Dumb question here...
When people say "carving mallet", are they (in general) referring to the standard "T" shaped mallet or one that is turned around one axis? The "T" shape would be 2 pieces, a head and a handle and the other would be round (on one axis) all the way from the handle to the head.
Ed
Carving mallets are generally one piece, and not T shaped, two piece
Mac,
Not sure where you are located. Go for a closed grain, dense wood. I consider walnut and ash too soft for a carving mallets. I don't care for red oak either. White oak might be ok. I live in San Diego and I make them out of sugar gum eucalyptus, They are tough and hard. I occasionally drive nails with them, but they do get beat up by that. I would use rock/sugar maple, beech, or birch too. Make sure the head is flat or concave on the end so the mallet can stand on end.
Joe Flem> >
Most of the time, cracks are irrelevant. If the wood is greenish, it will often check (crack) while drying, and the checks will mostly close up when it fully dries. If starting from dried material, it should stay put unless you are using an unsuitable wood that actually cracks in service.
However, you should not have the pith in the piece at all - if you want a 6" diameter mallet, start with a 12+" diameter log.
Thanks. That's what I always called a carving mallet but I've seen both one and two piece wooden mallets called such.
Ed
Good idea, Pete.. Haven't turned elm in a few years, but I have a friend in NY that's mailed me elm from his wood pile before.. hmmmm..
mac
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Hi Joe... I'm in San Felipe, N. Baja... About 6 hours from San Diego. 3 hours from Yuma..
I turned a sample one last night out of native eucalyptus and it seemed pretty light weight, but that could be a species difference, I guess..
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Don't hit anything with them?
Sorry, couldn't resist it.. smartass mode kicked in before I could stop it..
Are you turning them out of green or kiln dried wood?
Are they cracking from the "inside out"?
mac
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These are a few examples at Woodcraft..
My friend has 2 designs sketched, one with a fairly small diameter head and one more like the pictures on the link above..
mac
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