I take it all Back. Really.

[Jerry Olexa]

Great results and from scraps too...Well done.

[Rob Luter]

Nice! If I didn't already have a boatload of hammers/mallets I'd make one like that. I may anyway.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Nice Job. Now that you've made a jointer's mallet, you should make a smaller matching mallet. These come in handy in tapping together smaller pieces or adjusting blades on woodies. My Wood is Good mallet pretty much sits on the shelf these days.

[steven c newman]

Maybe use a lathe someday, and turn a few?
before and after.jpg
My "2 Pounder"....

[george wilson]

I might mention that shocks are an excellent way to make glue pop loose,for what it's worth. The glued up head may be of concern.

[Jim Koepke]

Maybe use a lathe someday, and turn a few?

My turned mallets mostly only get used on my froes. One big 'un and one little 'un.

Though my plane hammer was turned:

Mallet 'justed.jpg

It is the dark one at ~6:00 O'clock. The handle is myrtle wood, iirc, and the head is lignum vitae.

My "light tapping mallet is at ~5:00 O'clock. It is a piece of oak from a pallet that was repurposed.

At ~2:00 O'clock is my main bopper made of local bitter cherry from the firewood pile.

Straight up at ~12:00 O'clock is one made of ash. It has a crack in it so it is used mostly for the jobs where a good mallet should be spared.

At ~9:00 O'clock is a mallet that was made to sell. After a few weeks of going unsold it was repurposed. My bandsaw was used to cut pyramids on one face and it was then sold as a meat tenderizer, ice breaker mallet.

The mallet at 7:00 O'clock is made by Footprint in England. It was my first mallet and was purchased one time while visiting one of the more earthy hardware stores in my old locality. My understanding is the folks there have since retired and have closed the store.

jtk

[Michael J Evans]

I guess great Mikes think alike
I just completed my first mallet this weekend. Mine was also intended to be used for my bench build but I got too impatient and used a rubber mallet. This mallet is my Second project since building the bench. Solid ash head 7" long x 3.5" wide and paduak (I think) handle. I had intended the handle shape to be different but it works. When I showed it to my 5 year old he said "what you think your thor" ash mallet side.jpg
mallet laying down.jpg

[Mike Baker 2]

LOL!
Very nice mallet, Mike.
Love Padauk, btw. It works beautifully.

[Kees Heiden]

Kees, thanks. As far as the mallet splitting, if I joined the wood right, it should fail before the glue does. Although the glue was a couple of years old.

I hope and pray for you that you will be right! And maybe you will be lucky indeed.
I used to have three wooden mallets, one laminated, two mortised. Now I only have two wooden mallets, and you can guess which one didn't survive. I did take some extreme effort though, beating stakes in the ground in the garden.

Never mind, it won't self destruct immediatly, so plenty of time to look around for a nice piece of oak and some ash or hickory for the handle. Beech works great too.

[Mike Baker 2]

I hope and pray for you that you will be right! And maybe you will be lucky indeed.
I used to have three wooden mallets, one laminated, two mortised. Now I only have two wooden mallets, and you can guess which one didn't survive. I did take some extreme effort though, beating stakes in the ground in the garden.

Never mind, it won't self destruct immediatly, so plenty of time to look around for a nice piece of oak and some ash or hickory for the handle. Beech works great too.

Oh, if it flies apart, I'll do my best to put it back together again. Until I can find me a nice chunk of firewood somewhere. But I will eventually build a more traditional one piece mallet. I have a feeling it will be good to have more than a couple around. Until then, barring catastrophic failure, this one should work.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

I might mention that shocks are an excellent way to make glue pop loose,for what it's worth. The glued up head may be of concern.

Would epoxy be preferable to glue in something like this?

[Patrick Chase]

Would epoxy be preferable to glue in something like this?

Maybe 24 hr epoxy, like some of the Hysols. The faster-drying stuff is pretty brittle and likely wouldn't do any better (and potentially worse than) aliphatic wood glue.

A configuration that provides mechanical interlock might do the trick, though it may not be worth the effort compared to just finding a big enough piece to mortise.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

Maybe 24 hr epoxy, like some of the Hysols. The faster-drying stuff is pretty brittle and likely wouldn't do any better (and potentially worse than) aliphatic wood glue.

A configuration that provides mechanical interlock might do the trick, though it may not be worth the effort compared to just finding a big enough piece to mortise.

Ya, the mortise wouldn't be too bad if you drilled it out first. Tapering it properly might be tricky, though. Or does it even need to be tapered? Could you just drill a straight mortise and then wedge the tenon on the handle?

[Michael J Evans]

Ya, the mortise wouldn't be too bad if you drilled it out first. Tapering it properly might be tricky, though. Or does it even need to be tapered? Could you just drill a straight mortise and then wedge the tenon on the handle?

Paul sellers has a video on it. Bore one hole straight, the other tapered then pare to fit.

[Pat Barry]

A good wood glue joint is stronger than the wood. Epoxy shouldn't be any better than that.