First wooden mallet

[ctom87]

Well, for the guys I wanted to make some wooden mallets. I ended up making mine first so mine could be the one with all the errors in it. Turned out really well and I'd do it again with a few small differences.

Steps:

1. Find wood at wood store. I went to WoodCraft in Hurst. I bought some spalted maple for the sides and a neat red and black plywood. I chose that color scheme because it's my alma mater's colors.
2. I ended up taking the blank to a friends house and used his lathe. I left about 3.5" square so that I could use it to attach the head of the mallet.
3. After sanding to 600 (which turned out to be too much because it drew some of the black ink out) I went home and cut 3.5 by 4.75 inch blanks out of the maple and some African mahogany I had left over from a frame I made.
4. I used a belt sander and disc sander to get the final angles and everything. Next time, I would just use a meiter saw and make a square. Doesn't have to be all fancy with curves and bs.
5. I took my blank that I had turned and cut it down to 3/4" so it'd fit in the hole I made. I then glued up the spalted maple and mahogany and used the blank I had cut as a template...make sure to pull out before it dries up (that's what she said).
6. While drying out, cut some lines in your blank. You'll use the new area for a wedge to be driven into.

[ctom87]

Sorry thought I attached pics and can't figure how to add them when editing. Also adding pics of the blood sacrifice I made. It's not a project until you sacrifice a little blood. When making the wedges, one of them flew out of my hand leaving nothing between my finger and the disc sander. Of course, the first thing I did was take a picture of it. dang millennials.

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[Texas8point]

nice ! Im sure ur finger thinks otherwise YIKES !

[Bjankowski]

What is it used for? It's pretty.

[ctom87]

What is it used for? It's pretty.

More than likely just decorative but I will use it to hammer other woods without damaging the other woods

[muzzlebrake]

Did you stabilize that spalted wood with anything? Most of the time the spalting is kind of punky and soft inside and needs to have strength added back to make it solid again. Otherwise it looks great.

[ctom87]

Did you stabilize that spalted wood with anything? Most of the time the spalting is kind of punky and soft inside and needs to have strength added back to make it solid again. Otherwise it looks great.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't... and I'm not too familiar with how to stabilize spalted woods. The area that I should be striking is free of decay though, so as long as I'm aiming straight, it should be ok.