Glynne
Established Member
My Son-in-Law is an avid cricket fan, both watching and playing.
Unfortunately the phrase "all the gear and no idea" applies to his playing abilities, but this does not detract him from buying and selling cricket gear (mainly bats) and the associated "essential" accessories. One such "essential" is a knocking in mallet which is evidentally used to "tune" cricket bats and despite having 2 such mallets, he has now read that he really needs another one made from Lignum Vitae. I have resisted the urge (i.e. been threatened by my wife) to suggest that if you can't actually hit the ball then it doesn't matter whether the bat is tuned or not but I'm now being pressured to make him a mallet from an old lignum vitae bowl.
A knocking mallet looks like: - View attachment 41
and I have found an LV bowl (Taylor Rolph - Penshurst) -
Questions
Can someone please explain how a bowl is constructed? I understand that there is normally a weight incorporated into the centre to give the bowl "bias" and I'm guessing this will be lead but how big is it likely to be and how is it sealed in?
In terms of actually turning the mallet head, my first thought would be to mount the bowl between centres so as the 2 white discs (sorry I don't know the proper name) are front and back as you look at the lathe. I would then flatten the bowl to create a cylinder shape (with rounded ends) - hence the question as to how are bowls made. I thought it would be best to leave in the centre to avoid breakout but I don't want to be hitting metal so do I need to drill this out and replace with a sacrificial plug? I'm also worried about the actual mount as the bowl will cause some damage (to me) if it comes off so is there a better way to mount it?
Having got my cylinder, I would then re-mount across where the discs were to shape the mallet faces. The final stage would then be to bore out whats left of the centre (or sacrificial plug) and fit a handle and wedge.
All of these are just my initial thoughts so I'd really appreciate some advice from more experienced turners or someone who has actually used a bowl to create something.
Thanks in advance.
Glynne
Unfortunately the phrase "all the gear and no idea" applies to his playing abilities, but this does not detract him from buying and selling cricket gear (mainly bats) and the associated "essential" accessories. One such "essential" is a knocking in mallet which is evidentally used to "tune" cricket bats and despite having 2 such mallets, he has now read that he really needs another one made from Lignum Vitae. I have resisted the urge (i.e. been threatened by my wife) to suggest that if you can't actually hit the ball then it doesn't matter whether the bat is tuned or not but I'm now being pressured to make him a mallet from an old lignum vitae bowl.
A knocking mallet looks like: - View attachment 41
and I have found an LV bowl (Taylor Rolph - Penshurst) -
Questions
Can someone please explain how a bowl is constructed? I understand that there is normally a weight incorporated into the centre to give the bowl "bias" and I'm guessing this will be lead but how big is it likely to be and how is it sealed in?
In terms of actually turning the mallet head, my first thought would be to mount the bowl between centres so as the 2 white discs (sorry I don't know the proper name) are front and back as you look at the lathe. I would then flatten the bowl to create a cylinder shape (with rounded ends) - hence the question as to how are bowls made. I thought it would be best to leave in the centre to avoid breakout but I don't want to be hitting metal so do I need to drill this out and replace with a sacrificial plug? I'm also worried about the actual mount as the bowl will cause some damage (to me) if it comes off so is there a better way to mount it?
Having got my cylinder, I would then re-mount across where the discs were to shape the mallet faces. The final stage would then be to bore out whats left of the centre (or sacrificial plug) and fit a handle and wedge.
All of these are just my initial thoughts so I'd really appreciate some advice from more experienced turners or someone who has actually used a bowl to create something.
Thanks in advance.
Glynne
