Shopsmith Forums

I am wanting to make a few mallets with the round head, not the hammer configuration, but like a little head on the end of a handle. I have been looking for either hickory or ash. But, I am now concerned if hickory will be durable for pounding across the grain. So, what do you suggest I use to make my mallets. Thank you.

I have had good luck with seasoned oak ash is a good idea , they make baseball bats with it . jmo

I made one recently. I used maple. If I would have had hickory or ash scraps around, I would have used one of them instead. As stated, oak should work well too.

http://workshopcompanion.com/KnowHow/Wo ... able_1.htm

Here is a hardness chart for North American woods I made one for the shop once from beech once it was pretty good but I made it too big ,,it felt more like a short cave man club when ya held it .

Boudark makes for awesome mallet heads of any shape. Extremely hard.

Beech

Agree with Skizzity. European Steamed Beech. Very hard,very inexpensive and easy to come by in 8/4.
Paul

This would be my first choice...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera
Then elm, black locust or even mulberry.
Beech is nice but I don't own any.
I have a largish round mallet that my father always said was made from a piece of large tree root because the root didn't really have a grain direction. I never tried to verify that.
Stacked leather makes an excellent mallet head (no directional grain) and you can work it much like wood.


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Thank each of you for your comments and help. I will be searching for some European beech and some ash. I have some mulberry and will check if I have enough to make the rolling pins and have any left.

Tree root! Now why didn't I think of that? I know that mulberry is very hard. I have dulled a few saw blades on mulberry. Now I have some good ideas and I will pursue. Thank you again.

Steamed beach,,,A great concept .

Steaming lumber for color

I found a link about steaming ,, how it changes color properties when done with green lumber.


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Color changes

When lumber is steamed right after it is sawn and before it has a chance to dry, the white sapwood becomes much darker, looking at times almost as dark as the heartwood. The heartwood, when steamed, also changes color, becoming a little bit darker. Further, steamed heartwood often has more uniform color than unsteamed. These color effects develop throughout the lumber and not just at the surface.

Black walnut sapwood will become much darker if steaming is done properly, and the heartwood will take on a rich chocolate appearance, rather than its often greenish hue.

Cherry sapwood does not darken a great deal, but it certainly becomes redder. The heartwood becomes a very rich reddish color, looking like it has been aged naturally in the sun for a few years.

Beech lumber takes on a distinctive pink color. In fact, because almost all European beech is steamed before drying, this pink color is an essential characteristic of European beech. In truth, steamed American beech looks the same and the two cannot be separated from each other.

In a patented steaming process for red oak, the heartwood developed a definite pinkish hue.

In hard maple, steaming will pink the wood through and through.

http://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/magaz ... er-steamed