October Turning Challenge: turn a mallet!

[Emiliano Achaval]

Every woodworker, woodturner, garage, friend, and or household needs one. Please do not tell me that you bought a rubber mallet! Even worst would be the one with the fiberglass handle! LOL Even if you have one, you need more than one. A large one to hit the drawbar. A smaller one for carving. You can turn it plain, or go wild with some beads and coves. Burn some lines, pyro your name so it doesn't walk away. Embellish it. Surprise us! No size limit.

A few rules:

• Only one entry per person and only one photo of the entry. This is a turning contest, not an old photo contest, LOL. So make sure your work is something you turned for the challenge.
• Turnings submitted for the October challenge must be started no earlier than October 1, 2021.
• Entries must be posted in this thread.
• The deadline for posting entries is midnight Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on October 23, 2021.
• Voting will take place from October 24 through midnight UTC October 31.
• The winner might have to pass a lie detector test before collecting the prizes. Good luck, have fun, make shavings!!

When voting begins you are allowed one vote and once you have voted you won't be able to go back and change your vote. After you have voted you will be able to track the vote totals. The voting is secret (just like a real election) so nobody other than you can see who you voted for (not even the moderators/administrators). The voting will end at midnight UTC on October 31, 2021. In case of a tie vote, the forum moderators will gather in a virtual smoke-filled room to sort out the winner.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Why is it that you guys picking the challenges seem to regularly decide on the VERY SAME projects that I turned for myself *LAST MONTH* ?? now I guess I gotta find somewhere to get myself some more suitable wood (I only had 2 blanks stashed away for mallets, and used 'em both .. drat!)

 

[Daniel Henry]

Brian, I'm SO new to turning I'm still in diapers, metaphorically speaking. But I turned a mallet last week and I'm thinking I have an item to enter. Then Rule 2 bit me in the butt, DARN. Good luck on finding another blank.

 

[Bill Boehme]

So, are we free to make any kind of mallet? There seem to be more kinds of mallets than you can shake a turning blank at. Here are a few that come to mind: wood joiners mallet, woodcarvers mallet, froe mallet, riving mallet, and rubber mallet.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

So, are we free to make any kind of mallet? There seem to be more kinds of mallets than you can shake a turning blank at. Here are a few that come to mind: wood joiners mallet, woodcarvers mallet, froe mallet, riving mallet, and rubber mallet.

That's the beauty of this challenge. As long as it's turned on a lathe, it can be any mallet. I turned a mallet once, that the customer gave me a brass piece to add weight. It also added a touch of class to it. My friend Wayne Omura, secretary-treasurer of our Island club, has at least 4 or 5 mallets in his shop, different sizes for different purposes. I'm thinking of turning one with some heft to it to be used to "hammer" in the wedges when I mill logs. If rubber can be turned, rubber mallets are allowed, LOL

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Dang it! I turned six croquet mallets for my daughter last summer.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Dang it! I turned six croquet mallets for my daughter last summer.

Well, I'll bet that she needs one more croquet mallet.

I was reading a blog by a guy who seemed to be an authority on mallets until I saw that he had a picture of a tack hammer and called it a "peining" mallet. Maybe he had it confused with a Picard peening hammer.

 

[Luigi D'Amato]

Sorry my english is very Bad what is the mallet?

 

[Brian Gustin]

Sorry my english is very Bad what is the mallet?

Think of a wooden hammer.. there's carver's mallets, joiner's mallets (which I just finished mine today, pics posting soon) among other shapes .. if familiar with the sport of Polo - the thing they use to strike the ball is similar in many ways to a mallet.

OK here's my entry... all of a sudden, finding turning blanks wasn't so hard - I had one single 4" thick x 14" wide slab I sliced out of a large ash log - I had it set aside for drying for the last year, and was not wanting to use it for this project, then yesterday I was gifted a huge pile of ash logs (and more if I want to go cut them up) so I figured, heck with it, a year's worth of drying time on this one slab, and it was gonna be a couple years more before it was as dry as I'd planned on (I meant to use it for some bandsaw boxes) .. So, I went and cut down my not-quite-dry slab of ash in half down the middle and chucked it up, and turned myself a joiner's mallet. It is finished in plain old linseed oil (I prefer natural oil finishes for my tool handles, just 'cause I like the feel of the wood in my hand) .. Not pretty finish, but it worked out nicely, I think.. Last pic for scale - fits the hand quite nicely. Most of it done with skew and SRG, with a touch-up here and there from 3/8 detail gouge. Note: I expect it to likely end up cracking and/or splitting when it finishes drying, but oh well.. Joiner's mallets are easy enough to make via flatwork (just needing a hammer, chisel, and drawknife done on a shavehorse.. ), so I don't worry too much about what will happen with it when it dries.

 

[hockenbery]

Sorry my english is very Bad what is the mallet?

These are another style carving mallet. The cherry one is about 25 years too old to submit.

 

[Luigi D'Amato]

These are another style carving mallet. The cherry one is about 25 years too old to submit.
View attachment 40582

Thanks a lot , now i have understood.

 

[Jerry Rhoads]

Cool Challenge. I have been wanting to turn a new mallet. So I better get to it

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

? shouldn't the entry photos be posted such that only the moderators can see them?
I just finished one to enter so let me know please.

 

[Bill Boehme]

? shouldn't the entry photos be posted such that only the moderators can see them?
I just finished one to enter so let me know please.

I believe that you would need administrative privileges to post where only the mods/admins could see them. Since the winner is chosen by the forum members, I don't see a compelling reason to keep the entries hidden, but I could be missing something.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I believe that you would need administrative privileges to post where only the mods/admins could see them. Since the winner is chosen by the forum members, I don't see a compelling reason to keep the entries hidden, but I could be missing something.

I was just thinking that name recognition would maybe sway some people so I sent it as a conversation with Emiliano and if that isn't OK I still have time to send it via this thread.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Entry by @Don Wattenhofer

 

[Paul Pennock]

Standing in at 12 inches tall, 7 inches across with a 3 1/2inch face, this #3. 4oz, Osage an apple is well suited for timber moving, walnut cracker, finger pinching, did I say I like my chicken real flat, ONE sledge hammer of a mallet.

 

[Casey Urrutia]

Here’s a mallet I made just to use with chisels. Ash.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I was just thinking that name recognition would maybe sway some people so I sent it as a conversation with Emiliano and if that isn't OK I still have time to send it via this thread.

Post the picture of your mallet in this thread.

Entry by @Don Wattenhofer

What is this supposed to be (perhaps an invisible mallet)?

There is an error in your BB code, you are using the image tag, but the link is a web page. Regardless of that, Don needs to post the image in this thread himself.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

Post the picture of your mallet in this thread.



What is this supposed to be (perhaps an invisible mallet)?

There is an error in your BB code, you are using the image tag, but the link is a web page. Regardless of that, Don needs to post the image in this thread himself.

He might win with an invisible mallet entry. Yes, I agree, he asked me to do it, just as easy to post it himself. Note to @Don Wattenhofer I will delete my post when you add your entry to this thread. Let me know if you need help adding a picture to this thread.

 

[Tony Smith]

Standing in at 12 inches tall, 7 inches across with a 3 1/2inch face, this #3. 4oz, Osage an apple is well suited for timber moving, walnut cracker, finger pinching, did I say I like my chicken real flat, ONE sledge hammer of a malletView attachment 40704

Thor's Mallet?

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

He might win with an invisible mallet entry. Yes, I agree, he asked me to do it, just as easy to post it himself. Note to @Don Wattenhofer I will delete my post when you add your entry to this thread. Let me know if you need help adding a picture to this thread.

The picture that you posted and Bill said was invisible came through clearly when you first posted it but I will resubmit.

The head of this carvers mallet is 16 staves of Iron wood or American Hornbeam, the handle is black walnut and both woods were sourced in Minnesota. The head is 4" diameter X 4" long, the handle is 9" long and the mallet is 9" long overall. The mallet is finished with one application of walnut oil and the birch v blocks are there only to prevent oil stains on my seamless background

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I just looked at Emilliano's post and it is still visible???

 

[Bill Boehme]

The picture that you posted and Bill said was invisible came through clearly when you first posted it but I will resubmit.

@Don Wattenhofer
As far as I can tell you and Emiliano are the only ones who are able to see the image because both of you have the image in your browser's cache..

 

[Pat Patterson]

There are only so many ways you can turn a mallet, so I took it as a challenge to sharpen my skills at scaling down and doing more delicate work than normal. I am getting ready to try filial xmas ornaments. As a background for the mallet I turned for the leprechaun in my garden, I chose a pic of us on our 50th wedding anniversary in Ireland. After I took it, I realized it looked to be 5ft tall rather than 5 inches so I included a pic to scale. Hope this is not too off the wall for folks.

Pat

 

[Karl Koch]

I was recently given several pieces of Osage Orange (Hedge) by a fellow turner. I was told that it is the hardest native North American wood so I have been thinking of ideas for projects that would take advantage of the woods density. A mallet seemed just the thing so your challenge was timely. My new carving mallet is 11.5" long and 3.5" wide at its largest end. It weighs a hefty 2lb.11oz. and (unlike my store-bought mallet) it fits perfectly in my hand. Thanks for the fun challenge Emiliano!

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I was recently given several pieces of Osage Orange (Hedge) by a fellow turner. I was told that it is the hardest native North American wood so I have been thinking of ideas for projects that would take advantage of the woods density. A mallet seemed just the thing so your challenge was timely. My new carving mallet is 11.5" long and 3.5" wide at its largest end. It weighs a hefty 2lb.11oz. and (unlike my store-bought mallet) it fits perfectly in my hand. Thanks for the fun challenge Emiliano!

View attachment 40827

I just tried to compare osage orange to to Hornbeam and the results from 2 different sources is OS hardness 2000 LBS and hornbeam 1630 LBS. It looks like you have the hardest mallet.

 

[Sebastian Montagano]

This is a mallet made of of a log of curly maple a freind gave me it is about 10 inches long, and 3.5 inches wide, and was a very fun challenge.

 

[Steve Loar]

“Manager’s Special: the all new “‘Attitude Adjuster” from Steve’s Office Supply”, Maple. Steve Loar

 

[Bernie Hrytzak]

This mallet was designed for assembly of small box joints and dowel insertion. The handle was offset turned on 2 axis in order to achieve a 6 degree offset on the handle itself, so as to get a more flat hit to the surface. (designed for my arm length) Handle is 12 inches long and the head is 4 in. long X 1 3/4 in. dia. The handle has a flat on it to be used with flat up for solid hits.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

“Manager’s Special: the all new “‘Attitude Adjuster” from Steve’s Office Supply”, Maple. Steve Loar

What happened to the 1 entry 1 picture rule???

 

[Mike Braden]

Cherry mallet

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

My humble entry. Kiawe wood, white algarrobo. One of the densest woods we have in Hawaii.

 

[Emiliano Achaval]

The October challenge is now closed!! Announcement coming soon after we count all the votes! Stay tuned!