A few years ago another SMC member traded 'mallet wood' with me. Mine was western woods and his was eastern.
The pieces were mostly marked but this one may have had the marking removed one time when trying a plane on it.
Not sure if it is butternut or hickory:
2020's Last Mallet.jpg
This one was lain out with a bit more care than my past attempts. It also seemed like making a turned handle might be an enjoyable change.
The mortise was drilled out in the four corners on the drill press. The 'wedges' made when the angle on the handle was cut at 4º on each side were used to tilt the head on the drill press.
Forgot to take a picture of my newest tool fashioned for working on this project, a chisel with a 90º bevel. It came in handy for cleaning up the bottom of the handle. The bottom part of the handle was cut square to make it easy to chuck up and turn on the lathe. The 90º bevel chisel was made with one that cost ~$1. It looks like something from a set of Harbor Freight chisels. It was actually pretty helpful in removing material a little at a time on the handle and in the mortise. My Veritas Concave Spokeshave was also used on the handle.
The handle is a touch shorter than most of my other mallets. It is also a slightly smaller head.
The shaping isn't finished. While making a cut on the bandsaw the blade was moving in and out. This confused me until the top was opened and the blade was turned by hand. There is a crack forming in the blade. Being it was getting late, it seemed better to leave the blade change until tomorrow.
jtk
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Originally Posted by Rob Luter
