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Thread: Making wood wedges

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    1,572
    LV has a newish froe mallet made from baseball bat blanks (actually, the ones that are overweight), which provides a couple of alternatives: baseball bats and the LV version. I had no idea wooden bats were still being used/made. Now if I could only find my old bat....

    Pam

  2. #17
    Thanks for the suggestion David! I made a mallet from white oak last week, and dug the dogwood roots up yesterday.

    wood-mallet-06-b.jpg

    Wood-Mallet-05-b.jpg

    I'm trying to figure out if a short mallet can be turned from the dogwood, I wish I had thought to leave more trunk.

    dogwood root 01 c.JPG

    dogwood root 04 b.JPG

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Posts
    2,854
    As much as I use hand tools to fell and split wood, I still don't have a root-flare maul. The opportunity just hasn't presented itself to dig up a dogwood root ball. The good news is that a maul made of straight-grained wood still works and is OK at lasting a little while, but I've disintegrated 3 of them in the last couple of years using them to hammer metal wedges. Based on Roy's advice, I'm expected a root-ball maul to last much longer, but it's harder to come by the raw materials. ;-)

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Williamsburg,Va.
    Posts
    12,402
    Ever see a magnesium wedge hit by a powerful chain saw? I did in Alaska(found one) The saw somehow twisted the wedge very severely. Pretty amazing that it had enough force. The wedge was about 3" wide,and twisted way past the area where it was 1/2" thick.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    extreme southeast Nebraska
    Posts
    3,113
    FWIW dept; The THING (root ball) has the grain going every which way which is why they were used for Mauls, but the short handled ones when used with a FROE are referred to as a club.

    small club and froe for bench usage. A quarter for size comparison.


    Often times the old gluts had a thin piece of sheet iron bent over and the folded over part forge welded its full width where its folded to make a sharp cutting edge, and then spread back apart and the wood wedge driven in and screwed or nailed to the glut. I have also seen a very old pair on an auction that had the edges of metal all along edge cut just a bit and the bottom of the cuts flared out a bit to function like anti kick back dogs.
    Jr.
    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
    By Hammer and Hand All Arts Do Stand

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