The recent carver’s mallet thread got me thinking about my joiner’s (rectangular) mallet, which I made when I was starting out three-fourish years ago. It works fine, but it’s kind of clubby and inelegant.
so I made a new one, with a head of white oak. It’s a little smaller than the old one (weighs in at 24 ounces), the face is angled slightly, and it’s more elegant.
as to finish, I’ll probably give it a coat or two of BLO and be done with it. But I’m curious about the Blue Spruce mallets. They say the head is “infused with a tough polymer resin that increases density by 80%”. I’m confused about how this works and what it means, and why we don’t see more of it in our wooden products. I also wonder if there are methods that achieve a similar effect for those of us without a tough polymer resin infuser.
any mallet head finishing thoughts are welcome. BLO or tung oil seems to be the “safe bet” from the internet. I’ve seen a few recommending film finishes like poly, which don’t make sense to me but I can be persuaded otherwise.
Replies
I would stay away from surface film finishes, as they don't adhere well when the mallet face dents a bit. There is a two part product from Abatron that penetrates and reconstitutes deteriorated wood which would probably increase the density and strength of the mallet head. You could check with the manufacturer.
I would just put a couple coats of BLO or tung oil, and add maintenance coats whenever you think it needs it. Can't do with poly without stripping the whole thing back to bare wood. I've just rehandled several carving gouges that came to me without handles, and used Tried and True Varnish Oil (as an experiment; I've never used it and have had a can around for a while to experiment with. Not sure I would use it on furniture without a lot more experimentation. I'm very comfortable using Waterlox, which I've used for decades.)
I used Tried and True Original (BLO & bees wax) on a cypress pencil post bed about 30 years ago. Easy to apply several coats with a cloth (took a while to dry) and has held up well on the bed. Low gloss look that fits with the style of the bed. The cypress has darkened and mellowed over the years. Not sure how much the mellowing is the wood/sunlight and how much is the BLO aging. Either way, I like the effect. I would use it again for another bed if it was not high style requiring a high gloss finish.
I'm not sure exactly how Blue Spruce does it. But I have a setup for using Cactus Juice -- look it up. There is a sealed chamber with cactus juice and your wooden object. Hook it up to a vacuum pump, and pump all the air out of the wood. The air gets replaced by the resin. Once the wood stops shedding bubbles, which can take a while, remove the wooden object and put it in the oven, which cures the resin. The result is heavier and rock solid. I've had mallets that seem indestructible.
I'd bet that's how Blue Spruce does it, but I'm not sure.
I agree with the two above posts. On my large mallets that I've made, I used Vera, Argentine Lignum Vitae for the head. It's hard, dense and polishes up without any finish. On other woods like domestics, I always use a penetrating oil as mentioned above.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled