Little general purpose workshop mallet

[SVB]

Made little workshop / carving mallet today. First time I tried the wire wool & vinegar mix to dye oak - worked really well.

Head of mallet is a polished up M33 nut

Simon

 

[Droogs]

That is a cracking idea

 

[Inspector]

Good Idea. Now I look back on all the big nuts I passed by when working.

Pete

 

[TheUnicorn]

I've never used a round mallet, but my understanding is that the round surface means it is hard to miss hit the chisel, with a hexagonal head to the mallet are you not making it likely to knock at an off angle and skew the chisel? I do like the design though

 

[JohnPW]

I think the idea with a round carving mallet is don't need to turn the mallet or twist your wrist because your chisel will be in different directions all the time, not that you don't need to hit it square on.

Isn't it a hammer really?

 

[Cabinetman]

Love it, a little knocking stick, good for dealing with burglars as well I would imagine.

 

[Lons]

Looks good, I made a much smaller one years ago using an M16 nut but it was for knocking trout on the head. I was persuaded to sell it to another fisherman and never got around to making another as I don't keep any fish these days.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Is the nut threaded on? It would makes it easy to replace the nut once you’ve worn it out.

 

[JonG]

Love the idea

 

[SVB]

Is the nut threaded on? It would makes it easy to replace the nut once you’ve worn it out.

Yes, nut is threaded on (but more for security of fixing than to replace when worn. Whilst I hope I’ve got a fair few decades still to go, not sure I’m going to wear through a M33 steel nut but who knows!)

simon

 

[mikej460]

Great idea but this needs to be on another thread

Don't hurt me

 

[Benchwayze]

Someone mentioned wire wool. What I am suggesting needs to be done with extreme care. Set fire to wire wool 'pellets' and collect the remains in a tin lid. You should have a fine powder that looks like jewellers rouge; which is in fact what it is. If you don't have any honing compound this is the perfect substitute for charging a strop.

I don't know how much wire wool you need to burn to make a decent amount of powder. Wire wool burns like fury though so care is needed.

HTH

John

 

[SVB]

Someone mentioned wire wool. What I am suggesting needs to be done with extreme care. Set fire to wire wool 'pellets' and collect the remains in a tin lid. You should have a fine powder that looks like jewellers rouge; which is in fact what it is. If you don't have any honing compound this is the perfect substitute for charging a strop.

Never heard that before but thanks for sharing. Think I’ll stick to the yellow honing stick that came with my flexcut stuff but if it runs out and I’m stuck for a sharp edge.....

 

[Benchwayze]

Well SV you can try before you 'buy', so to speak. The tip came from a well respected book on Telescope lens/mirror grinding and I know it works. As far as I know rouge is just another name for ferrous sulphate. Could be wrong. Chemistry was never my strong suit!
Correction. Rouge is known as Iron Oxide it seems.

John

 

[TheUnicorn]

Well SV you can try before you 'buy', so to speak. The tip came from a well respected book on Telescope lens/mirror grinding and I know it works. As far as I know rouge is just another name for ferrous sulphate. Could be wrong. Chemistry was never my strong suit!
Correction. Rouge is known as Iron Oxide it seems.

John

ferrous sulphate is what I use to keep the moss in check in my lawn

 

[Benchwayze]

Yes unicorn. I know. I posted my correction to the mistake earlier. Like I said I am no chemist!

John

 

[Richard_C]

Makes sense that rouge is ferrous oxide, which can be obtained slowly by letting wire wool rust or quickly by setting fire to it

The small mallet could be re-purposed (sold, even) as a steak tenderizer. Just thrown some nice big nuts off gate fittings away, bother.

 

[Inspector]

You have given me an idea. An impact socket glued to a "stick" would give one a round head and they can be had in a number of sizes, thus different weights. Now I just have to scrounge up some orphans someplace. I suggest the impact because they don't have the chrome to chip and flake off.

Pete