10-11-2014, 10:37 PM
I've had some pecan wood drying in my attic for a year now, and I decided it was time to bring it down and make some mallets with it. I had cut out a 3"X4" thick piece just for the heads, plus a nice 1" piece for the handles. Both have a little spalting in them, but the wood is still perfectly sound.
I do like Roy Underhill's approach to making a joiner's mallet, and my method is almost identical. I'll point out a couple differences in a moment.
After squaring up my stock, I rough-cut the parts out on the bandsaw.
Unlike Roy, I like a rounded top to my mallet heads. If the top of the head is flat, the top edge is an acute angle, which is naturally weak. Rounding the top off is an extra step in the process, but it seems to keep the top edge of the mallet face from splitting out. Ideally, that top edge should be a 90* angle, or maybe even an obtuse angle.
I sketched the curve freehand, cut it out on the bandsaw, and then smoothed the surface with a smoothing plane. I start planing at about the last half inch of the surface, then work my way back slowly taking short strokes. With care, the result is a nicely rounded surface.
The other difference is that the handles are tapered all the way down. This makes it easy to sneak up on a tight, accurate fit. Cut the mortise just a little small, and plane the handle down until it fits where you want it.
Laying out the mortise is a little tricky. It's best to use the handle itself as a template for the angle.
I mark the width of the mortise on the bottom, then lay the handle across the head. I measure from both ends to make sure the handle is centered, then trace my layout lines. It's a little precarious, but it does work.
The result is a slightly angled mortise.
Then it's time to actually cut the mortise. If you're using good, tough wood, it's not going to be terribly easy any way you cut it.
Roy's advice is spot-on. Use a brace and bit (I used a 15/16") to bore out the center of the mortise.
Bore in from both sides. It's a lot easier than trying to turn a big bit in a 3" deep hole.
Then it's just a matter of squaring up the mortises. I took small bites with my 1" chisel, but I did also resort to my 1/2" chisel for the final clean-up. The 1/2" is much easier to drive into tough wood than is the 1". You want the ends of the mortise straight and clean--no under-cutting. The sides, however, can be undercut a little to allow the handle to pass in cleanly. You want it wedged up against the end grain on both ends of the mortise. Once the mortise is squared up, the handle (as I said) can be planed to an exact fit.
Oh, and I should mention the dimensions. These are fairly big mallets. The striking faces are 3" square. The heads themselves are somewhere between 3 1/4" and 3 1/2" tall. The heads of the two big ones are about 5" long at the bottom, and the smaller one is about 4". The handles were cut at 15" long, but once they are nicely fitted, I will trim them back to 14", leaving about 1"-1 1/2" sticking out of the top.
Once the third handle is fitted, I'll shape the handles a bit, break all the sharp edges, and soak the heads in some oil to give them a bit more heft. Then we'll see about where each one will be headed.
I do like Roy Underhill's approach to making a joiner's mallet, and my method is almost identical. I'll point out a couple differences in a moment.
After squaring up my stock, I rough-cut the parts out on the bandsaw.
Unlike Roy, I like a rounded top to my mallet heads. If the top of the head is flat, the top edge is an acute angle, which is naturally weak. Rounding the top off is an extra step in the process, but it seems to keep the top edge of the mallet face from splitting out. Ideally, that top edge should be a 90* angle, or maybe even an obtuse angle.
I sketched the curve freehand, cut it out on the bandsaw, and then smoothed the surface with a smoothing plane. I start planing at about the last half inch of the surface, then work my way back slowly taking short strokes. With care, the result is a nicely rounded surface.
The other difference is that the handles are tapered all the way down. This makes it easy to sneak up on a tight, accurate fit. Cut the mortise just a little small, and plane the handle down until it fits where you want it.
Laying out the mortise is a little tricky. It's best to use the handle itself as a template for the angle.
I mark the width of the mortise on the bottom, then lay the handle across the head. I measure from both ends to make sure the handle is centered, then trace my layout lines. It's a little precarious, but it does work.
The result is a slightly angled mortise.
Then it's time to actually cut the mortise. If you're using good, tough wood, it's not going to be terribly easy any way you cut it.
Roy's advice is spot-on. Use a brace and bit (I used a 15/16") to bore out the center of the mortise.
Bore in from both sides. It's a lot easier than trying to turn a big bit in a 3" deep hole.
Then it's just a matter of squaring up the mortises. I took small bites with my 1" chisel, but I did also resort to my 1/2" chisel for the final clean-up. The 1/2" is much easier to drive into tough wood than is the 1". You want the ends of the mortise straight and clean--no under-cutting. The sides, however, can be undercut a little to allow the handle to pass in cleanly. You want it wedged up against the end grain on both ends of the mortise. Once the mortise is squared up, the handle (as I said) can be planed to an exact fit.
Oh, and I should mention the dimensions. These are fairly big mallets. The striking faces are 3" square. The heads themselves are somewhere between 3 1/4" and 3 1/2" tall. The heads of the two big ones are about 5" long at the bottom, and the smaller one is about 4". The handles were cut at 15" long, but once they are nicely fitted, I will trim them back to 14", leaving about 1"-1 1/2" sticking out of the top.
Once the third handle is fitted, I'll shape the handles a bit, break all the sharp edges, and soak the heads in some oil to give them a bit more heft. Then we'll see about where each one will be headed.
Steve S.
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Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot
Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
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Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot
Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
I also marveled at his froe...another item I do not see much...
