Best Size of Wooden Mallet

[Jerome Andrieux]

For me, assembly means long, soft and heavy, as to not leave marks.
Chisel work means short, hard and heavy. I like metal and small taps.

Unless you aim for some kind of minimalism, I would recommend having many hammers and mallets. They are easy to make and / or cheap, unlike planes, saws and chisels. If you can build them, make it so you can replace / cut down the handle.

[Phil Gaudio]

I use the rectangular mallet for M/T work and for assembly. The round mallet is great for DT's. Blue Spruce.

[Dave Seng]

I'm working on making a mallet (ala Paul Sellers). If you haven't made one, I'd say it's a worthwhile learning experience. Total weight of the head and handle - 27 ounces. The mortise is almost complete, I'm just doing the last bit of fitting to the handle. Started with a 4"x6"x 3" piece of ash for the head. The total handle length is 14". Cutting a four inch mortise in ash has been interesting. End grain is tough cutting - even with sharp chisels. Fun project.

[Dave Seng]

I'm working on making a mallet (ala Paul Sellers). If you haven't made one, I'd say it's a worthwhile learning experience. Total weight of the head and handle - 27 ounces. The mortise is almost complete, I'm just doing the last bit of fitting to the handle. Started with a 4"x6"x 3" piece of ash for the head. The total handle length is 14". Cutting a four inch mortise in ash has been interesting. End grain is tough cutting - even with sharp chisels. Fun project.

And here's the finished product - first completed project of the New Year. I pegged the head to the handle because I don't forsee a need to separate the two. Will have to see if that was a mistake over time or not.
Mallet.jpg

[Jim Koepke]

Over time my mallet handles appear to tighten into the head by drifting deeper into the mortise.

If the handle gets loose a drop or two of wood glue helps to hold it in.

One my latest mallet > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....7-Mallet-Mania < experience helped to get the mortise in the head and the handle taper fit much better than any of my other mallets including a manufactured mallet, Footprint, bought ~30 years ago.

The taper for this one is 8º, or 4º on each side. The edges cut off of the handle were used to support the head when boring the mortise on a drill press. This allowed drilling close to the corners while staying inside the layout top and bottom. A pad saw was also used to clear some of the waste:

Pad Saw.jpg

Another tool that helped at removing bumps on the end grain in the mortise was an old chisel ground to a 90º bevel. It works like a one tooth float.

jtk

[lowell holmes]

Or you can buy one,

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...hoCBLoQAvD_BwE

[Phil Gaudio]

Nice! Happy you built it instead of buying it.