Thread: New uses for old leather belts and used corks

Originally Posted by jmk89

Bob
I was wondering how your leather mallet is holding up? I have a large sheet of leather and thought if I soaked it and rolled it I could make a mallet like the one in Chapman, Workshop Technology.

I don't use it much but when I do use it is just the bees knees. I use the cork side for light persuasion and the leather side for greater persuasion - alternating between the two as needed is also very useful.

BTW does Chapman have any hints on how to make the mallet?

I think the one in chapman is designed for metal forming/shaping.

I was thinking of getting a suitable galvanised pipe fitting (eg 75mm) to use as the outher casing and to give some heft, fill it with the leather roll (with the leather projecting by about 20mm each end) and then fixing a handle through with wedges which can be removed if the leather roll needs to be replaced. What do you think?

It depends what you want to do with it. I use mine to take apart old furniture or help drive tightish fitting joints into place. An all leather one might not be heavy enough for that.

Would it be worthwhile to glue the roll together? What glue do you recommend?

Mine is silasticed together. The strip is about an 25 mm wide and rolled up on itself. Only the inside half has silastic applied to it and it is embedded into the red gum block in a couple of mm deep layer of silastic.

Should I cover the roll with a leather skin so the faces are perfectly flat?

Flat faces are used for metal shaping. Mine is very slightly domed.

Should I use shellac to impregnate the leather - I see that some commercial leather mallets are advertised as being shellac impregnated?

I think this is also done for using as a metal processing tool although shellac would possibly stop the leather from absorbing dirt.

I think I'll put it on the TUIT list

Originally Posted by Arron

........ Need to drink more wine.
Arron

Yeah, and since they are all using those Stelvin caps these days, you will have to drink fine old stuff to get corks.

So, got to get into the cellar tonight. Judging by the number of old corks that crumble, it looks like a sizeable dent could be made in the racks by the time I get 8 sound corks!
Oh dear, that will be hard......

There used be a commercial product like your hammer which had a soft copper insert in one side and a rolled pigskin insert in the other.
I think it was marketed as a "Thor" hammer or some such.
I have one somewhere in my shed left at the house by the previous owner.
I'll see if I can find it.
Cheers
SG