Some mallets...

[Ryan Sparreboom]

I made these two mallets, one for my dad, and one for me.
They are made of curly maple and another wood that my best guess is jatoba. It is very hard and very heavy. The hardest part for me was shaping the handles, I need more practice with the bandsaw. But I think they turned out very well.
Hope you like 'em. I'm sure my dad and I will make good use of them.

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj158/Boomr99/Woodworking%20Projects/P1030591.jpg

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj158/Boomr99/Woodworking%20Projects/P1030593.jpg

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj158/Boomr99/Woodworking%20Projects/P1030582.jpg

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj158/Boomr99/Woodworking%20Projects/P1030597.jpg

http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj158/Boomr99/Woodworking%20Projects/P1030580.jpg

Ryan

[John Keeton]

Nice job, Ryan! The contrast on the woods is very pleasing and I am sure they will get some good use.

[Ed Sallee]

Pretty cool, Ryan.... I'm with John on the contrasting woods....

I could see where they would be handy around the shop.... but, they're too darn pretty to be bangin' anything with 'em...

[Danny Thompson]

Nice job. Those handles look pretty fat. What are your rough dimensions?

[John Thompson]

Very nicely done and purty on top of that. Do they feel balanced in your hand?

[sean m. titmas]

nice mallets!
your right about the dark wood being Jatoba. I have some of it and it is a very hard and dense wood that takes tooling surprisingly well.
my only concern would be the wedge and the forces it applies to the glue joint. it may be a mute point but i would of ran them perpendicular to the glue joints.
the only thing left to do is to label them so you and pops dont get them confused.

[Ryan Sparreboom]

Thanks guys. As pretty as they turned out, they are intended to be used. I'll likely whack my AI bubinga handled chisels a bit with mine, and for carcass assembly where needed. I'll leave it up to my dad if he wants to use his or not.

They do feel quite good and balanced in my hand. And my dad's hands are about the same size as mine.
He lives in Nakusp BC, and I'm in Edmonton. No chance of them getting mixed up.
We go visit him later this month, so I'll update you on how he likes it!.

Next I'm gonna make a wood plane or two, probably some smoothers to start with.

Oh, the dimensions of the mallets are:
12" long overall.
head is 6 1/8" x 2 1/2" x 2 5/8" tall.
handle is 7/8" square at the narrowest and 1 3/8" x 1 3/16" at the widest point.

The finish on them is a BLO/Danish oil/ Mineral Spirits mix that seems to work quite well for me.


Ryan

[Garth Keel]

Better than anyone could buy!

[Brent Smith]

Nice looking mallets Ryan! I'm sure your Dad will be proud to receive his.

[Thomas Pender]

Really - I can go with some dings to the head, but those handles are lovely and there is just no way you can buy anything like that. I wish my Dad was interested in wood working, so I could do something like that for him. Guess I will have to make some tools like yours and hope one of my sons will appreciate it.

[Ryan Sparreboom]

Thank you for the kind words fellas.

Ryan