I made my last project of 2022. I have wanted a mallet for a while. Winston Moy has one on cutrocket.com but it is in F360. I dont use F360 so I drew it up on CC and cut it out. The handle is square right now but has a Y shape at the top to keep it from ever coming loose.
Will try round over on router table in the middle. If I dont like that will put on lathe and round some. The handle is oak. The center pieces are oak. The outer faces are Madrone. The overall mallet is too wide. I will cut it down from 4" to 3" and round over outside face corners. I hate wedges so I used oak dowels.
I made a mistake and cut contour on inside instead of outside. I will modify file and make a second smaller mallet. I have enough material already cut for the second one.
My Shapeoko 3 XXL with HDZ is just a work horse. I am impressed with the precision. The holes are .5" and the .5" dowels I had in the shop fit right in. I used a Melin 1.5" cut length to cut all the pieces. The Dewalt 611 is just a champ. So long 2022 and hello 2023. On to bigger and better things. Happy New Year All.
After taking it out of the clamps I sanded it on my Ridgid Oscillating Belt Sader to clean up the faces. Then took it to the router table to round over the edges.
So I let it set over night and today I will finish sand and put some Watco Danish Oil on it. The Watco should bring out the beautiful grain of the Madrone.
Almost forgot before the finishing I will vcarve this design on the mallet. The mallet reminds me of Thor’s hammer slightly so I found this Viking style Thunderbird. My username is gdon_2003 in reference to my 2003 Thunderbird. I plan on using a 15 degree vee bit. I tried a 60 degree but the simulation was so light that it was not worth doing. The 15 degree looked good and I will paint it with acrylic paint before the Watco.
My vcarve did not turn out too well. The drawing was just too busy. The simulation looked great but in practice it had broken lines. So I went back to the CC file and did an offset on the outside and then removed some of the inside lines of the drawing (svg). Then performed the offset to the inside and that simplified the drawing. I then did an advanced vcarve with a #102 and the 60 Degree Downcut Groovee Jenny. It came out pretty good considering it was a salvage. I mixed up the MAS Table Top Epoxy with Transtint Red dye. I filled the first side and let it set and then flipped the mallet and filled the second side.
I got my mallet all sanded and cleaned up. I got a single coat of Watco Danish Natural Oil on it. I will let it dry overnight and apply a second coat. The Thunderbird came out ok but not what I thought I was going to get. I was able to salvage a bad situation and that is what is important. I think I made the red epoxy a little too dark. I wanted an opaque color but it again is not what I expected. I should have made the epoxy more translucent with a red tint. Overall I am happy and think it turned out good. Now on to whacking things with it. Bonk Bonk on the head.
Thanks but if the recarve had not worked I would just have used it anyway. I wanted a mallet and the design was just an after thought. However I like my stuff to look good as well as function. No I would not have burned it up but I think the save went well and that is what is important. I consider myself a craftsman. Craftsmen make mistakes. The difference between a craftsman and a wood waster is the craftsman knows how to fix the mistakes and save the wood from wasting. So I make plenty of mistakes but seldom drop a project into the trash. However another mark of a craftsman is knowing when to drop something into the trash and start over. I rarely have to do that but it has happened.
