Woodturning: Making A Woodcarvers Mallet from Scraps

And here we are again with another exciting installment of Scott's Mini Woodshop. In this video I turn some useless scraps into an awesome woodcarvers mallet. Hmmmm, I guess since I used the scraps to make something they weren't exactly useless, were they? Anywho, this is another exciting video featuring some maple and walnut scraps I pulled out of my scrap bin. They were just laying there with nothing to do. Now they have purpose and direction. Think of it as a short story of Ms Maple and Mr Walnut. They meet and become joined together in the perfect marriage. In the beginning, something beautiful is created all shiny and new. Ready to tackle any project. But over the years it starts to look tired, ragged, and its gonna get beat up a bit. Sounds more like marriage than I thought. But regardless, it's still going to be rock solid and dependable. It's going to be something you can't live without. (The Mrs was looking over my shoulder when I typed that last part she's gone now and definitely did not wack me with a wooden spoon or anything, I promise)
During the video You'll see I had a senior moment and forgot to flatten the bottom of the mallet head. Please don't do what I did and have to go back and fix the problem. You should true it up before drilling the hole through the bottom of the mallet head. I guess technically you could do it just after drilling the hole, but either way, do it before you turn away the tenon on the top. That little "design modification" added nearly an hour to my project if you add up the turning, camera work, and editing. Be smart and do it right.
Although I'm not sponsored in any way from any tool company I thought I'd list the tools I used. Why? Mostly because I'm bored sitting here waiting for TH-cam to perform all the checks on my video. So here goes. I'll do the best I can and in no particular order. My lathe is a Robust American Beauty with the tilt away tailstock and a bed extension at the headstock end. Tools used in the video are a combination of Thompson tools and Hurricane Tools. Some people mock me for using Hurricane tools but I don't care. They are solid tools made from M2 HSS or better. Centers on the lathe are Oneway (drive center) and Robust (live center). Chucks used in this video are Vicmarc and EWT. Vicmarc is my favorite chuck, but the standard jaws on the Easy Wood Tools chuck was the perfect size for that handle tenon and I'm too lazy to swap out jaws. The drill chuck I used is from harbor freight. it was super cheap and it works like a champ. Forstner bit is from a set of Freud Precision bits. Best Forstner bits I've ever used. Tools used but not in the video are my Powermatic 14" bandsaw and my Harbor Freight Disk Sander. Oh, and of course tite bond glue, some random acid brush, and the prototype mallet I used to pound the wedge in. And lets not forget the Bealle Buffing system.

[@DougMilleratWoodSpunRound]

This is a project I have got to do. I’m constantly needing one. Thanks for sharing.

[@ScottsMiniWoodshop]

What? No mallet? Now you have to make one. 😂. Thanks for the comment and thanks for watching!

[@walshjp17]

Well done. Great tutorial. Thanks, Scott.

[@ScottsMiniWoodshop]

Thank you very much and thanks for watching!

[@make-somedust]

Good content. Made one out of oak years ago and still have and use it to this day.

[@ScottsMiniWoodshop]

That's awesome. My original one piece hickory mallet is a bit beat up but still going strong. Such a useful tool. Thanks for the comment, and thanks for watching!