Project Information
There are lots of mallet projects on LJ. Here is another.
After my son borrowed my dead blow hammer for tent stakes at a camping trip one weekend, and not having another dead blow handy I was forced to spend my weekend digging out some plans and making one (wink-wink).
Used the Wood Magazine Oct 2005 #165 plans, but up scaled the size slightly after reading others comments on smallish size. Increased the core wood thickness to 5/8 and cheek thickness to 7/8", and made the cheek pieces deeper to make the head 2 3/8" square instead of the normal 1.5". Also made the handle a slightly larger 1 1/8" X 1 1/4", instead of 1" X 1 1/8" to better fit my meat hook. Used Caribbean rosewood and hickory. Since the head was larger, was able to use steel BB's easily obtained from Wal-Mart instead of lead shot required for the smaller head. The overall weight is 26 ounces and it is only 1/2 full, which is plenty for smacking wood chisels, or stubborn panels. After some trial raps, decided the face also needed to be angled slightly to help it hit square. Not sure what angle the belt sander left it at, but the head hits square most times in my hands after the adjustment. I just happened to have some heavy duty 13oz (0.125" thick) vegetable tanned leather from the vises on my workbench project, and used it on the mallet face. After sanding it all progressively to 320, gave it two coats of Tried and True Tung oil for finish you don't want to stop touching.
PS - If you notice that the rosewood grain on the checks may look dodgy. I photo shopped out the burned in identity stamping as I didn't want excess personal information posted.
Thanks for looking at my project.
After my son borrowed my dead blow hammer for tent stakes at a camping trip one weekend, and not having another dead blow handy I was forced to spend my weekend digging out some plans and making one (wink-wink).
Used the Wood Magazine Oct 2005 #165 plans, but up scaled the size slightly after reading others comments on smallish size. Increased the core wood thickness to 5/8 and cheek thickness to 7/8", and made the cheek pieces deeper to make the head 2 3/8" square instead of the normal 1.5". Also made the handle a slightly larger 1 1/8" X 1 1/4", instead of 1" X 1 1/8" to better fit my meat hook. Used Caribbean rosewood and hickory. Since the head was larger, was able to use steel BB's easily obtained from Wal-Mart instead of lead shot required for the smaller head. The overall weight is 26 ounces and it is only 1/2 full, which is plenty for smacking wood chisels, or stubborn panels. After some trial raps, decided the face also needed to be angled slightly to help it hit square. Not sure what angle the belt sander left it at, but the head hits square most times in my hands after the adjustment. I just happened to have some heavy duty 13oz (0.125" thick) vegetable tanned leather from the vises on my workbench project, and used it on the mallet face. After sanding it all progressively to 320, gave it two coats of Tried and True Tung oil for finish you don't want to stop touching.
PS - If you notice that the rosewood grain on the checks may look dodgy. I photo shopped out the burned in identity stamping as I didn't want excess personal information posted.
Thanks for looking at my project.