Just finished making a maul! Check it out.

[GrizzlyBear]

After doing some basket weave stamping on a test piece of horse hide, I decided that it was finally time to retire my crappy little wooden mallet (hobby lobby mallet, ultra light) and get with the program on making a maul. I'm low on funds this week so I wanted to keep it as low $ as possible...well, you can't beat free.

I had told my cousin, who is a wood-turner, that I would like to make a wooden maul...at least till I could make a proper one out of raw hide or nylon. So, today, she took a piece of ash firewood and shaved off the bark and chucked it into the lathe for me. After a quick tutorial on the basics, she let me have at it.

This is my end result. It's been sanded to 220 and is in the process of getting a tung oil finish. I don't have an exact weight at the moment, I figure at least 24oz. I can't find my postal scale or my tape measure and it's too late to run outside to look so exact specs will come later.

A couple things I plan on doing: 1) taking the torch to the work face and flame hardening the wood; it's ash and quite hard but a little flame hardening won't hurt and 2) depending on it's initial weight, I plan on making it a little heavier by drilling the end and filling the cavity with melted lead.

Not bad for a first time at the lathe, I gotta say I could really get into wood turning.

 

[leatherman]

Well done!

Personally, I'd use it at its current weight before adding any more, just a suggestion.

 

[GrizzlyBear]

Thanks! I'm going to do that for sure. It's gotta be leaps and bounds better than that crappy little mallet! I'll dig out my scale and tape measure in the morning and get some exact specs to post up.

It feels great in the hand and I'm happy as a pig in slop

 

[rayban]

Looks great! Nice job...yeah, 24oz should be plenty heavy for just about anything.
It will still get dinged up won't it?...wonder if a wrap of raw hide would be a good idea?

 

[GrizzlyBear]

I wondered about the weight, especially when I've seen mauls run 24, 32 and even 48oz! Who uses a 3lb maul for leather work? I take it those heavy monsters are for punching holes and strap cutting?

As for the face, if it looks like it's going to start dinging up and chipping out, I had planned on getting a piece of rawhide and gluing it to the head. In fact, the next one of these I make, I may include a recessed channel in the head for just that purpose. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[leatherman]

Good idea about the facing. I've seen those wrapped both in rawhide and leather. Rawhide will give a firmer strike while leather will give a little making for a very soft strike. Either one has its purpose.

Those monster mauls are for wood carvers and saddle makers. I have a big one I picked up at an estate sale, thing feels like a rock. Very heavy, I was told it was for hard woods, large projects.

 

[GrizzlyBear]

Got around to measuring it today and putting it on the scale, here are the specs:

9.5" long
16 oz on the dot (I don't know how I managed that!)


Also, I went ahead and flame tempered the work face with a torch and lightly toasted the handle grain. This picture is after 2 light coats of Formby's Tung Oil finish.

I'm anxious to start using it, I have a sheath to do as soon as I finish the knife that goes in it.

What weight do most folks use?

 

[Skystorm]

That came out great but I think it will get dinged up to easily without some covering.

I use a 3lb maul from Weaver, I love that thing. Heavy for the first week or so but now I don't even notice it. First thing I did was destroy two good slot punches with it before I figured out tapping with this one might be a good idea at first. Turned out to be an expensive maul due to imbecile ownership.

 

[GrizzlyBear]

Thanks! I'm going to give it a shot without covering it, just to see how it works and how it's going to wear. If it looks like its going to get screwed up badly Ill cover it. Or, turn a new one designed for a cover. There is no $ involved and only a couple hours work.