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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,757

    Default Olive wood carvers mallet

    Mate of mine is getting into carving and brought around some of his dad's old hand tools (he was a wooden boat builder in Freo for many years) and we had a crack at de-rusting and sharpening the tools. Not too shabby - couple of nice Titan and Sorby gouges which should come in handy for what he wants to do. Anyway the mates first self imposed task is to hand make himself a mallet.

    After he left I started cleaning out some of my wood stash yesterday I spied a small olive branch and it called to me and said "I want to be a Mallet" so I obliged. Boy, is that nice stuff to turn.

    MAllet1.jpg MAllet2.jpg MAllet3.jpg

    Here it's only had a it's first of several coat of Linseed.

    The branch was nice and dry and quite hard. Not quite big enough to make the mallet with no heart wood in it but I recalled what an told turner once told me about turning integral handles containing heart wood and that was to minimize the amount of heart wood in the handle.

    I think its slightly too big for my hands but I will try it out and then turn it down a bit more If I need to.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Ponchatoula, LA, USA
    Posts
    342

    Default

    Nice work - classic style!

    Claude

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    McBride BC Canada
    Posts
    3,543

    Default

    Some day, I hope to own an olive wood mallet. I would actually use it.
    What does your olive head mallet weigh?

    Right now, the mass, the weight, of the head means the most to my carving style.
    Small is 375g (12 oz) and big is 940g (30oz lead core) both polyurethane faces.
    The small mallet does not have the push to drive bigger carving gouges (2/30, 5/35 & 9/15, as examples).

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,757

    Default

    Thanks folks.

    The mallet weighs 622 grams.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,757

    Default

    More olive turning.
    IMG_4713.jpg IMG_4714.jpg

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Ponchatoula, LA, USA
    Posts
    342

    Default

    Nice mortar and pestle - would be great for mashing up some herbs or spices!

    Claude

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,757

    Default

    Forgot to add that the mortar and Pestle are made from wood from a 100+ year old olive tree.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    South Australia
    Posts
    4,470

    Default

    Nice mallet, Olive wood is nice stuff to turn, trouble it is SA it is hard to come buy, timber merchants seem to think it is Gold.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Littlehampton, SA
    Posts
    300

    Default

    I made my Olive Carver's mallet about 15 years ago. You are right, BobL, it is great to turn and the ribbon-like shaving flying past my shoulder was impressive. The mallet doesn't have to be big as it is a heavy timber.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    McBride BC Canada
    Posts
    3,543

    Default

    I found that mallet mass really needs to match gouge size to apply enough striking force to get anything done.

    A 12 oz ShopFox mallet is OK for gouges like 8/7 or 5/12 but just about useless for 9/15, 2/30 and5/35. as examples.
    I had to buy a 30 oz Wood-Is-Good mallet. The lead slug core keeps the size reasonable.

    That olive mallet is a middle weight. I'd love to work with it, might be nearly ideal for most tasks with out the wrist fatigue.

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    2,794

    Default new decade

    Hi old guys, Happy to see you are also still alive. China, 30 years ago I felled two some 100 yo olives, happy to sell the carefully stored timber at the price of Gold... The alternative use selected by my children is to build my funereal pyre. There are only so many olive mallets I can turn and give as gifts, not many carvers left. To carve it all myself I would need to live to 157.

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