LumberJocks

Osage Orange Mallet

Project by RobS posted 707 days ago 1538 views 1 time favorited 23 comments Add to Favorites Watch

Osage Orange Mallet

There is a lot of old dead osage orange in the wooded area by my house. Occasionally I’ll come across pieces of interest, be it uniquely shaped or having a special characteristic. This was one of those pieces; I saw the mallet right away, still in the fallen branch of course. Trimmed it closer to final sizing and set it in the shed..

Sometime this fall, Scott inquired about continuing our Christmas exchange of handcrafted items, I said sure and pondered about what to make (ha, pondered all the way up thru Christmas). I won’t mention the other items I thought of since I still have to plan for many a future exchanges (we hope), but did finally decide that who better to get a nature/hand made carpenters mallet then a fellow jock.

Now for those of you not familiar with osage orange, you might say, “An old dead branch turned into a mallet, well I think I’ll let you keep it Rob.” Think again, osage orange, as it ages, almost petrifies, its very hard and rot resistant. As I made some final cuts, following Blake’s tip here about the face (Thanks Blake), I noticed a couple hairline cracks across both ends. So even after a few test hits and still feeling good about the strength and stability of the wood, I elected to strategically place two 1.5” long, 5/8” oak dowels into the head to help prevent further cracking. The dowels are double wedged with slivers of maple, in both the bottom and top of the dowel.

Sanded it with upto 220 grit and finished with two coats of the family favorite Howard’s Orange Wax and Feed and a few passes 0000 steel wool.

Couple tips for usage Scott, THIS is the best it should EVER look, use it as it was intended to be used, for woodworking. And I noticed while handling that even though the grip feels good to our dominant right hands, it almost feels better in the left, so use it and then pass it on to our favorite southpaw, your daughter and my niece.

Now…. it’s hammer time.

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX


23 comments so far

View GaryK's profile

GaryK

9820 posts in 959 days


posted 707 days ago

That VERY cool! Fantastic looking.

-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way & "We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit" -Aristotle

View Shawn's profile

Shawn

225 posts in 1124 days


posted 707 days ago

Very Very Cool…next time my wife questions why I collect drift wood I’ll show her this

-- Cheers

View jockmike2's profile

jockmike2

7903 posts in 1218 days


posted 707 days ago

You can get another color using plain waterlox. But that looks very nice. mike

-- Mike from Michigan - mwurm13@yahoo.com

View RobS's profile

RobS

1256 posts in 1277 days


posted 707 days ago

Thanks Gary, Shawn and Mike.

Shawn – A few of my projects are drift or found wood, so have her check those out too, and pretty soon she’ll be collecting right along with you.

Mike – That color is all wood, the Howard’s darkens it just a hair but no color change. What would the waterlox do?

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

View Thuan's profile

Thuan

203 posts in 789 days


posted 707 days ago

If you find a guy who looks like me in your neck of the woods, just tell him what an osage tree looks like and he’ll be on his way. I want to make an adze

I think a plane blade slightly curved would make a good replacement for the stone.

-- Thuan

View RobS's profile

RobS

1256 posts in 1277 days


posted 707 days ago

Hey Thuan. I’ll keep my eye out for a piece like that, should not be too hard to find…

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

View Scott Bryan's profile

Scott Bryan

23849 posts in 793 days


posted 707 days ago

Rob,

I really like the look of this piece. This is a nice use of “found” wood.

Thanks for sharing.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

View MsDebbieP's profile

MsDebbieP

15086 posts in 1132 days


posted 707 days ago

awesome.
You guys are having too much fun!

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

View rikkor's profile

rikkor

11329 posts in 846 days


posted 707 days ago

What a neat find! It looks sooo good…

View scottb's profile

scottb

3409 posts in 1298 days


posted 707 days ago

Thanks for the mallet – and the encouragement to USE it. I’m sure it’ll help coax lots of things into place, bits of lumber, plugs, 16 penny nails, railroad spikes and the random 4 (or 8) legged shop visitor.

it feels solid – and might even outweigh my hammer.

Keep those ideas on the back burner, I have a couple for future years… useful and beautiful things (tools of different sorts) I haven’t attempted yet.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

View Karson's profile

Karson

28894 posts in 1372 days


posted 707 days ago

Great discovery Rob. A real caveman tool.

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

View mjlauro's profile

mjlauro

244 posts in 732 days


posted 706 days ago

Very nice find, all I have is fallen pine and oak where i live.

View cajunpen's profile

cajunpen

5980 posts in 1037 days


posted 706 days ago

That is neat. Pine and oak is about all I ever get around here.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

View trifern's profile

trifern

7941 posts in 738 days


posted 706 days ago

Wow. Can I tromp through your woods?

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

View RobS's profile

RobS

1256 posts in 1277 days


posted 706 days ago

Thanks everyone. And yes, Trifern, any lumberjock is welcome to check out the woods in my area.

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

View Lakey's profile

Lakey

99 posts in 743 days


posted 706 days ago

Very, very nice – I’ve been wanting to get my hands on some osage orange for a long time. Any chance of some kind of trade, Rob? All we have up here in Maine is is lobster, and they don’t make very good mallets!

-- "No Board Left Behind"

View Grumpy's profile

Grumpy

15140 posts in 822 days


posted 706 days ago

I just got my hands on some osage, looking forward to doing something with it.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

View frank's profile

frank

1446 posts in 1177 days


posted 706 days ago

Hi Rob;
—-great mallet there//here.....since the osage orange is now residing in NH or on it’s way to the woodworking hands of Scott. Here comes an-other piece of Texas wood, that is going to be waking up in the colds of snow….

I have never used the ‘Howard’s Orange Wax and Feed’, but am planing on looking around here for some to try out.

....the thought just came to me that it want be long and you’ll be having all kinds of LumberJocks tromping through the fields of your woods down there in Texas….LOL.

Thanks for sharing this one with us here at LJ.
GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://rusticwoodart.tumblr.com/

View schwingding's profile

schwingding

122 posts in 797 days


posted 706 days ago

Excellent mallet! I am really impressed that 1. you saw this sitting in the tree, and 2. were able to execute it wonderfully. This ranks as one of the coolest mallets I have ever seen.

Frank, Howard “Feed N Wax” is awesome stuff. I use it constantly, it is my favorite lubricant for use when rubbing out finishes, and it is a superb overall furniture wax/polish as well. Smells nice, too. If it were in a different labeled bottle, it could be sold for massage oil.

-- Just another woodworker

View TomK 's profile

TomK

503 posts in 846 days


posted 705 days ago

Hey Thuan, just walk along almost any old fence row near Dallas and you should find Osage (or Bois d’arc). As RobS says, it’s native to the North Texas area, but was planted along many fence rows too.

-- If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until it's free! PJ O'Rourke

View scottb's profile

scottb

3409 posts in 1298 days


posted 705 days ago

massage oil… that’s funny… I could still see that though, Afterall Howards is what keeps our hands from turning to anything south of 220 grit – and way more manly than palmolive ;)

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

View RobS's profile

RobS

1256 posts in 1277 days


posted 705 days ago

Thanks Everyone! I appreciate the comments.

Frank-
.. from blistering to blizzard, I’d have to imagine one of the first things that wood said when being exposed to NH was “ahhh!”. After decades in the 100+ temps, it probably would bask in the snow.

Howard's is great, and it’s funny that Scott and I both used it on our gifts to each other this time, without even talking about it.

And as far as Lumberjocks searching for treasures in the woods around my house, well bring ‘em on, maybe we could get it sponsored, ha.

Schwingding -
one of the coolest mallets ever” wow, that is quite a compliment, thanks! And I like to think I have a knack for “seeing” projects within the wood.

Tom-
you are right, I still notice osage, bois d’arc, horse apple trees all over the DFW area.. It’s a shame so many people think they are trash trees.

Thanks again!

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

View Roz's profile

Roz

602 posts in 757 days


posted 687 days ago

This is a great idea. I have large piles of the stuff lying around on my wifes farm. I would like to know how well it works? I might like to try it.

-- Terry Roswell, L.A. (Lower Alabama) "Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans."

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