wood for mallet


Scott Bailey

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I have some scrap wood around and need a mallet, so voila.  only question I have is which wood. I have some hard maple that's 3/4" thick so I'd have to laminate it together to make it thick enough, and even then it'll only be about 1.5" thick, not sure that's enough. I "might" have enough to laminate 3 pieces to make it 2.25" which I know is thick enough, but is that strong enough?  I also have some 4/4 walnut that would be thicker but I"m not so sure it'd be hard enough. I know the maple is hard enough just don't know if it'll be thick enough.  as for the walnut, the opposite.  silly Q i know but you guys know more than I do so, there it is.  muchas gracias in advance of course :)

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Long grain to long grain glue joints are as strong as the wood itself, so I'd go with three layers of the hard maple.

 

If you don't have enough maple, maybe cut the maple in two large pieces for the two sides, and two smaller pieces for the centers of the two faces.  Then use the walnut for the handle and center of the head.

 

Or, just use maple for one face, and walnut for the rest.

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I have some purpleheart 12/4, hard maple 12/4, and cherry 16/4 scrap chunks that I would like to make into a mallet or few. What glue would you use to put them together? And is it ok if I leave them square faced?

Chef

   I cut my faces to 4 or 5 * .  It gives a good face to chisel connection.

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Just realized I assumed a square faced rectangular mallet. "Strike face" takes on an interesting shape with a turned mallet.

oh I'm pretty far away from turning anything (especially with no lathe), this will be a flat faced mallet, faces cut at 5 degrees very similar to Chet's (no pegs in mine but those look pretty cool).  waiting for glue to dry, I'll post pics in a couple days when done, pretty happy with the handle.  

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I made mine with walnut for the head and maple for the handle. Just the way the dimensions of the scrap worked. Used titebond iii.

The head split once when I whacked a mole a bit too hard...not on a glue line. I just glued it back together and it's been fine. The walnut is a bit softer than I would have liked, but it works for all practical purposes, including swift hard smacks on my 1.5" Barr framing chisel.

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Those thumbnail images must have come from the prop room of the next Thor movie… After all, who but Asgard’s Thunder God would need so many awesome mallets… I suspect WDO is actually short for some phrase in Old Norse… :)

They are on ebay!  Someone that doesn't know how to build one, will buy, or a lazy woodworker will.  Been on one month and sold 12.   That's why!

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They are on ebay!  Someone that doesn't know how to build one, will buy, or a lazy woodworker will.  Been on one month and sold 12.   That's why!

And actually, I'm responsible for 11 of those 12. Bought them to resale on e-bay. Kind of like flipping mallets w/ no improvements necessary :D  

All kidding aside (for the most part), I do have one of Richards mallets and it's a fine hand tool!

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