# Let's make a Mallet today. *Build Thread/walkthrough*



## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

I've been putting off making a mallet or 8 for some time. And since I am going to need one for an upcoming project, I figured I'd document it and maybe motivate other procurators to do the same.

I have never made a mallet before, so how I want to do it may be unorthodox, or wrong even, however this hobby is so trial and error its not funny.



First off, safety is #1. If I document a method for a cut, etc and it is something you are not comfortable doing, then do not do it.




Now, our lists.

Tools needed
I'm going to be using a combo blade, dado, round over router bit. Gorilla glue, and clamps.











I'm also going to use my chop saw for cross cuts, but doing it on the tablesaw is good enough, and it is possible I will use the bandsaw. However I know not everyone has a bandsaw, so I'm going to try to keep this to a tablesaw project.


Material.

Raid your scrap bin for this material, I did. Then again my scrap bins are pretty big.

I'm going to be using walnut, and ash today. Why?, well cause I had a few planks planed down to 3/4" and I didn't feel like doing a whole bunch of extra work.

I also grabbed an 1 3/8 square piece of walnut ill use for the handle. I might make 2 mallets at the same time, plenty of material here.












This is going to be a basic build. 3 pieces of 3/4" stock glued together, a tenon cut into the handle, and the handle glued into the mallet. 

Here is the basic drawing I did.












So, gather your material, set your saw up, router up, we begin in a few minutes.

Jim

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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Time to get to work.

First thing I want to do, is round over my handle.




















OK, my curiosity is satisfied. You might find such a thick handle to be a bit much, however I need a large grabbing surface myself.

So now I am going to rip my ash, and walnut to 3" wide, so I can crosscut the needed pieces.

Remember, safety first guys.





















Now I am going to crosscut 2 pieces of walnut, and 2 pieces of ash at 5". I'm going to use the chopsaw for this real quick.










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## Longknife (Oct 25, 2010)

This will be nice. If that's in your scrap bin, how does your woodrack look like?


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Longknife said:


> This will be nice. If that's in your scrap bin, how does your woodrack look like?


It looks like 8 pieces of 3" thick, 12" wide 10' walnut, 9 pieces of 3" thick x 8" w x 9' ash, to much Birdseye maple to count, and only 8 sticks of cherry left, oh some mahogany, paduak, cocobola, oaks, pecan, hard rock maple, birch, I think that covers it. LOL.

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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

OK, handle time.

I had a post typed up, but the tablet crashed, so I'm gonna try this again.

Need to cut a tenon in the handle. The goal is to have a 3/4" tenon between the walnut pieces, with ash on the front, and back of the handle.

I started by setting my dado for a 5/16's cut, and took about 3 1/4 off the handle on both sides.





















You can see where we are headed with this now.










So, take a few minutes, and sand your handle smooth, make it feel comfortable in your hands.

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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

OK, so I sanded my handle, and I cut it to the length I liked, I cut mine to be 12" below the mallet.











So, as you can see I finished the handle, and I placed the handle onto an outer piece of walnut.

I now need to cut 2 pieces of ash at 1 7/8" to fit on each side of the handle.













A dry fit shows me I need to sand the tenon a little, and while I am at it I am going to sand the remaining parts.









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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

So now I'm satisfied with sanding, time for glue up.

I'm using a quick set gorilla glue. I neednyo dampen the wood, and spread a layer on, clamp and in no time flat, its done.
How I speed the process up is very warm glue, hot water.











OK, clamped up, gonna have some foam squeeze out to clean up, but that's OK, cause shaping the mallet is the next thing.










Back when its dry.

Jim

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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Looking good. Another project I need to do also.

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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

OK, lets speed this up.

I unclamped, and cleaned up squeeze out.

I then started with 80 grit and worked up to 600 on the mallet.

I then did a roundover on the face. Sanded again.

I treated the mallet with watco natural, letting each of the 3 coats dry. I then wiped it down with a clean rag.


Its my first mallet, and I would change a few things. I might make a smaller one as well.












































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## cocheseuga (Dec 15, 2010)

Looks sharp. Gives me motivation to use the bit of purpleheart I have lying around.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Looks nice Mac :laughing: now you have to make one to do some work with. 
Wouldn't want to beat that up. It's so pretty. :laughing:


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## Hubbard (Jan 1, 2012)

Very nice. What's the finished weight?


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Beautiful!


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

to purty to use:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Niiice!!!!


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Dominick said:


> Looks nice Mac :laughing: now you have to make one to do some work with.
> Wouldn't want to beat that up. It's so pretty. :laughing:





Hubbard said:


> Very nice. What's the finished weight?





Shop Dad said:


> Beautiful!





robert421960 said:


> to purty to use:thumbsup::thumbsup:


Good question, have no idea what it weighs.

Oh, ill use it, it is pretty solid, was pounding on the bench and it didnt make a scratch on the mallet.

Yeah, its purdy, like the cherry cutting board, but unlike my wife, i will use it. I need to make a smaller one as well.


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## boxerman (Oct 11, 2011)

Very nice mallet and thanks for showing how you made it.


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## nmacdonald (Jan 13, 2012)

Very nice indeed. That'll be a project for sure after I finish my router table.


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## nmacdonald (Jan 13, 2012)

Is gorilla glue a better choice than just carpenters glue for this project?


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

nmacdonald said:


> Is gorilla glue a better choice than just carpenters glue for this project?


I can not say which is better, because its an opinion.
I like the gorilla glue for a few reasons, sets faster in cold, sets stronger, takes much less than yellow, squeeze out cleans up and is even sands easier, and it will glue wood to metal to plastic, etc all with 1 type of glue.

I don't have yellow glue anymore now.

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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Let's not forget that it will stain your fingers if you get it on them ;-)


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

oldmacnut said:


> Good question, have no idea what it weighs.
> 
> Oh, ill use it, it is pretty solid, was pounding on the bench and it didnt make a scratch on the mallet.
> 
> Yeah, its purdy, like the cherry cutting board, but unlike my wife, i will use it. I need to make a smaller one as well.


Let's see pics of it in a month.


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## PPBART (Oct 7, 2011)

Interesting thread(!) Wonder how many folks here make their own handles for (e.g.) hammers? My dad used to make handles out of hickory. When the handle of one of his old 3-lb hammers broke a while back I didn't have any hickory, but did have several blocks of pecan, which seemed to be a good substitute -- I've since used it for several handles, so now I think I'll try making a mallet using this method. Thanks for the idea!


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## oldmacnut (Dec 27, 2010)

Nice handle, if you didn't say you made it, I would have thought it came with the hammer

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