2019 Mallet Swap

Bloodwood and Brass

This one I had to redo a couple of times. Originally I wanted to do a spalted pecan handle with red resin inlays that was stabilized, but it broke in the head. I had to re-bore the head and come up with a new solution. Once redone, I sanded the head up to 800 and brought it to the buffing wheels… I now need new wheels. The brass was turned on a wood lathe with a set of carbide tools from Dave (Kelley Crafts who makes awesome tools), files and like 40 grit sand paper.

This was the original handle with issues

Next was the hex head. At first I was going to do a similar handle to the original one I had planned for the round brass, but after the issues I had I decided against it. This one was going to be blue though instead of red. For this, the shape was already there, I just had to cut to length, drill out the hole and work a handle for it. This handle started out as spalted hickory and was cut to rough shape on the handsaw. I then finished the shaping with a shinto rasp and finished with about 6 coats of Waterlox

The last one was the carted mallet. From a single piece of wood that was punky, wet, cracked and full of bug tunnels right from the fire wood pile…. Exactly what I wanted!! This one got rough turned, dried in an oven for more cracks, stabilized, re-turned, loaded with superglue and the crushed turquoise accents then sanded . I really like how the stabilizing darkened the wood a little and how the crushed stone pops against it. Mental note… Next time filling cracks with turquoise and superglue… don’t do it on a plate.. you’ll lose the plate…

Nice work Rich!!

-- Bill - Rochester MI

Beautiful!

-- Galootish log blog, http://www.timberframe-tools.com

Meh. Those are okay Rich but I expect more from you.

Those are all awesome man! I especially like the brass carver’s mallet. I gotta get me one of those :-)))

-- Kenny, SW VA, Go Hokies!!!

Woodcraft sells a Pfeil version for like $80… lol

Rich

Meh. Those are okay Rich but I expect more from you.

Those are all awesome man! I especially like the brass carver s mallet. I gotta get me one of those :-)))

- HokieKen

Not to me they don’t.

-- Kenny, SW VA, Go Hokies!!!

Nicely done, Rich! And sent overseas, no less!

-- Dave - Santa Fe

I was the lucky receipient of those mallet – and I have to say I love them Rich, and I really appriciate the work you lay into them.

Good job Rich, and thank you so much!

-- It’s good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. - Ursula K. LeGuin

Rich – your mallets look like something I would expect to see if I open a master woodworker’s tool chest. Great choice of wood. Glad to see you kept with it even with the difficulties.

-- Earl "I'm a pessamist - generally that increases the chance that things will turn out better than expected"

Love that stubby brass mallet

-- Rick M, http://thewoodknack.blogspot.com/

Next swap I’m going to bribe the boss to make sure you get my name. Great work!!!

-- Genghis Khan and his brother Don, couldn't keep on keeping on...

Super job Rich. Wow, you really put a lot of work into those. I really like that shiny brass carvers mallet.

-- We all make mistakes, the trick is to fix it in a way that says "I meant to do that".

Interesting set of hammers there, especially love the polished carving mallet.

-- Allen, Colorado (Instagram @bobasaurus_woodworking)