first mallet

I'm making my first mallet. It has kind of an odd shape, but it is from some free maple that I have on hand.



Here it is, still on the lathe. I have some tearout on the handle, but after getting some pointers from Joe while at Bill's recently, I plan on going after the handle again with a small gouge, taking off light cuts to hopefully shave away the tearout.

My ultimate plan is to finish the handle portion with Bush Oil (a Maloof formula pre-mixed finish) and to try out an artistic treatment for practice on the head portion. My plan is to mask off the handle and then carefully and lightly apply some airbrush color so that a rainbow gradation is achieved, but that still shows the grain. I'll probably apply a poly finish over that.

It is getting cold here now, so I may not complete this project until spring, but wanted to show off what little I have gotten done.

Nice first bonker! When I started turning nearly two years ago, that's the first recognizeable turning I made. Mine ended up in the possession of a Moxie-head in Maine who riled and whipped the inmates who shoved me into the Vortex.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that it is made from quarter-sawn maple!

I mean, it started out as a quarter of the log, that means it's quarter-sawn, right?

Looks good, Mark. Looking forward to seeing the color scheme when it's done.

Looks great, Mark!

Don't let the wife get ahold of it... she might put it to good use!

Great job Mark. If the Fitz (The Bonker Master) says it is nice you done good.

Looks good! I have 2 that I turned in the last few weeks, have been real handy with my chisels. Turning honey dippers now! How many of those do you need in 1 house! Having a great time, but really want to do some pens and bowls soon. A bigger learning curve there for me!

Yep, that is a good "Bonker" for sure!

Mark, as many told me after my first bonker...you now are officially a turner! Hope you don't have to wait until spring to finish it.

Nice

That'll do very nicely Mark. It's not that cold up here yet-still above freezing (34 deg F. in Schenectady) this morning. You can still get it done. Supposed to be a nice weekend. Have fun!

Did you use your new saw blades on that?



My first mallet was alot squarer looking than that...nice work!