do a short, heavy carving mallet.

Using calipers to gauge the wood I turned the handle with a grooved (for the glue) 1" diameter parallel section for the head to fit on,copying a handle i knew suited me but adding a bit more meat to the flared end piece since Id found the one I'd used a bit small for my hand.

I then prepared the jack by drilling a pilot hole through the small, inset bone (possibly ivory) medallions on each side. That came out gratifyingly central so I then sanded one side flat to make a surface to work from that will be butted up against the wider part of the handle..

A piece of scrap board was taped to this flat side to avoid drilling into the bench and I then used a 25mm Forstner bit to drill down the pilot hole from the still rounded side through to the flattened side. This wasn't as difficult as I thought ti would be, having done the last one with a brace and bit, but using a new, very sharp, bit in a power tool probably helped.

Using a sharp pointed bit of metal I scraped grooves into the sides of this hole to take the glue and then gently sanded the 1" diameter section of the handle until was happy it would be a good tight fit..

To make it easier to clean up I put a collar of masking tape around the handle and then, having smeared on plenty of the same Aliphatic Resin glue I use on my silly balsa planes ( its water and fuel proof, shrinks very little at all and is very strong ) I hammered the head onto the handle, wiping off all the glue that was forced out and then, using a disposable collar I made with the 30mm Forstner bit and a scrap of wood I've clamped the head onto the handle while it drys (8 to 18 hrs)

Tomorrow I will turn the head to the shape I want. Since I want to keep as much weight as possible I'll be removing as little as possible. I will not be using a wooden wedge to hold the head on, that would have made it quite difficult for me to turn the head in the way I like to work. Once it is turned and sanded to my satisfaction and the ends trimmed to shape I will soak the whole thing in a tank of BLO for a few days which will swell the wood and add a bit more weight. I could add a metal wedge but since the larger mallet I made in the same way from a full sized bowls ball a few years back and which I used a lot hasn't gone loose in the slightest I doubt I'll bother..

More tomorrow.

ATB

Tom

 

[Hammock Hamster]

That turning into a lovely looking little basher, it puts my "rustic" non turned mallets to shame.

Interested to know what the total weight ends up being with that Lignum Vitae, I imagine it will have some heft to it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[tombear]

Cheers! Currently its 1 lb 5oz , overall length is 7.5". I'll try to remove as little as I can and hopefully the oil soak will bring it back up some. the wood of the head is very dry indeed.

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

I hope that you can turn a working face without too much weight loss.
The Lignum vitae should finish with a wonderful shine!

My small ShopFox wood carving mallet is just 12 oz. Hindsight tells me that I'd not want one of much less.
There's more control of gouges with a mallet than with simple hand-work pushing.

 

[tombear]

Well, the glue seams to have dried in this heat so I put it back on the lathe and finished it.

Weights down to 1lb 1oz but I hope soaking it for a day or so will raise that a little. I gave it a quick rub with BLO to bring out the grain. I worked through 3 grades of sandpaper on the lathe and finished with medium wire wool by hand.

Im pretty pleased with it.

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

You certainly should be pleased! 17oz will be a nice weight to swing for a long time each day.
Plus, the handle is smooth so you can choke up on the head for those little tap-taps without thinking about it.

When you want heavy but without a big increase in size, consider a lead core.
My 30oz mallet is built with a lead core. Need the mass to bash 9/15, 2/30 and 5/35 size gouges.
I can't imagine cast-in-place without charring a lot of wood for a sloppy fit. Glued in?

 

[tombear]

I'll do a heavy job next then, once I've worked out how best to get the lead in there. Lead shot in resin?

Anyroad, after over 24 hrs in the BLO tank the new mallet increased in weight by half a ounce. At least it will never split from drying out.

The two handles on the right are stepped down so the thinnest part of the thee is the same, 1" diameter.

I'm really impressed how the heads are standing up to the battering I give them

ATB

Tom

 

[Robson Valley]

What a lovely portrait of the Mallet family.
Have you ever run across any words, wise or otherwise, regarding the taper angle of the mallet head?
Anything to do with the arc of each swing and strike?

I recall that Lignum vitae has rather interlocked grain and as such is most bash-worthy.
Your mallets will last far longer than a lifetime.
My 2 store-bought mallets have polyurethane capsules on the heads, have yet to see any damage or even wear!

I'll guess that in this day and time, a lead core mallet has a cavity filled with lead shot and resin/epoxy, as you surmise.
Even if all you has were scraps of lead sheet to roll tightly.

Other than unloading a bunch of shotgun shells, lead shot here is sold for the reloading tribe in 25 lb bags.
Not for the sake of a couple of mallet cores.

Fortunately, Canada no longer uses 1-cent penny coins in commerce.
Pennies and araldite epoxy make a useful stack but not quite with the mass of lead.

<In the shops, everything is rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents ( a nickle coin).
<However, at the bank, the accounts are still figured to the penny.

 

[Paulm]

Nice work

Here's one I made a while back, still got a few more of the bowling balls to make some more some time though don't know that I need any more !

 

[Robson Valley]

Sell them. The time comes for lots of carvers to look or more traditional items of kit.
The bright red and bright green polyurethane faces of modern mallets may be non-slip
but they lack the warmth of old wood. And the sound they make. That's a big deal for me.

What does it weigh, Paulm?

I'd rather own a re-purposed bowling ball than another mallet of suspect woods of no known provenance.

 

[Tony]

Yeah, a wooden mallet is a lovely thing to use, the modern ones from man made materials just don't feel the same in the hand and that's important when you want to get the most enjoyment you can from your crafting...

 

[Paulm]

Sell them. The time comes for lots of carvers to look or more traditional items of kit.
The bright red and bright green polyurethane faces of modern mallets may be non-slip
but they lack the warmth of old wood. And the sound they make. That's a big deal for me.

What does it weigh, Paulm?

I'd rather own a re-purposed bowling ball than another mallet of suspect woods of no known provenance.

Not sure of the weight but certainly does have some heft to it !

 

[Paulm]

Some other variants I knocked up





Small one was a bit of unidentified non-native hardwood, iroko I suspect, just a simply one piece turning, the other has a handle from the same and the top I think is probably maple from memory.





This was an earlier one and the eagle eyed amongst you might notice that I managed to make one side of the head slightly shorter than the other, d'oh, still hits things okay though !

 

[Robson Valley]

I'm using 2 mallets for carving, sort of depends upon the size of the gouge and the size of the wood chip that I intend to make.
The 12 oz mallet was OK until I started to buy bigger gouges and it had no power so I bought a lead-core 30oz mallet.
Tombear's most recent crafting (above) is 17 oz which should be a beauty to swing all day for finer work.
I don't think I'm too fussy about the mass early in the day but ask me again at 4 PM.