Well - I tried my hand at a few mallets...

Diomedes Industries

Diomedes Industries

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Mar 19, 2007
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I have been talking about alternatives to expensive Poly Mallets. I took some time to build a few "Joiners Mallets" from these basic plans:

http://www.woodworkingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/Joiners Mallet.pdf

I made a dead blow (24 ounces with lead shot in the center) and one without (14 ounces). The wood is Oak and Walnut Laminate - with Walnut wedges in the head to join the two. I used a rasp, file, and sandpaper to shape the handle

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So - this got me thinking of another thread I read on here where someone mentioned using the core of a bowling pin. I read somewhere else that bowling pins are made, generally, from hardwood maple. So - I gave it a shot - I mean - who doesn't have a few bowling pins laying about? :eek:

I cut them open - squared them up - beveled them - put a 1 1/4 hole through it - put a hardwood oak dowel through the hole - made a walnut wedge to hang it with - and got to work with the rasp and file - and cleaned it up with sand paper.

My kids loved these - so I 'antiqued' them a bit so that they could double as "Minecraft" Crafting hammers (Halloween?) and there you have it.

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These are 13 and 15 ounces respectively.

Sorry the pics aren't the best - but I wanted to share. Total cost in these is about 3 dollars for all of them - and I figure I can wear out a few hardwood heads for the price of a poly mallet.

We will see. Either way - I have some cool shop mallets.

TF
 
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Sweet!! Those are nice! Thank you for sharing! I wish I had the time to explore woodworking again. Very well done. :)
 
Those look really nice.

You might want to cut a shallow groove parallel to each face on all four sides of the mallets. In the event that you hit too close to the edge, the wood will split only up to the groove and not through the whole head of the mallet.
 
Talfuchre said:
Joe.

Thanks for the suggestion - wouldn't chamfering the edges prevent this?

TF
Click to expand...


Only to a certain point; when it's wood against steel, steel wins.

I've got a mallet that was misused (probably used to hammer nails) and the grooves really did their job.



All it would take is a 1/16" to 1/8" deep saw cut, maybe 3/4" to 1" away from the face. It can be made to look as part of the design of the mallet.



On a side note, apple wood is supposed to be very hard and good for making mallets.
 
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Great looking mallets, very nice wood contrasts. The kids' mallets look authentic, great that they are ready for the Halloween. Great work!
 
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