Mallets
Paul in NJ
>The 'Weekend Projects' thread went from chisels to mallets so I thought I would start a new post. Here are the two I use most in my shop. The light colored mallet is made from dogwood and is patterned from the joiner's mallets I have seen in various catalogs. I use it for heavy duty work like wasting wood with a large gouge or mortising. The head was laminated and the glue line is starting to let loose so the next one will be made from solid stock. I like this one much better than the dead-blow mallet I have.
The second one is made from cocobolo and is the one I use for dovetails, carving, and adjusting my wooden planes. I like it so much it is almost always on my bench. I know a lot of you like turned mallets and they have advantages and are easy to make, but I was never comfortable with them. It seems like the curved surface will glance off my tool even though I know it doesn't, it's just my peculiarity. My mallet is made from flat stock rectangular stock. The wide edge tapers towards the handle like a turner's mallet. The handle is rasped and smoothed to an oval cross-section so that when you pick it up the stricking face registers automatically. This mallet is pretty easy to make and I think I'll try a larger one for heavier work.
Paul Dzioba