Skill Builder: Mallet

Week 9 Skill Builder:

A few weeks back I went to Vermont and brought back this fallen log. This week I attempt to use this log of unknown tree to turn a mallet.

Supply List:

• Wood Lathe

• Drill Press

• Lathe Chisels

• Drive Center

• Digital Calipers

• Pencil

• Sandpaper

• Dust Mask

• Face Shield

• Wood

• Wooden Dowel

Process:

I started off by cutting the log into a piece that I could comfortably work with on the lathe. Then I found the log’s center and got it set up on the wood lathe with the drive center holding one end and the live center holding the other.

There was still quite a bit of bark on this log when I started turning it. That came flying off pretty easily, exposing the paler core of the wood. This wood handled very differently than the hard wood and plywood I turned last week. It came off in large flakes. I never really caught a solid groove with the wood, but was able to turn it down to a round.

I then marked the circumference of the log with quarter marks to indicate where the hole for the handle and dowel should be placed. I cut this round into two pieces: one for the mallet and one for the handle, with the intention of putting the handle piece back on the lathe to get it to size.

I took the mallet piece over to the bandsaw drilling a through hole for the dowel and an intersecting blind hole for the handle.

I came back a few days later to work on the handle, however the turning did not go quite as hoped. The same chipping/flaking off that happened previously was happening to a greater extent t the point where enough wood came off in one go that the piece fell out of the holder. I scrapped this handle attempt and retrieved a random piece of wood from the scrap to try again.

This piece turned much better but I overlooked something very important— the length of the handle needs to include compensation for insertion into the hole in the mallet head. I hadn’t completely forgotten about this I just hadn’t realized how deep this hole was and how the tiny piece of wood I was working with would be eaten right up.

The second handle attempt looked super crazy with this mallet head. Just a short stub of very different wood sticking out. I ended up finding a small wooden cylinder in the shop that fit into the mallet head hole perfectly. It was still too short to be a handle but it looked better sticking out of the mallet head. For now I’ve placed that cylinder in the mallet head and locked it in with a dowel. I cut the extended dowel ends off on the saw and sanded them flush on the belt sander, also using the opportunity to sand down some of the layering on the natural wood of the mallet head.

Not quite a mallet. Not quite a log.

Next Steps:

As of this posting I do not have a full mallet. Just a mallet head on a little stub. I would like to retry this process with a harder wood that I feel more comfortable turning.