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Thread: Mallets

  1. #1
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    Default Mallets

    Some time ago I made a couple of mallets for myself, as you do. A visitor saw them and commented favourably with a general hint along the lines of, "would be nice to have something like these?"

    As luck would have it, I scored some perfect gum tree limbs, so I whacked up a couple for him. He mentioned it to someone else who knew someone looking for small, medium and large mallets for a group of disadvantaged people doing linocuts, or something like that. So some more were made for them, then the next thing I know I need around 19 mallets of various sizes for a group of people with tiny hands through to massive hands.

    My Men's Shed is getting this lot tomorrow, some are eucalyptus, from left, 1,3 and 5, the rest are various limbs from trees that one has acquired over time. All given one coating of Ubeaut Aussie Oil, allowed to dry for an hour or so, then lightly buffed with an old T shirt.

    More mallets need to be turned as the orders keep on rolling in.

    Mick.
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  3. #2
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    Nothing like word of mouth advertising Mick,
    Well done they look great.

    Cheers Matt.

  4. #3
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    They look great. I use a lot of mallets like that, small to big enough to be used with a froe. Like Freddy Flintstone.
    I am learning, slowley.

  5. #4
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    Made a few of these over the years out of Jarrah & given them away to people I worked with.They stand the test of time finished mine with Ubeaut as well,still have a couple I use.
    Johnno

    Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.

  6. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simplicity View Post
    Nothing like word of mouth advertising Mick,
    Well done they look great.

    Cheers Matt.
    Matt, word of mouth can sometimes be interesting. Today I delivered these mallets to my Men's Shed, I now have three people who wish to learn woodturning enough to make a mallet for themselves on our Men's Shed wood lathes.

    The best part about these requests was that they didn't ask for a mallet, they asked to be taught how to make their own mallet; an important difference as far as I'm concerned.

    Mick.

  7. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Saxton View Post
    Made a few of these over the years out of Jarrah & given them away to people I worked with.They stand the test of time finished mine with Ubeaut as well,still have a couple I use.
    Jarrah isn't exactly thick on the ground over here, spotted gum is pretty good and I have had a few I've made from spotted gum that are still receiving a bash or three very successfully after some years.

    Mick.

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pagie View Post
    They look great. I use a lot of mallets like that, small to big enough to be used with a froe. Like Freddy Flintstone.
    I agree with you, I have mallets of all sizes everywhere, in the ute, the truck, the camper and almost every tool box I tote around.

    Mick.

  9. #8
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    Mick I love those mallets. I call them carver's mallets because of their round shape. I have a few, just in case, but I don't use them often . None of them are as nice as yours. I am now worried, having seen your mallets, that I will develop another addiction.



    I note that you used limbs so I assume the centre portion is retained. I would not use that from the main trunk as it would be the heart, but it seems that it may hold together well from the limb?

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  10. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bushmiller View Post

    I note that you used limbs so I assume the centre portion is retained. I would not use that from the main trunk as it would be the heart, but it seems that it may hold together well from the limb?

    Regards
    Paul
    Paul, a few years ago, I needed a mallet for a job that was smaller than what I would normally at that time have turned. I happened to have some eucalyptus limbs that came with a bit of trunk that I was busy making bowls with. I duly turned up a slender mallet and found it worked very well. The next door neighbour happened to be in the shed when I was using said small mallet and wondered if she could have one to whack her tomato stakes in. I had enough left of the limb to make a couple of mallets with slightly different width handles, she chose the smaller one which suited her best and to this day she still loves it.

    Since then I have pretty much only used limbs for mallets and sometimes you do get the odd crack happening, but no difference in failure rate to ones I have done from trunks. I'm not sure if I'm lucky, but I have a feeling the mallets made from limbs are pretty much on a par with ones made from trunks. I also admit I'm not really worried about looks, form follows function and all of that stuff. But they look reasonably nice with Aussie oil, but I do admit to adding quite a bit of oil to the end grain sections; end grain certainly sucks up Aussie oil.

    End grain moisture content with spotted gum between 18% to 22% for these mallets is what I like turning. Dryer than 18% and the heat generated seems to make cracks appear, wetter than 22% and shrinkage distortion can sometimes be obvious. Other species of timber from the nature strip store are a bit different, but not that much different.

    Mick.

  11. #10
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    Thanks Mick

    I will look at limbs in a new light from now on. Spotted Gum is a favourite timber for me so I will look out for some.

    Regards
    Paul
    Bushmiller;

    "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"

  12. #11
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    I'm proud of you, man. Those mallets should be a pleasure to swing.
    Any chance to help any groups of disadvantaged people is a treat for me.

    Canada no longer uses pennies = one cent copper coins. A stack of 50-75 anchored with epoxy
    can up the weight of a mallet but not the size.
    Can you get old lead pipe to melt down and cast for weights?

    I can buy top quality western red cedar for wood carving, straight from the mill yard, posts and big shake blocks.
    I haul a lot of that into the city and give it away to a couple of groups that were reduced to whittling twigs.

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