Bushcraft Mallet With a Scotched Eye Auger

I am definitely not a bushcraft or survival expert, but I have spent the large portion of my life in the outdoors and love to build stuff. I came across a scotch eye auger for the first-time last year Christmas shopping for my nephews. I thought it was the coolest little tool but was a little reluctant that it wouldn't work as advertised. So far, I have made several of these mortise and tenon mallets with this auger. I have been impressed with how well it works and how useful these little mallets are.

The mallet in the Instructible is made from a popcorn tree that was cut 6 months earlier. I would have preferred a harder wood but this was available, and I didn’t feel like cutting a live tree for a tutorial was being a good steward.

From a practical standpoint, I think the ability to make a mallet this way could be very useful in a backpack camping or survival situation. There are many uses around camp for a blunt instrument, and this keeps you from adding the bulk and weight to your pack. They are also very handy to have laying around the shop. You never know when something will need a little gentle persuasion. Not to mention that the kids love to wield them around like Thor. 

Scotched Eye Auger

Saw

Knife

Gloves

Use the saw to cut 3 pieces of wood. 

One around 6” long and smaller that 1” diameter to use in the eye of the auger

One around 12” long and 1”-1.25” diameter to make the handle. You want it to be as straight and consistent as possible.

One around 18” long and 1.5”-2” diameter to use as a “hammer”.

Select the portion of the tree you want to use for the mallet head. I recommend picking a 6”- 8” length section that is 3”- 4” in diameter, consistent in thickness, and knot free. You will see in the pictures that I augured my mortise before cutting out the mallet head. I find this way to be easier, but it is not always practical and is not necessary.  

Start the augur in the wood by hand. Once it has a good bite, you can use the small stick in the eye of the augur to get more leverage. You will need to be able to apply pressure to keep the auger cutting. Auger the hole approximately 1.5” deep keeping it as straight as possible. Use your knife to clean out any loose shaving from the hole. 

Place the butt end of the handle stick on a log, stump, or rock. Wrap the auger with a piece of leather or scrap cloth to protect your hand. Carefully center the sharpened side of the eye on the end of handle and drive it down with the “hammer” stick. Make sure to keep the eye straight as you drive it down. If it gets out of alignment, the tenon will not fit tightly into the mallet head. (I actually let this happen in this build and had to redo the tenon.)

Use a knife to trim off the shaved pieces of wood and keep the larger pieces for later. They make good wedges for step 4.  

Removing the eye from the handle is the most difficult part of this build. You may be able to work it off by hand, but I have found the best way is to drive the eye off the tenon. You will need to find a rock or “stob” that is smaller than the eye that you can drive against. This is also gong to be the best opportunity for you to hit your hand., so be careful.

Use the knife to shape a small wedge (approximately 1”) from the shavings. Create a split in the tenon end of the handle with your knife and start the wedge in the spilt. Align the tenon with the wedge in the augured mortise and carefully drive it down until it is as far as it will go. This will force the wedge into the tenon. As it spreads, it will lock the handle in place in the mallet head. 

Note: The wedge I used in the picture was too large. I had to shave down the wedge and redo the tenon, but I forgot to get a picture.

Use your knife to clean up the mallet to meet your needs and put your mallet to work.

I included a picture of one that made for my kids that I sanded and stained.