Shopmade mallets. I enjoy making my own tools. I have made larger, lead filled, “persuader” mallets but never made a small one ‘till just now. A reader tip in the current ShopNotes caught my eye and I had to give it a try. The trick is to use a brass pipe fitting tee, then turning the heads and handle on the lathe, then screwing them right into the threaded openings of the tee. Works great. I made one hammer face crowned wood and used contact cement to make the other face leather padded. I used the ½” tee but ¾” is an option too. Perfect for tapping a plane iron or making small adjustments to a jig setting, anything where a light touch is required.
Pix TK
Replies
Interesting design approach
I wonder what filling the brass pipe tee with lead shot would do.
I have several 5# and 10# canvas shot bags that I use for weights with light stands and such in my photo efforts.
In the mallet, though, I was wondering if the shot would add some "dead-blow" effect (if left loose in the cavity).
I guess that you could turn the heads and handle to leave enough space to let the shot move and also to be able to put in enough shot to add any weight to the dead blow effect. I have never used a dead blow hammer or seen any need of having one but it is worth a try.
The hammer is striking (couldn't resist the pun)!
Swenson:
Great little hammer and tool making tip. Thanks for sharing this. You did a nice job on the handle, looks very cool.
gdblake
Roy Underhill's spring pole lathe
Swenson:
You are correct, the spring pole is under the frame. Roy Underhill built this lathe and was demonstrating it at Highland Woodworking in Atlanta a few years back. A very interesting lathe design that worked extremely well. At the time Roy told me that having the spring pole immediately under the lathe bed made it more compact and portable than a more conventional pole lathe. The setup allows the tension on the pole to be adjusted by sliding a leather strap up and down the length of the pole (just visible in the picture). I looked, but couldn't find plans for this lathe on the Internet. If you are interested in building one I suggest you try contacting Roy and see what he is willing to share. Here is a link to a better pictures of the lathe. You can toggle through a few pics of it on this website. http://diablowoodworkers.tripod.com/2009-roy-underhill.html
gdblake
I thought that looked like Roy's red suspenders and a bit of his cap showing. Thanks for the link.
You can't win.
I always try to buy things that are made in America. Sometimes you can get fooled and don't know 'till you open the pkg. So there I was, looking at the nice tool I had just made, turning the mallet over in my hands, and there it was, cast into the brass plumbing tee...China. Even my shopmade tools are made in china. You just can't win.
I broke mine...
A few days ago i was working in the shop persuading a the side of a canon im building to go onto the cross members and while i was whaling away i heard a crack, turns out my mallet broke. Now i need to make a new one, i think i need a new design or i need to stop beating my work. (main reason my work is being pounded is because im using freshly cut green elm, and it is shrinking like crazy.)
What kind of canon are you building? My boss took this picture of me next to my favorite canon. I always think of the line from Croc Dundee "You call that a knife? Now this is a knife"
I want to say, "You call that a gun? Now this is a gun"
Nothing that nice.
I go to platt tech in milford and milford came to us to make a rebuild the canon stand for the green. It is small about 8ft long 10" tall and about 2' 6" wide. we are making it from green/wet elm that was cut down from the green. The canon is small but the stand is rapped in metal and had wagon wheels. Last time i tried to post pictures and it didn't work out, but when i get home i will try and post a few.
Sounds like an interesting project. Post pix when you can. The walled-in part of the city of Moscow, known as the Kremlin, is where the big cannon I'm standing in front of sits. They didn't use the big cannon balls on display, I think they used rocks and scrap metal and junk to shoot downrange. It is possible that this cannon was never even ever fired at all. Good luck working with that green/wet elm, that must be a challenge.
A wonderful thing, the internet. I just found six pix of you guys on ctpost.com with the cannon. Looks like you all are having fun.
These are the cabinets we finished up 2 weeks ago.
http://www.cttech.org/platt/technologies/carpentry/news/cabinet-work/index.htm
One other student "josh" and I built the entire lowers, built all the doors, and attached the upper doors.
sorry i didn't get to take pictures today, i will try tomorrow.
Damn, i hate green lumber, this is my cannon. It is decent but due to the fact the state wanted it done quickly and with the green elm they provided it has been a hassle working on it. Sorry about the quality these are quick iphone pictures so my teacher didn't yell at me for having phone out. Enjoy and tell me what you think.
I did get around to making the larger size too.
Yup, something like that.
I went to school today, and forgot to take pictures, i was very busy. I don't know if i will be able to get pictures anytime soon, its all done, we are just waiting for autobody to fit the metal around it and paint it red(huh covering up that beautiful elm).
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