Pigs ear.

[Garno]

You may remember a short while ago (or may not) I said I was going down the hand crafted route and to start relying less and less on power tools. I asked for and received some great advice regarding dovetails. Well I have tried and tried and wasted a heap of wood attempting them and have come to the conclusion I need a lot more practice before I can rely on them actually joining anything together.


Anyway I digress, At the moment I do not own a mallet so in my infinite wisdom have decided to make myself one without using any power tools. My question is regards the handle. I understand it needs a slight taper on it (wider at the top). Can I make the handle from strips of wood glued together or does it need to be from one single piece? What I am hoping to achieve is a stripe of dark wood running up it.


Due to my disablities (not all physical) This is a big project for me and I really want it to look right, Once made I aim to make a few of the trays Paul Sellers shows on one of his tutorials then back to the dovetails

 

[MikeG.]

You can laminate the handle, or you can make it from solid.

 

[AJB Temple]

As Mike said, laminating is fine. I have made a few framing mallets (a bit rough and not intended to be pretty) and generally I will drive a wedge into the head of the handle to tighten it. If you look at old carving mallets, often the handle will be screwed into the head with a screw thread turned into the handle.

 

[thetyreman]

I'd have thought that using a single piece is stronger for the handle, lamination might look nicer though. what's more important in a mallet? how it looks or how it functions? I'd say the latter. Sellers has an excellent free project on his woodworking masterclass site on making a mallet if you've not seen it already.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

if you have a lathe you can use the hafts to practice your off centre turning - it also means the heads can be drilled rather than morticed which is quicker and easier. laminations might look quite good.

 

[Garno]

if you have a lathe you can use the hafts to practice your off centre turning - it also means the heads can be drilled rather than morticed which is quicker and easier. laminations might look quite good.

I don't have a laith sadly, I hope one day to own one but I'm still getting in all the basic tools.

I like the look of those mallets with the round handles.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The pics. aren't good - the large one is quite elliptical and the small one has two flats on the sides.