Billets Mauled by Bushie

[Bushmiller]

Some while back we had a discussion on a thread about mallets and the act of striking tools with them. However, for the life of me, I cannot remember which thread it was in.

At the time I mentioned I was doing a little work with a froe, out of necessity. I mentioned also that a mallet is not very satisfactory for striking the back edge of tools like a froe and that a different implement was required. The mallets forte is a chisel or similar.

In fact this is exactly what happens when a mallet is used for the purpose of hitting a froe:

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I was fairly philosophical about this mallet as I had already made another out of spotted gum. which was a much better object. The problem was not so much that the hammer was breaking up, and it only had a few hits left in it, but the fact it was doing such a lousy job.

At the time of the previous thread I mentioned that I felt a maul was the way to go. Anyhow, when I went back to the Hunter Valley just recently I scavenged some billets: Short logs looking a bit like this:

377646

That one I cut like this:

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Don't worry about it being out of the Small Timber Milling forum as the blokes over there have seen this type of thing a zillion times. There were two billets like this and another that was a little shorter, had been sitting for around fifteen years and I decided to split with wedges. I ended up with around ten billets weighing from 15Kgs to 25Kgs each.

It was convenient to bring them back that way, but they needed to be reduced in size. A bandsaw would have done the job, but a workshop style machine I don't have.

I decided to use a froe. I bought one at Timbertown outside of Wauchope over twenty years ago and have never used it. I brought it back with me from the Hunter Valley. I also made a froe more recently from a truck leaf spring so I had two froes from which to choose. A quick froe of the dice to see which one ( :rolleyes: ) was inconclusive so I determined to use both.

BUT, I still hadn't made up a maul ( finally, the point of the story. Even I was starting to wonder how long this was going to go on.) I hastily made one up from a piece of timber I earmarked for the purpose. Although, it is not an ideal timber, it is big and heavy and I think it is Forest Red Gum.

Firstly, the froes:

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The more shapely one is blacksmith made and the other on the right is my effort. The handles on both of them come off in use. I will have to rectify that:

Oh yes, the maul:

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With a bit of BLO on it just to fancy it up as a friend of mine says:

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and after a few savage hits across the back of the froes:

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In fact only the denting in the timber is the result of the thrashing. The defect was already in the timber. It's holding up well. Just a point about the shaping. Traditionally people doing this work would have scavenged a suitable sized branch from the bush. They might, if they were a really flash type of a bushie, have used a drawknife to fashion some semblance of a grip.

Regards
Paul

[IanW]

Paul, I think you are sometimes even more easily distracted than I am! :U

Yes, a maul (or 'beetle' as I knew them), makes more sense for belting a froe than a mallet. The wood fibres should compress rather than split like they do when the end-grain of a mallet head hits the narrow edge of the froe. I would have made it a bit differently, though, with a little more length to the handle, & a more pronounced 'neck' close to the head to mimimise jar when you strike. However, yours obviously works well!

Cheers,

[rob streeper]

Nice work Paul. I've been thinking of making a maul out of some Live Oak logs I have laying around.

I'm still shy of froes as the last time I used one I laid open the top of my left foot. Of course I decided to wrap up the wound myself but the missus really didn't like the bed looking as if an ox had been slaughtered in it the next day.

[ian]

nice bit of work

on further reflection - very nice piece of work


but apart from 'cause you could, I have to ask why?

I know that a froe is used with a maul, but traditionally the maul is just a lump of wood with just enough work done on the "handle" that it's easy to wield and doesn't shed splinters.

[IanW]

.....I know that a froe is used with a maul, but traditionally the maul is just a lump of wood with just enough work done on the "handle" that it's easy to wield and doesn't shed splinters.

So, Paul's walloper is slightly over-done, but this is the hand-tools section, and his fancy maul is far from the first over-done tool to grace these pages. :U

'Cause he could' is more than enough reason in my book......:D

Cheers,

[Sawdust Maker]

nice bit of wood - I could have made a pen out of that

[Bushmiller]

Paul, I think you are sometimes even more easily distracted than I am! :U

Yes, a maul (or 'beetle' as I knew them), makes more sense for belting a froe than a mallet. The wood fibres should compress rather than split like they do when the end-grain of a mallet head hits the narrow edge of the froe. I would have made it a bit differently, though, with a little more length to the handle, & a more pronounced 'neck' close to the head to mimimise jar when you strike. However, yours obviously works well!

Cheers,

Easily distracted? What the... I don't know how you could say such a thing.

I deliberately made the handle only long enough to grip which I can do quite easily.

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Struck about 2/3rds along the length there is no vibration or shock at all. I was trying to keep as much weight in the maul as possible. I weighed it tonight at 1.85Kgs, but it feels much heavier than that, perhaps because of the volume which the brain interprets as must be heavy.

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

Nice work Paul. I've been thinking of making a maul out of some Live Oak logs I have laying around.

I'm still shy of froes as the last time I used one I laid open the top of my left foot. Of course I decided to wrap up the wound myself but the missus really didn't like the bed looking as if an ox had been slaughtered in it the next day.

Rob

Sound as though you should treat yourself to a new pair of (Japanese?) safety thongs. That's the ones you wear on your feet. I nearly always wear safety boots for this reason. However that did not prevent the froe from nicking the heel of my hand yesterday! If you choose to enlarge the pic you can just see the incision :rolleyes: .

The ox in the bed sounds a bit like "The Godfather" scene with the horses head. Ugly, particularly when it is your own body parts!

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

nice bit of work

on further reflection - very nice piece of work


but apart from 'cause you could, I have to ask why?

I know that a froe is used with a maul, but traditionally the maul is just a lump of wood with just enough work done on the "handle" that it's easy to wield and doesn't shed splinters.

Ian

Of course you are right that it is over the top and in my defense I should point out that I mentioned that traditionally a branch out of the bush would have surficed.

The irony is that because I knew I would be in such hallowed company I would make an effort. The only suitable piece of timber was a square billet. It was going to be very hard to get my hand around so I was going to have to reduce the diameter for the handle at the very least. Once it was on the lathe I rounded the whole lot.

The fact is that it is still sacrificial with a poor life expectancy, but vastly superior to that old mallet.

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

Nick

Would that bit of wood have been large enough?

Actually, just because it is you, when the maul breaks up I will salvage and keep the handle for you as I think you might get a pen blank out of that :D.

Regards
Paul

[IanW]

......I weighed it tonight at 1.85Kgs, but it feels much heavier than that, perhaps because of the volume which the brain interprets as must be heavy......

Or, you just may not be as strong as you were in your prime..... :D

[FenceFurniture]

Nick

Would that bit of wood have been large enough?

Actually, just because it is you, when the maul breaks up I will salvage and keep the handle for you as I think you might get a pen blank out of that :D.I think that "just because it's him" you should send him the handle after you've put the froe frew it.

[Sawdust Maker]

Nick

Would that bit of wood have been large enough?

Actually, just because it is you, when the maul breaks up I will salvage and keep the handle for you as I think you might get a pen blank out of that :D.

Regards
Paul

that's what I like, recycling! :wink: if it's long enough we could get a pen each out of it!

and I'll ignore the utterances of the bloke in the Blue Mtns as unworthy of comment :q

[FenceFurniture]

I'll ignore the utterances of the bloke in the Blue Mtns Well apparently not......:D

[Bushmiller]

Or, you just may not be as strong as you were in your prime..... :D

Ian

I am in denial.

Regards
Paul

[Luke Maddux]

George Mallory said he tried to climb Mt. Everest "because it is there" and he's considered the stuff of legend, so I think that doing anything in the name of "because I could" is a noble pursuit!

I'm kind of a terminology nerd so I'm going to ask this potentially stupid question...

So is the term "mallet" differentiated from the term "maul" based on the fundamental difference in grain direction? A mallet has the striking surface on the end grain while a maul has the striking surface on the long grain? I always thought of a maul as a medieval weapon which would be somewhere between a club and a two-handed warhammer.

Further to that, if that is the case, does that mean that the term "carver's mallet" is incorrect when applied to a small, turned mallet, given that it would actually be a small maul?

Sorry to venture into la la land. I enjoyed reading the original post.

Cheers,
Luke

[hiroller]

Well a little research reveals a maul could be a:
- war hammer - a long handled hammer repurposed for fighting
- post maul - a type of sledgehammer
- spike maul - a railroad hand tool
- splitting maul - used for firewood
- darth maul - for fighting Jedis.

In particular:
The use of the maul as a weapon seems to date from the later 14th century. In 1382, rebellious citizens of Paris seized 3,000 mauls (French (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language): maillet) from the city armory, leading to the rebels being dubbed Maillotins (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillotin).


So, I'm going to guess that the word mallet derives from maillet, the French word for maul.

[Bushmiller]

Luke

I heard you had been in La La land. How was New Zealand?

Actually it is always a please to have you challenge our terminology. I agree pretty much with everything you have said, but far from relying on my brain, I consulted a four volume set of old carpentry manuals, but it didn't help very much at all except to say a maul was a heavy mallet.

The I went to R.A. Salaman's Dictionary of Woodworking Tools, which is where I should have gone in the first place, and it was more helpful. I looked up mallet first and indeed it is either rectangular of round, but the common feature is that the striking surface is end grain and is used on tools where a metal hammer would cause damage. No surprises there.

The exception is the carpenter's mallet which is round so it can strike from any angle, but of course uses the crossgrain.

The maul on the other hand is a hammer that ordinarily would be damaged itself if used on a metal object such as the back of a froe. The dictionary identifies two types of maul. One is just an oversize carpenter's mallet while the other resembles my maul, but is crude in that it is made from a small log and necked down so it can be held.

A maul was traditionally used by the woodland crafts such as bodgers, basket makers, broom makers, handle makers, hoop makers, hurdle makers, lath makers, rake makers. shingle makers, spoon makers etc.

In Australia the shingle (that should be shake as shingles are bandsawn) makers would have been a major user in times gone by.

IanW is on the money too with the beetle, although in the dictionary the beetle was a large hammer with iron rings around each of the two heads. They were used on the railways in particular.

I think we have to remember that there is a lot of license in the terminology. There is another sort of maul, but the ladies allegedly are more familiar with that.

Regards
Paul

[hiroller]

According to the Oxford Dictionary the origin for the following words are informative:

Maul
Middle English (in the sense 'hammer or wooden club', also 'strike with a heavy weapon'): from Old French mail, from Latin malleus 'hammer'


Mallet
Late Middle English: from Old French (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Old-French#Old-French__2) maillet, from mail 'hammer', from Latin (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Latin#Latin__2) malleus.


Hammer
Old English hamor, hamer, of Germanic (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Germanic#Germanic__2) origin: related to Dutch (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Dutch#Dutch__5) hamer, German Hammer, and Old Norse (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Old-Norse#Old-Norse__3) hamarr 'rock'. The original sense was probably 'stone tool'.


It also says that maul is an alternative for beetle, a heavy wooden mallet.


So the words maul and mallet both arrived in English from Old French / Latin and have variously described similar wooden hitting things.
Hammer derives from the Old Norse word for rock or stone and probably pre-dates the Bronze / Iron Age and was retained when stone tools were replaced by metal.

It just shows that our language and the terms we use are constantly evolving.
A definition may be correct for a point in time only!

[Luke Maddux]

Thanks for the info, Paul.

In explaining the meaning of one word, you introduced me to another, which was "bodger". A quick google search set me straight on that one, but it's good to reaffirm that you never stop learning!

Man, New Zealand was excellent. A truly magnificent place. Hands down the highest concentration of jaw-dropping scenery I've ever witnessed by a dramatic margin. For anyone who appreciates natural beauty, it is not to be missed in this lifetime.

Cheers,
Luke

[FenceFurniture]

George Mallory said he tried to climb Mt. Everest "because it is there" and he's considered the stuff of legendAnd there is reasonable evidence to suggest he did a bit more than just try.

Paul I guess the Ladies maul isn't the Rugby type?

Or is it really a Ladies Mall? :D

[Bushmiller]

Luke

I have not been to New Zealand, but I am told it is a scenic delight, particularly the South Island.

Bodgers were a group of woodland based artisans (in the UK) who made chairs. The chairs were clever but rustic. I think we may get our term "bogey," as in a "bogey job," from this. It is probably an unkind, and mainly undeserved, reflection on them.

Regards
Paul

[Boringgeoff]

There is a group of trees called Mallet that are, according to Wikipedia, endemic to WA. The one I have used is Swamp Mallet, Eucalyptus Spathulata and it makes a jolly good mallet head, heavy and hard. It's my opinion that they were so named because early settlers found the tree useful for making.........wait for it ......... mallets! I could be wrong on that but it seems logical.
Cheers,
Geoff.

[Vann]

I heard you had been in La La land. How was New Zealand?Hey, careful, there's a few Kiwis frequent this forum http://d1r5wj36adg1sk.cloudfront.net/images/smilies/happy/biggrin.gif (and a few ex-Kiwis too I suspect).

I thought a Mallet was a steam locomotive with two engine units (not to be confused with a Garrett locomotive).

Cheers, Vann.

[ian]

There is another sort of maul, but the ladies allegedly are more familiar with that.
Hi Paul
from the context you are referring to a "Rolling" maul -- or is it properly a "roiling" maul?
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the ladies being more familiar with a rolling maul, but then again I've never played rugby so I'm not clear what attraction a roiling maul might have for the fairer sex.

[ian]

Bodgers were a group of woodland based artisans (in the UK) who made chairs. The chairs were clever but rustic. I think we may get our term "bogey," as in a "bogey job," from this. It is probably an unkind, and mainly undeserved, reflection on them.

I think you are right to describe that link between the two as unkind.

while Bodgers were woodland artisans, who lived in very rudimentary shelters, the Windsor chairs made from the components they made are a long way from being rustic.

[Bushmiller]

Indeed, I could well have mentioned the Windsor chairs.

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

Hi Paul
from the context you are referring to a "Rolling" maul -- or is it properly a "roiling" maul?
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by the ladies being more familiar with a rolling maul, but then again I've never played rugby so I'm not clear what attraction a roiling maul might have for the fairer sex.

Ian

I am not familiar with the rugby term at all. I was using maul in it's other meaning of "grope" :) .

Regards
Paul

[Bushmiller]

There is also a ship's maul. This was an iron hammer with a round face on one end and a pin head on the other. They were used for driving and countersinking large nails. Salaman lists:

London Pattern
Liverpool Pattern
Scotch Pattern
Trenail Pattern
Double faced Maul
Government Pattern
Schackle-Pin Maul

Regards
Paul

[FenceFurniture]

Picture two packs of Thugby dudes all locked in embrace with a ball on the ground somewhere in the melee. Lots of push, grope and shove, often moving over the top of the original ball carrier. He must let go of the ball, but he still has others in his possession (possibly temporarily). As the sprigs rake across the ball(s) they get mauled. Hence the name.

This is different to a scrummage in that only one ball is permitted to be raked by the sprigs in that instance. Raking of more than one ball results in a penalty. Not usually a stiff penalty though.

I believe that this too is an old Norse tradition.

[ian]

Picture two packs of Thugby dudes all locked in embrace with a ball on the ground somewhere in the melee. Lots of push, grope and shove, often moving over the top of the original ball carrier. He must let go of the ball, but he still has others in his possession (possibly temporarily). As the sprigs rake across the ball(s) they get mauled. Hence the name.

This is different to a scrummage in that only one ball is permitted to be raked by the sprigs in that instance. Raking of more than one ball results in a penalty. Not usually a stiff penalty though.

I believe that this too is an old Norse tradition.somewhat related to the other rugby (and saw milling) term -- the breakdown?

[Robson Valley]

I've been splitting western red cedar shake blocks for wood carving with a mallet & froe. I soon learned that the first strike on the froe had to be a big one, otherwise the froe wouldn't "set" into the wood. Thus, the mallets I make are no more than log pieces with 8" chopped down at one end for a handle. They are not things of beauty. They are disposable. There's always another log piece for a fresh mallet.

[Bushmiller]

RV

We just use the side of our hand for WRC. The Aussie hardwoods require a little more grunt to persuade them to separate.

:D

Regards
Paul

[Robson Valley]

Ah yes. Although it has been decades, such things are not soon forgotten.

[bridger]

there may be regional variations too. my usage of mallet refers to a striking tool with a cushioned face. thus a wooden tool used to drive chisels is a mallet, but a gennou is not. a froe club would be a type of mallet- driving a froe with a steel faced hammer will get you banned from my shop.

a maul is a large, overly heavy hatchet used for splitting firewood: http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/images/367-92573-lg.jpg
(http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com/images/367-92573-lg.jpg)

it is also a term generally implying a heavy striking tool, so a large sledgehammer might be called a maul, but this usage seems imprecise to me.

[Robson Valley]

Ask somebody here for a "post maul" and you get an 8-10lb sledge hammer. Regional semantics. Need to exercise translation skills!

[ch!ppy]

Ask somebody here for a "post maul" and you get an 8-10lb sledge hammer. Regional semantics. Need to exercise translation skills!


yeah, must be a regional thing :U .a sledge hammer i always refer to as the persuader , "bloody thing won't move, go get the persuader"

chippy :)

[IanW]

yeah, must be a regional thing :U .a sledge hammer i always refer to as the persuader , "bloody thing won't move, go get the persuader"

chippy :)

In Nth Qld, there were 'gentle persuaders' (= or< than 12pound head) and 'pursuaders' (= or >than 16lb).
:D

[ch!ppy]

In Nth Qld, there were 'gentle persuaders' (= or< than 12pound head) and 'pursuaders' (= or >than 16lb).
:D

hehe, sorta like good cop bad cop.. we cut out the middle man and just go with the "persuader"...good god, lol starting to sound like a Tony Curtis and Roger Moore TV series:D