Where do I buy rough sawn wood for making a mallet?

[brettryan]

Hi everybody, I'm only new to woodworking and would like to start by first making my first wooden mallet as shown by Paul Sellers.

I first don't know where to buy the wood, unfortunately I have very bad eyes and can't drive a car to transport large lengths. I'm also not sure what species is best that's available in my region Melbourne/Australia.

I'm excited to get started, I don't own many tools yet and I think this will be a good project that I will add to my tool chest.


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[AndrewOC]

G'da,
welcome to the forum.
If I were to make a mallet, I'd like some kind of hardwood- others shall chime in with species recommendations.
For supply, how about start with friends and relatives firewood piles!

Andrew.

[DaveTTC]

Gday Bret,

Welcome aboard. I would not get to fussy about timber. See what you can pick up on the side of the road. Yiu dont need much for a mallet. Even try scraps fron a local business like a joinery etc

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

[Handyjack]

Not being sure where you are in Melbourne I would be unable to direct you specifically.

Along the lines of Andrew, for a mallet I might be looking in a pile of off cuts or seconds. Firewood pile might also hide some gold.
An old fence post might also be suitable - think free, but you will be fighting those with fire places.

Best wishes with your search.

[Beneke]

Have a look at a local salvage yard!

[brettryan]

Thank you everybody for your suggestions. I shall try looking through some wood piles.

[TermiMonster]

Whereabouts in Melbourne are you?
TM

[brettryan]

Hi TM, I live in Bacchus Marsh.

Today I got a fortunate knock at the door by my best friend who brought around a trunk of a fruit tree. It's a little small at around 5" in diameter but will serve me fine. Paul Sellers uses 3" x 4" but I will only get 2.5" x 3.5 but it will be a perfect project for me.

I'm mostly interested in learning how to use hand tools and I think this project will be perfect for me. Given the project will give me another tool for my tool chest I'm excited to start it.

Here's the tree.

IMG_2010.jpg

I squared off the top just for the measurements.

IMG_2012.jpg

[brettryan]

Don't know what happened there, my photos got rotated. They looked fine before I uploaded, sorry about that.

[Euge]

Hi Brett

When I started woodworking (or planned to start) I made a mallet from yellow box. But many other box woods, ie Eucalyptus sp, (red, grey, yellow, inland, coolibah etc) are good because they are dense, hard and their INTERLOCKED grain means they dont' split easily when used for striking. As many of these are used for fences and firewood, they are often available at no cost.

Euge