Replies

1. 
   rob_ss | Jul 24, 2019 06:23am | #1

   Properly glued, the glue joint will be stronger than the wood itself.
   There is no reason not to glue your mallet from multiple sections, but you do need to take care that the grain is aligned.
   To avoid splitting when the handle is driven in, many laminated designs make a handle and centre section from a single piece of timber with the grain aligned along the handle. Side-pieces are then fused to the central section. If you choose contrasting woods then this can be beautiful.

2. 
   [email protected] | Jul 25, 2019 01:00am | #2

   This is a mallet I made in 2015. The head is 2 pieces of glued up maple. Used for chisel work it has had an moderate easy life with some hard blows now and then. There's no sign of glue joint seperation or any weakness. It's a real smasher!

   
3. 
   chipsawdust | Jul 25, 2019 03:39pm | #3

   I made my mallet, very similar to sqpeg's, out of quartersawn white oak. It's a beast. I've used it on tons of hand-made mortises and other chisel work. For finer chisel work I turned a carver's mallet on the lathe out of a branch from a cherry tree the wind blew down in our yard three years ago. A long time to wait for a mallet!?!?

4. 
   Bill_Anderson | Sep 05, 2019 09:39am | #4

   I made my go-to joiners mallet 30 years ago from laminated ash and padauk stock (two cheeks, front and back parts and the handle), and it is still going strong. Having said that, in workshops I teach where students make a mallet, this is from a single stock head with the handle taper-mortised in