Oak Bench Mallet and a Walnut & Red Oak Mortising Mallet

One thing always leads to another in Fritter City, my shop. I read GraveDiggers review of Grammercy Holdfasts. I felt my credit card throbbing as I read the review.

A pair arrived in no time. But, an old rubber mallet didn’t seem to match the class of the Grammerys. So, matching dados were cut in claro walnut scrap and a red oak handle was fitted. The result seemed too nice to be beating on a steel holdfasts. I’ll reserve it for mortising.

Scrap white oak! That’ll make a good all purpose bopper. ( My generation never raps.) But, a good friend sold me his surplus Barracuda scroll chuck. And, yup, the white oak mallet project got completely carried away.

Shop notes: Both mallets have 11” handles, head to tail. The walnut head is 4 1/2 ”. The oak mallet has a 5” head anticipating damage and the need to resurface of the face.

Hard Lesson: Use a thin, sparing coat of Gorilla glue on the handle. Dampen the receiving hole in the mallet head. An earlier mallet went in the “fire place” pile when the Tightbond seized.

Method: The beads on the handle were fitted into the head by repeatedly chalking the bead. The bead was then rubbed into the 1” dia. hole in the mallet head. The chalk marked the high spots. A Dremel tool with a mini-sanding drum was used to repeatedly remove the high shots. That’s right, I didn’t have much to do that day.

-- DJ Peck, Lincoln Nebraska. Lord, keep your arm around my shoulder and your hand over my mouth.