More Mallets

I’ve been making a few mallets for sale lately and I’m remembering just how much I enjoy making them.

The basis for the design is one I learned at the Northwest school of wooden boatbuilding when I went years ago.

It’s a simple design, a thick block of wood, with a handle going through it, held together with wedges. But it’s more than that, its a refined design, a tried and true one. The head is hard maple, a tone wood that is often used in musical instruments. The handle made from white ash, which has amazing resilience, and owing to its ring-porous nature, it dampens the vibration of the maple head, which acts a bit like a tuning fork. In fact, a handle of a tight grained tonewood like maple would be a bad handle, where it would extend the shock of the hit into the users hands, resulting in increased fatigue and injury.

I make the handles a bit thick usually, as I feel that it promotes a comfortable loose grip, rather than a tight “death grip” like a thin handle encourages.

And of course, I have several different sizes and handle lengths for different bashing and tapping needs.

Make one for yourself, or I can make one for you, any size you would like.