We live within a hundred yards of a woodlands, a large state park. My better half and I went hiking there a couple of days ago. On the way back home, I spotted a small log hiding under a guard rail along the roadside. A maintenance crew goes along the park roads every fall trimming limbs and trees that might fall upon the roadway during ice storms. They usually saw logs into firewood length and leave them to be picked up by whoever wants them. Someone missed this little log of black locust. I could see a couple of mallets inside that log, so I picked it up and carried it home (which worked off at least a Snickers bar).
I wanted to reduce this log a bit to help it dry without splitting too much. I would really like to rive the wood rather than cut it, but there are not yet any tools for green woodworking in my shop. My solution was to use a coarse setting of my #40 scrub plane to make flats on either side of the log. Then, a few passes through the band saw reduced it to pieces I think will be useful for mallet heads and handles. Those are set aside to dry for awhile.
I’m not certain on the design yet. Maybe a sawed head, maybe a turned head. Of course, for the turned head I don’t have a lathe that’s large enough. I’ve been wanting to build one of “St. Roy’s” spring pole lathes. To be continued…
Excellent find. Reclaimed/recycled wood is the best kind, I think.
If you worked it now, you could go with one of Roy’s maul/mallet designs. On the other hand, like you said, you could dry it and turn it.
So many possibilities!
I’m a boat builder, too, and I love black locust. I’m looking forward to your mallet construction. Do you have any patterns for a carpenter’s mallet?
Hello TJ,
I’m not yet sure which design I will use. My first thought was a turned mallet, the type that uses a tapered cylinder as the head and a turned handle extended on the cylinder’s axis. They’re often called carver’s mallets. The other choice is the type of mallet that has a block shaped head with faces usually angled about 10 degrees toward the handle. In either case, I don’t have any particular plan in mind. I’ll probably see how it dries / splits / checks and use what remains usable. The intended use of the mallet is for driving chisels, being gentler than mangling them with a metal hammer.
You didn’t leave a URL. Do you have boat pictures posted somewhere? I always enjoy seeing the boats people build.
No – no pics via website – I really should take advantage of one of the many free hosting sites for pics. I’m building a Welsford Pathfinder. The hull is pretty well complete except for paint and rigging. I’m working on the spars this winter. I should be on the water next summer. Of course, I said that last year, too!
I’d like to make carpenter’s and carver’s mallets from osage orange – love the color and grain.
Man, I’d love to find a black locust log! But that’s not going to happen up here…
If you want to turn the mallet, I’d recommend doing it while it is still green – especially on a spring pole lathe. It’s much easier, in my (limited) experience. And hey, if you really want too, I bet you could rig up a functioning lathe in no time at all – I think I’ve seen some where the centers were just huge nails 🙂
Then again, my own preference is for the traditional carpenter’s mallet. Either way, sounds like a fun project! Can’t wait to see it.