New uses for old leather belts and used corks
Had this one in the back of my head (the "plan", not the "mallet") for more than a decade. Originally I had the notion of using a flat sheet of leather and a flat sheet of cork on the heads but I though I would go for some recycling.
The handle's perhaps a touch too small but it's very well balance and delivers a nice "bouncy" blow that you wouldn't necessarily get from flat sheets of material. You can feel it recoil nicely, a bit like a rubber mallet.
The wood is red gum - it was terribly split and had to use a lot of resin filling the cracks.
The corks are from bottles of good aussie reds.