Big Mallet

Recently, I have been thinking, "Self, I want a really big wooden mallet!"

After finding this branch on the side of the road, I got to work.

Big branch

Wood working tools

Lathe and various other power tools

(use what you have available, I can offer variations along the way)

Metal banding

Screws

Check out my YT short on my sped up process!

I found this branch as is in pic 1. I took it to my miter saw to cut it into more manageable pieces but you could use a hand saw or chainsaw. I chose the one that looked the straightest for the mallet itself, however it did have the smaller branch offshoot I will deal with in a later step.

For the handle, again I chose the branch that looked the straightest but you can quickly tell from pic 5, that it is not. I am going to move forward regardless since I think it adds to the "obviously this was homemade" feel. If you know me, you know I am drawn more to that direction.

I removed all of the bark with my homemade draw knife and quickly made a mess (pic 1-3). Side note, I also made that dustpan from a microwave shell :) Check out my YouTube channel here for more side products. I would really appreciate that.

For that nub coming off of the main mallet, I took it to the bandsaw and tried to shape the cut into a more round shape for preparation on turning on the lathe. These prep and turning steps can also be done with a hatchet. Granted, your mallet won't be perfectly round but it may be faster and certainly less expensive...which makes me think I should try that with another piece in step 1!

Being an amateur, it took me a few tries to get this branch centered up properly but luckily with no bodily harm.

With that being said, I got to work with my homemade carbide turning tool, which you can also find on my YT channel. After about 30 minutes of rough shaping (I stopped to check out the progress probably more than I should have), I was satisfied with the shape and cleaned it up with various grits of sandpaper. Pics 6 & 7 show the Mallet itself and pic 8 is just me truing up the side that was in the chuck with my miter saw. Next, let's get this handle installed.

Let's talk about how I got the hole centered:

Pic 1: Two offcuts from who knows what that I happed to save that I mounted on a flat piece of scrap. This will hold my round mallet to minimize my drill bit from creeping and looking meh.

Pic 2: The center where the hole will be drilled.

Pic 3: The mallet head is held onto the "jig" with hot glue on both ends. This hot glue trick will not only be strong enough but easy to remove once the hole is drilled.

Pic 4: I used a 1 3/8-inch spade bit to get all of the material out.

Pic 5: Shows the hole. I actually had to tackle this from both ends since the spade wasn't long enough when in the chuck. I found center on the other side by drilling a small hole with my hand drill since the power drill chuck was too big and wouldn't fit. Having a mix of both power and hand tools is nice in a pinch but goes to show that this could have been accomplished in one go with the hand drill, hehe.

Pic 6+: Getting this handle on was a struggle. I trimmed it down to match the 1 3/8-inch hole on the bandsaw but for the curved handle, I had to repeatedly drop it on my anvil to force it. Pic 8 shows me tackling it with a sledge hammer but that wasn't doing it for me fast enough. It worked, but not quickly and I was getting impatient at this point.

I didn't want the mallet to split over time so I trimmed off some metal from an old helium tank lid (pic 1-2). After getting the diameter on both sides (pic 3), I trimmed the metal band to length, curved it appropriately in the vise, and started to drill pilot holes (pic 4-7).

It was hard to "stretch" it in place so my advise is to cut it longer than needed as opposed to spot on. Live and learn.

After that, I just followed the path and drilled and screwed in screws until both sides were completed.

With the mallet complete, I rubbed it with oil until it appeared to stop "drinking" it up. The mallet faces took a lot of oil, too.

NOW it is time to smash something (pic 3-4). Thank you for your service Lemon!

Thanks for following along and I hope to see you on the next one. Leave a pic if you make your own! Thanks!