41 replies to this topic

[Brian VanVreede]

Ok, so here are my drawings for my mallet. I will be making the post/handle out of walnut and the 4 seperate "head" sections will be made from hard maple. How does this look? Any one forsee problems with this design? I plan on cutting the stopped dovetails in the "head" sections before I cut the miters and the 2 tapered edges on each section, this way I have solid reference points. Im also thinking that on each of the 4 miters on the mallet "heads" I will cut 2 kerfs and put some maple strips in them to help keep the miters tight (i cant remember the terminoligy for this).

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

[rmac]

If you're looking for an exercise in complicated joinery, that should certainly fill the bill. If all you want is a mallet, then there are lots easier ways to make one. For the maple strips, the word you're looking for is "splines".

-- Russ

[Brian VanVreede]

No I'm looking to make things as complicated as I can to push myself! I'm confident that if I have a solid plan drawn out I can execute the task.

[JohnnyNoName]

How does this look? Any one forsee problems with this design?

It looks more like a ceremonial mace then a mallet, but hey, it's better then the one I have... which is none. Which way is the grain running on the mitred boards? You want to make sure that the impacting face of the mallet is end grain, not face grain. Otherwise you will need to make another pretty soon. End grain is much tougher then face grain. Also, I would be surprised if the mitres stayed together from the impact, even with splines.

Jonathan
====================================

[Brian VanVreede]

This is really just a skill building exercise for me and hey, if it works ill have a sweet looking mallet to smack my chisels with!
Johnny, I'm hoping that my mitres are tight enough that I don't even need the splines.

[duckkisser]

if you get around to making this let us see it i would like to see it when its finished.

[Brian VanVreede]

I'm off from work Tuesday, so that means shop time.... regardless of how far I get ill make sure to post pics Tuesday night!

[Rapid Roger]

Well..........................................I won't roll off the bench.

Rog

[duckkisser]

you wont roll off the bench? dude are you sleeping on the bench?

[Chet]

Brian,
To me the face angle looks pretty steep.
To strike a square blow, I'd think you'd want something less, but I could be wrong.
I don't think it will last long when you whack face grain on your chisels.

Wouldn't two halves be easier and allow you to whack your chisels with end grain?

[Brian VanVreede]

I know that face grain will dent easier. (I'm OK with dents) what I'm not OK with is it breaking. Will face grain split super easily? And if I make the faces endgrain will I still be able to cut the sliding dovetails in the end grain or will that cause issues? No sense in spending time with intricate Joinery if the piece is going to split the first time I use it...

I WANT to make this design work!!

[JohnnyNoName]

I WANT to make this design work!!

Brian -
If I was to make this, I would definitely cut the dovetail joints before I cut the mitres. After you get the dovetails to work, you can then mark the mitre locations off of the handle's corners. Is the handle round or square?

Jonathan
=============================

[Brian VanVreede]

Square to start but after I know the faces fit nice and tight I will take them off and.use my spoke shave or maybe just my chisels to round out the handle.

[Brian VanVreede]

Ok, so here is where im at. Still need to do the glue up (epoxy), the splines, the angles on the faces, and the handle.

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[JohnnyNoName]

Look good so far. Have you tried to fit anything yet?

Jonathan
==================================

[Brian VanVreede]

All of the dovetails are nice and snug. The mitres...I wish were a little tighter. I did what t-mac does for gluing up mitres, glue blocks at every corner to create parallel clamping surfaces. I think this should tighten up those liters......I hope!

[JohnnyNoName]

All of the dovetails are nice and snug. The mitres...I wish were a little tighter. I did what t-mac does for gluing up mitres, glue blocks at every corner to create parallel clamping surfaces. I think this should tighten up those liters......I hope!

Cool. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Jonathan
==================================

[duckkisser]

man that is a crazy complicated jointery for a mallet i know a this point in my skills i could not pull it off. cant wait to see what it looks like.

[Brian VanVreede]

So here is a pic of the top of the mallet after the glue up (epoxy) and after I removed the triangular blocks I glued to every corner to create a parallel clamping surface. As you can clearly see, the mitres are anything but perfect.....my plan to fix this is to cut out a kerf the length of all 4 mitres and place walnut splines in there to make the gaps disappear. I also think doing this will add a really cool affect (effect) once I cut the long angles off of the faces. If I just try filling in the mitres with more epoxy it will look like doodie. Not in my original plan but, again, this is all a skill building exercise for me. Ill keep posting pictures in this thread but if your interested in reading more I just started up a wordpress blog documenting this project.

http://buckscountycr....wordpress.com/

Attached Thumbnails

• 

[Chet]

Wow, that is one heck of a mallet.

Can't wait to see the finished product.