A few years ago, one of the guys in my woodworking club suggested that each of us build something using only $5 worth of wood to use in a gift exchange at our annual Christmas party. I thought about making a cutting board in the shape of a handplane but decided to make a mallet instead.I wanted to be sure the mallet's head wouldn't come flying off someday in use and injure the gift recipient, so I worked out a design where the portion of the handle that fits inside the head has scalloped sides, and fits into a matching dado carved into the head. Since the head was to be laminated, it was easy to cut the channel, fit the handle, and glue it up.
Mallets take a lot of abuse, so to ensure that the laminated parts would stay glued together, I ra
n square pegs all the way through from one side to the other and glued them in place.Since this was to be a gift, I chose some nicer woods: apple and walnut for the mallet; and purpleheart and yellowheart for the pegs. And, because I was going to give the mallet away, I went ahead and made two, so I could keep one to use in my shop.
That was four years ago. Notice anything odd about my four year old mallet? There are no dings or dents. Lesson learned: if you're going to make a mallet, don't use pretty wood, or you won't want to use it.
Fortunately, at the Christmas party, I was the happy recipient of a mallet that one of the other guys made. Even more fortuitous, his mallet was built to be used.
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6 comments:
That is good on both fronts then.
Hey VC, I hate to see that mallet being unused, if you'd like my address, I believe I have all sorts of things I could hit with it. If not, I do believe you should start using it yourself (you can always make more.) ;)
It isn't just me, then? I turned my first mallet out of Osage Orange about four years ago and haven't so much as tapped another piece of wood with it yet.
I chaulk it up as a sentimental attachment to my first turning.
(BTW... learning to turn with Osage Orange is like learning to drive a stick in a 1964 VW Beetle. After that, everything else is a piece of cake.)
Osage Orange! That was brave. I've used the wood once and although it can be difficult to work with, it is gorgeous. I can see why you wouldn't want to use your mallet!
The wood that made my current mallet was a few pieces picked off the firewood pile (birch, there's not many trees that grow up here). I don't feel the least bit sorry using it. In fact, I like the "hammered" looking faces when they get packed shiny. :)
I know what you mean. There is just something about the look and feel of a well-worn tool. : )
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