Mike Henderson
Member
- Messages
- 1,405
- Location
- Villa Park, CA
Lee - I went and weighed a few of mine and, although they're all different, most are around 11 oz (see first picture - the ones in front are the ones I use and the background is for the students). The heaviest one I have, "the bonker", is 20 oz (second picture - in lignum vita). For carving you don't need a heavy mallet - in fact, it's more of a hindrance - you just want something to replace the heel of your hand.Mike,
How does the 28 oz. weight of mine compare to those you make/use?
Regards,
Just an added note. Since I make mine out of scrap, sometimes I have scrap that's not long enough to make a mallet (not 11" long). What I do then is make the head and handle separately and glue them together (see picture 3). I rough out the head and handle. Then I put the head in my 4 jaw chuck and drill a 1" hole into the end of it, using the center mark as a guide. I make the hole maybe 1.25" deep. Then I chuck up the handle again and turn the end down to fit the hole. When I get close, I take it out and do trial fitting until I get a good fit. I glue the handle to the head using epoxy and put it in the lathe to hold it together until the glue sets.
Then I turn it down like a regular mallet. I've also done it where I've turned the handle down first, before glueing. No matter how "accurate" I try to be, the handle is a bit off center, so I have to take a bit off to make it concentric. As long as you recognize that and leave a bit more wood on the handle, it works out fine.
Mike