Last week's project was a joiners / wooden mallet, and once i had finished i decided i needed a smaller mallet for detail work and carving.

Nothing elaborate, just simple and effective.

But i also didn't want just a lump of wood on a handle, so i decided i would add a simple inlay and some detail to the handle.

I hope you enjoy - to see the build head over to my YouTube channel.

You can also follow my projects on Instagram -

https://www.instagram.com/ggwoodprojects/

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https://www.patreon.com/GGWoodwork

Thanks

GG

Step 1: Cutting to Shape

To get a rough shape for the mallet i cut an old fence post down and cut off the sides.
I tried to keep it as square as possible and also to keep some nice grain along the mallet.

Step 2: Inlay

Next it was time to inlay. I was a bit nervous at first as it was my first attempt at an inlay.

It was quite simple though i just cut the mallet into 3 parts and cut some contrasting wood down to rough size.

Making sure the glue surface was as flat as possible i added a ton of glue and clamped it back up.

Step 3: Smooth & Flatten

Once the glue had dried it was time to flatten and shape the mallet.

Basically this just meant a lot of rasping on all four faces and sanding at 80 grit on the top and sides.

Step 4: Handle Detail

To add some detail to the handle i first flattened out the top and bottom.

Next i put it in the vice at an angle and used a rasp to carve out a simple spiral going down the handle.

Basically this just meant rasping a bit, slightly rotating the handle and carrying on the rasp line.

I think it turned out quite well and just adds something to an ordinary handle.

Step 5: Sanding

Now onto the fun part (NOT)

Starting again at 80 grit i sanded everything down flat and smooth and moved onto 120 & 240.

Oh the joy of sanding!

Step 6: Attach & Glue

To attach the two pieces i drilled a 22mm hole with a spade bit , as the handle was 22mm. then it was just a case of adding glue and pounding the handle in place.

Step 7: Finish

Once the glue had dried i finished the mallet with a few coats of diamond hard clear finish.

It offers great protection and a nice finish.

I sanded at 500 grit between coats to keep a smooth surface.

Step 8: Job Done

Thats it, Job Done.

a nice simple and effective carving mallet, with a bit of detail.

Its turned out great in my eyes, a few small cracks but as it was a really old piece of wood im not surprised, you could fill them with epoxy but i quite like the look of it so i left it as is.

This feels nice in the hand and has a great amount of force that can be easily controlled.

I hope you enjoyed.

Thanks

GG