Wood for mallet

Re: Wood for mallet

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>I've made mallets from cocobolo, but from solid stock, not glued up. The main problem you may encounter is an alergic reaction when turning it or otherwise working it. If you've never worked it before, you will not likely become sufficiently sensitized on the first project to have to see a doctor about it. I've been working with it, in small quantities, for several years, and only suffer from a few sneezes, but others are not so lucky. I have successfully glued cocobolo to other woods using both Gorilla Glue and West System epoxy. Rough up the glue surfaces with a couple passes with 80 grit sandpaper.

I would be a bit hesitant to use wenge for a mallet, because it is brittle, and would have a tendency to splinter under heavy use.

Re: Wood for mallet

Frank D. in Montreal

>Hi guy,

I made my favorite mallet out of hard maple and it's holding up fine after many, many whacks (it was the first tool I made, when I only had one plane!). I glued mine with cheap epoxy but that was a mistake, I'd use poly if I had to make another. Luckily I inserted cross-wise dowels so it's still holding together nicely.

Re: Wood for mallet

ThomD

>I agree that one doesn't really need special wood for a mallet. I have made them out of hickory I cut. Heavier tougher is better, because having a smaller head adds visibility. My favorite chisling mallet is the carver's size in rubber. I don't like the carver's type in wood. I tried one is brass and it destroyed wooden chisels, too much curvature, it split like a maul. I use the japanese hammers also. Case of "it's all good". You may not create the ultimate mallet first go, so you might consider simpler woods to start.

I use epoxy on all rosewood type things, except on guitars, where I use regular titebond or hide glue.

Brazilian cherry (Jatoba)

Dave Thompson - Champaign IL

>I've made a mallet out of hard maple, and that has worked well for me. Recently I've been working alot with Brazilian cherry (jatoba), and have a lot of scraps, and am planning to make my next mallet out of this. It has a janka (hardness) rating of around 2400, which is about twice as hard as oak. If I remember correctly, Hickory is around 1800.

Jatoba is not that expensive either. I've been seeing it around the $3.50/bf. It's a pretty wood. It darkens significantly with oil and/or light to a warm reddish brown.

enjoy,

Dave

Re: Wood for mallet

john l. blue

>go find that 4-5 inch dia. dogwood tree and dig it up, it's knurl should last you a lifetime.