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My Cabinet Maker's Mallet

Project by sIKE posted 140 days ago 396 views 1 time favorited 15 comments Add to Favorites
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sIKE

289 posts in 160 days


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mallet sanding shaping

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My Cabinet Maker's Mallet My Cabinet Maker's Mallet My Cabinet Maker's Mallet Click the pictures to enlarge them

This is third one I have made, they are very good experience for learning the techniques of lamination and for shaping wood. I am much more comfortable with things nice and square but this really pushed my woodworking skills. The best moment for me was when I realized that I could put the handle that I was trying to shape into my vise and really go at it with my rasp, chisels, and most importantly sandpaper. The little 3M Sandblaster pads work great for shaping. The 80 grit pads are really aggressive and you can really get in and around curves to smooth the wood easily. The lamination is made up of Hard Maple, Dark Walnut, and Mahogany and the handle was made out of a block of 8/4 Hard Maple. The one surprise with the wood was when I started slicing the maple and got towards the center it was lightly splated. It is finished with Tung Oil. I need to go back tomorrow and sand out a couple of glue spots and add one more coat of Tung Oil and it will be complete.

This is a project out of a recent issue of ShopNotes.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"


15 comments so far

View grovemadman's profile

grovemadman

541 posts in 178 days


posted 140 days ago

Fine looking basher, I need to make one of these!

-- --Chuck

View John Gray's profile

John Gray

513 posts in 291 days


posted 140 days ago

GREAT JOB! I saved the pictures for future reference.

-- Only the Shadow knows....................

View cajunpen's profile

cajunpen

5291 posts in 472 days


posted 140 days ago

Good looking Walnut buster. It’s a beauty.

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

View Scott Bryan's profile

Scott Bryan

8049 posts in 228 days


posted 140 days ago

This is a a nice mallet. Thanks for the info about the 3M sanding pads. I have never used them but will have to put them on my list. Since I don’t have a mallet I will have to put one of these on my to-do list.

Thanks for the post.

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

View trifern's profile

trifern

2316 posts in 173 days


posted 139 days ago

Very nice overall shape. The wood choice is spectacular.

-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.

View sIKE's profile

sIKE

289 posts in 160 days


posted 139 days ago

Thanks guys! This mallet didn’t follow the recipe in the magazine. My original intent was to make all three mallets at the same time. I milled all of the lumber for them at the same time, however I had to rush to get the other two done for Christmas and the third one (mine of course) fell to wayside. I finally got the time to pick this back up last week. Once I did, I realized that both of the 3/16” thick maple boards that held the blanks had an awful deep snipe on one end of each of them. So looking around my pile of scraps I came across a 15” long by 1/4” wide piece of mahogany that would perfectly, feed through planner, one problem solved. Now the dilemma was layout of the layers, with a count of 6-5-2 vs. 7-6. This is where my wife’s eye comes in. We picked out the outside two layers in walnut, she then arranged the inside layers in a very pleasing manner I think.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

View rikkor's profile

rikkor

6700 posts in 280 days


posted 139 days ago

It looks really nice. Is it a trophy, or are you going to use it?

-- Maplewood, MN

View ben's profile

ben

140 posts in 276 days


posted 139 days ago

Beautiful mallet. Since I’m of the ign’ant sort (and don’t get ShopNotes), do you mind sharing the history behind the shape of the cabinet maker’s mallet?

-b

View Scott's profile

Scott

52 posts in 267 days


posted 139 days ago

good job. I really like the contrasting woods. Kep up the good work.

-- Scott, Kentucky ----- "Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry" Mark Twain

View teenagewoodworker's profile

teenagewoodworker

1739 posts in 174 days


posted 139 days ago

that looks great. i especially like the lamination. thanks for the post.

View sIKE's profile

sIKE

289 posts in 160 days


posted 139 days ago

Ben
The overall shape is for cabinet makers, the large end is convex to avoid denting the piece when you knock it in to place, or out after a dry fit. The smaller end is curved a bit to allow you to work down on the inside of drawers.

rikkor
I built it to used in my work. I hope to knock many things around with it.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

View Robb's profile

Robb

309 posts in 340 days


posted 133 days ago

Great looking mallet! I love all the laminations, they really give it a special look.

-- Robb

View Phildo92027's profile

Phildo92027

38 posts in 205 days


posted 133 days ago

Beautiful work. Is this a veneer hammer or a chisel basher? The finer radius suggests use as a veneer hammer.

-- Phil, Near San Diego, CA

View sIKE's profile

sIKE

289 posts in 160 days


posted 131 days ago

I am using it very well a cabinet makers mallet. Works great, for that, when it comes to veneering I have no clue, just use a J-Roller, but I am just a nube…..

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

View Phildo92027's profile

Phildo92027

38 posts in 205 days


posted 129 days ago

A Veneer Hammer is used when applying veneer (real wood) using hide glue and a substrate. Very cool and time tested. To make your mallet into a veneer hammer you would insert a strip of brass or aluminum along the width of the narrow end. See http://lumberjocks.com/projects/5992 for picture.

-- Phil, Near San Diego, CA

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