My New Mallet!

[Luke Dupont]

Welp, I finally made myself a proper mallet! I made this one a little smaller/lighter than most Joiner's mallets, as I really don't think I need that much bulk and wanted something easy to control for detail work. It's made of Red Oak, though, so that gives it a good amount of heft. I've had no problem chopping mortises so far. The head is laminated, and the mortise was actually cut as two "dados" before the head was glued together. I don't perceive this to be a problem, as wood glue is very strong, especially with all of that long grain contact area, but if I'm mistaken, please correct me!

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What do you all think? I think I might actually put it on my Etsy shop for once. I've not yet been happy enough with most of my woodwork to feel comfortable selling it, but I'm gradually creeping towards a level of quality that I feel is respectable. And, I would like to eventually make back at least as much as I spend with this hobby ;)

This particular mallet is for me, however :D

[Jim Koepke]

My most used mallet is a smaller one made from a piece of oak 2X4 sized material. I believe it came from an old pallet.

It is a nice mallet but I think oak tends to be more splintery than woods like ash or beach.

jtk

[Luke Dupont]

My most used mallet is a smaller one made from a piece of oak 2X4 sized material. I believe it came from an old pallet.

It is a nice mallet but I think oak tends to be more splintery than woods like ash or beach.

jtk

Yeah, that was my only reservation about Oak. But then, I can't imagine whacking something hard enough to split this; it's fairly straight grained. I tend to be pretty gentle in my work, though.

I'd love to use Ash or Hickory, but I just can't find them locally, and shipping costs make ordering wood online prohibitively expensive. I did find a cabinet maker nearby who keeps other hardwoods in stock, though.

[allen long]

It's a nice looking mallet. However it looks like the handle is already broken in that third picture! ;-)

[Frederick Skelly]

I made a laminated mallet out of a 2x4 a couple years back. It's held up just fine. Bet yours will too!

[Brent Cutshall]

Nice job! Mine was made from a lucky piece of oak firewood. It's a one-piece and has a square head that tapers toward the back, it's kind of a unique something I thought up but it don't look nothing like yours. I had been using an old rubber mallet, the kind you get at a hardware store not a good one, but I was surprised by how much you actually use a mallet once you have a good one.

[Jim Koepke]

I was surprised by how much you actually use a mallet once you have a good one.

I usually have a mallet at the farmers market. I ask folks if they know anyone who is 'mallet adjusted.'

jtk

[Luke Dupont]

Nice job! Mine was made from a lucky piece of oak firewood. It's a one-piece and has a square head that tapers toward the back, it's kind of a unique something I thought up but it don't look nothing like yours. I had been using an old rubber mallet, the kind you get at a hardware store not a good one, but I was surprised by how much you actually use a mallet once you have a good one.

Nice! Hey, that's some "real" woodworking there, splitting, and flattening your own wood! I think there's a certain beauty to things made this way, or using traditional methods, such as if one were to cut the mortise into solid wood rather than laminating it.

[Brent Cutshall]

Well, thank you Luke. But that's just my expertise, wood tool stuffs and handles. I always love to talk to someone who appreciates some good ol' traditional woodworking.

[Stew Denton]

Hi Luke,

Add one more to the "it looks great" crowd. I like the way the grain looks on oak, and so besides looking well made, the grain looks great too.

I hope to make one some of these times. I have one of my grandfathers mallets, but his is too small for a lot of things. Hope you get to enjoy using your new mallet for a good long time.

Stew

[Kees Heiden]

I have demolished a laminated wooden mallet once. It did take some heavy malleting, driving pikes into the ground to be precise, but it took only one pike to reduce the mallet to its parts. I continued the work with a more traditional one piece mallet and that one survived the ordeal.

You can say that you will never maltreat your mallet like that, but hey, it's a mallet, it's made to be maltreated!