I have one of these mallets made by Kent… it is Bubinga and Maple…

You could try this.....

 

It depends on how heavy you want it, and how nice you want it to look. Use ash or some other domestic hardwood for a durable, not too heavy one. Maple and Walnut look nice together too. If you want something heavy and pretty, consider a mixture of exoctics. Sorry to be so vague, but it's hard to choose just one wood!

 

Maple or Ash gets my vote for the head. For the handle use something that adds color.

 

I would discourage you on burls. The internal integrity of burl wood is often questionable. It may not stand up to the force of being used as a mallet. With burl you never know.

I'm a exotic wood fan and I would seriously consider Lignum Vitae. Be advised that it is very heavy and you may want to mix it with another wood to keep the weight down. It is also the hardest wood around with a Janda Index of 4000. It is also very pretty when properly finished. Finally, the aroma it releases when being cut or turned is amazingly nice.

FYI - Lignum Vitae was, at one time, the wood of choice for the clubs used by British Bobbies (policemen).

Other exotic options - Cocobolo, Bubinga or Goncala Alves (tiger wood). All are solid, hard and pretty.

 

If it's good enough for a Brit to use as a club to beat on some hooligan's head, it's good enough to tap on your chisels!

 

Wack A hooligan for me. Lignum Vitae sounds like a winner.

Pop

 

Though not a dramatic wood, dogwood is my wood of choice for mallets, gluts, mauls and chisel handles. VERY tough. It will take a heck of a lot of pounding.
Bill

 

Hey, thanks for all of the suggestions everybody. I will definitly keep all of these choices in mind for future use. I think I am going to try to find a nice solid piece of Maple burl. I won't have too much money in it so if it does end up breaking one day I will return here and pick from the list you guys have given me. I apologize for maybe wasting ya'lls time by doing what I was gonna do anyway. I guess I was just wanting "confirmation" from ya'll. Again, I apologize, but hey, I did learn of more superior woods to use for this application, and for that I am truly thankful.

 

If you want a tough, attractive and also traditional mallet, use the bottom end of a dogwood, the head being turned from the root ball. Because dogwood is slow growing and hard, the intertwined grains of the root ball make it very wear resistant and shock proof.

The mallet in my avatar is one I carved from a dogwood tree (couldn't get the root as it was intertwined in the oak it was growing next to). Just used a saw and a draw knife. Don't have a lathe. It is some hard tough wood!!

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