Gold Mallet/Milk bottle Mallet

[marcros]

I have 3 milk bottles and tops ready to cut up. I wonder how many it will take.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I weighed a six pint carton - it was 59gms, so I suppose fifteen of them would do a reasonable mallet. All the supermarkets here have got rid of their recycle skips, otherwise I'd just go and get what I needed.

 

[marcros]

A bit less in the 2L cravendale, but a very white plastic, so I am going to be needing 20+ I guess. Job for the spring!

 

[Racers]

Well I made a big milk carton mallet, it took two goes as I ran out of milk cartons.
I had to bake the half full can in the oven at 160 fan for ages to soften the first lot then add more plastic.
The white bits are washing liquid bottle and the coloured bits are bottle tops.

Milk carton mallet by Racers, on Flickr

Milk carton mallet by Racers, on Flickr

It was a tricky thing to turn I got lots of catches, a round scraper turned out to be the best thing to use.

Pete

 

[fiveeyes]

A confetti mallet...nice job sir.

 

[Racers]

I didn't like the handle, I made it from a too small piece of teak, so I remade it with a bigger bit, I did two swells so you can choke up on it or give it some power.

Milk bottle mallet by Racers, on Flickr

I did use it over the weekend to carve a bowl from an Apple trunk from the garden and it felt very nice.
This arrow popped out as I was carving it.

Arrow bowl by Racers, on Flickr

Pete

 

[marcros]

which size do you prefer of the two? I have a reasonable amount of hdpe now.

 

[Racers]

The big one is a nice weight for big stuff, I guess one in the middle would be a good all rounder but why should you only have one?

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yeah ........... how on earth do people manage with only one mallet?

 

[marcros]

The small one was a bean can wasn't it? What was the larger one?

 

[Doug B]

Excellent job on the mallets Pete, particularly like the gold one =D>

After drawing back some used motor oil quenched plane blades in the oven years ago I’m banned from using the oven for anything other than domestic cooking :roll: obviously I blamed Jim (lurker) :lol: :lol:

 

[Racers]

The small one was a bean can wasn't it? What was the larger one?

Cow and Gate baby milk powder tin from when the the kids where young.

Pete

 

[Phil Pascoe]

After drawing back some used motor oil quenched plane blades in the oven years ago I’m banned from using the oven for anything other than domestic cooking :roll: obviously I blamed Jim (lurker) :lol: :lol:

I have had no problem at all melting the stuff in the oven after washing it in the washing machine, but I have drawn the line at some cosmetic and deodorant bottles as I don't want to take the chance of leaving a taint.
I suspect there'll be one or two of these given as S/S presents this year ........... just a thought ...........

 

[Starjump]

Inspirational!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Due to start soon.

 

[Racers]

Oooooo nice keep us posted.

Pete

 

[Racers]

Well he has a friend!
I started this a while ago but ran into problems, I didn't mash the plastic down hard enough and ran out if plastic.
I extracted it and their were gaps, so once I had enough plastic and tops I popped it in the oven to soften it, that took ages bit eventually I got it soft melted more milk bottle pieces and cut up tops until it was full.
I drilled it and turned it, had some problems with catches even with sharp scrapers, I eventually finished it using a goose neck scraper held low down it made nice shavings and no catches.

Mallets by Racers, on Flickr

Its got some nice swirls caused my me pushing the melted plastic down the edges of the can.
I had to destroy the can to get it out so its the last one for me.

Pete

 

[Andy Kev.]

These mallets have attracted a lot of praise. They represent an original and creative use of material which would otherwise have just been binned. Then there is the aesthetic appeal: the bottle top one is simply a very attractive object. I suppose that because this is a highly practical forum, most people would also be interested in how functional they are in the workshop. Incidentally, if they are you might want to patent them because in these days of increasing ecological awareness I can imagine a firm nicking the idea and marketing "green" mallets.

However, it also occurred to me that if the kind of waster who makes a fortune in the ridiculous world of modern "art" were to stumble on the idea, they'd be going for hundreds of thousands. Can you imagine if that p**t Damien Hurst turned out a four foot high one (and I wouldn't put it beyond him) for which some gallery would doubtless pay him more than a million and then had loads of the normal size ones made. They'd be going for hundreds of quid a throw. They'd be seen as making a vital statement about our relationship with the planet.

If I were you, Mr Maddex, I would consider going public with them while talking complete and utter b***locks as often and as loudly as you can and this time next year you'll be supping brown ale in your mansion in Mustique.