mallets

[tobytools]

evening gents,
thins is my first post in the lathe room,
first a bit about myself, im 23 years old, work for a tree surgeon company and every piece of wood i use I've either recycled or acquired from work ect.
ive made a few odd bits and bobs with the lathe "spindle", chisel handles, hammer, shafts, a dodgy bowl, candle sticks. nothing of great skill.

the machine i use is a draper (spindle only) no chuck or plate lathe, brought it for a song with a few blanks and chisels a while ago, i love it and has worked fine and im hopefully going to get a new top of the range lathe in the future future

ok so, these mallets are users and I've used the smaller one already, i have a long way to go but these are my 3rd and 4th mallet. no2 was a balls up.

both these mallets have imperfections and im aware of them, note these will be users not and house hold ornament, my decretive pieces have a nicer finish and less flaws lol

just thought some would like to have a look,

woods used.
small mallet:
hawthorn,laburnum and the yellow one i can't remember but its a sharp fellow.

medium mallet: holly

many thanks
TT

 

[tobytools]

Images continued...

 

[VikingAl]

Mate, I like em!. I do tree work n all, always on the hunt in the boss' yard!. I would say that they look too nice to use!. Good effort.

 

[milkman]

Beautiful work.
One thing, I don't think they need the ribbing and detailing on the handles. None of the hammers, mallets, shafted-tools I use have this detail and probably with good reason. At most they sometimes have a slight bulge and that's it. Our hands give a very good grip and don't need the help, in fact I think they'll chafe.
Other than that they'll do a great job I think.

 

[winemaker]

They look nice but I must agree the ribbing wood hurt when in use.

 

[johnphilip]

The last picture n the first post, that is a beautiful piece of woodi

 

[tobytools]

I agree I went a little over the top with the "ribbing" but surprisingly it's not that bad I've only used the smallest one and I didn't notice,
That being said I believe they would hurt my partners hand but use men, not a problem

The next one I make will be a standard model. Not fancyness.
Still was enjoyable messing about and trying new things.

Cheers
TT

 

[tobytools]

The last picture n the first post, that is a beautiful piece of woodi

Spalted holly,
A very nice piece, maby not so good for it's intended purpose but I'll be doing a series of whacking tests in the next few days.
I was so close to just chucking that log aswell as it was just rotting in the corner. Will be interesting to seen how the wood darkens over te next week or so.

Thanks mate
TT

 

[johnphilip]

I thought it was when i saw the green in it, i make a few walking sticks and someone gave me a piece to make a cruck handle when i finished it i sprayed it with laquer. Gave it an amazing glass like finish.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Really nice work, I'm also a tree surgeon and started turning for exactly the same reason. Lovely bit of holly, holly always seems to crack when I turn it, was that bit green or seasoned?
The spiky yellow stuff is mahonia by the way.
Rich

 

[tobytools]

Really nice work, I'm also a tree surgeon and started turning for exactly the same reason. Lovely bit of holly, holly always seems to crack when I turn it, was that bit green or seasoned?
The spiky yellow stuff is mahonia by the way.
Rich

Thanks rich, Mahonia. I'll try to remember that I'm a bit rusty on shrubs and flowers ect. The holly is a bit of both really, had stored for about 8months it's now getting used to climate change in a bag in the cold part of a house away from any heat. Should work out fine. I'll keep like this tilll I'm happy it's ready. About 3weeks. I will weigh every 4 days and keep a record of it's weight when the weight stops changing I know It's ready.

I have 2 biggish mahonia logs that I'm going to use for a infill plane at some stage. Should look amazing

Thanks mate
TT