Forging and fitting bands to wooden mallets?

[elkdoc]

Hey folks...

I'll be spending some time at a friend's lathe soon. I'm hoping to turn and piece together a couple of wooden mallets. I plan on turning a flat "notch" into the head on either side of where the handle fits in. The purpose would be to add a metal band to prevent splitting.

How should I go about fitting a tight forged band around the head? I plan to cut some barstock to fit, and bevel the ends just like I am forging a collar for regular ironwork. I need tips on getting it tightly fitted to the hammer without it burning loose.

Any thoughts?

[Ed Thomas]

Elkdoc:

When you turn the wood, make sure it is a piece which does not include the heart. Your best bet is a piece of split hardwood firewood.

Because wood moves (swells and shrinks) so much, your best bet might be to make a ring that can be tightened with a bolt, much like a hose clamp. That way as it works loose, just give it a turn or two.

Wooden mallets are sort of "consumables", in my opinion. At least the way I use them. I don't waste a lot of time on them, and never had one split at the handle first.

Since you are going to be using a lathe, a better mallet is a one piece, like the woodwhacker folks use. You can chunk one of them out in few minutes.

This is not a woodwhacker mallet, per se, but shows you the idea. I made this sauerkraut masher for my brother last year and already have the picture. I usually turn my functional mallets with shorter handles and slightly bigger heads. You can make them any shape that works for you. This one is maple, but whatever is in your woodpile is usually fine.

[irnsrgn]

first off if you are serious about putting bands on, you need a traveler to accurately get the distance around the mallet and get the ring the right inside diameter.

second you need to make the turned part for the ring deep enough so there will be at least a half inch of wood sticking past the ring.

Third, you need to drill at least 3 holes around the ring to put either nails or screws into.

fourth you need to determine how much shrink fit you need on the ring. 1/8 shorter in circumference may be enough, but is probably too much for that small a ring.

fifth you will need a small dead stick from the yard to gauge the temperature of the ring to tell when it is ready. Just rub the stick against the ring and when if feels greasy, put it in place and drive it on. then immediately quench in water.

1/8 inch is normal shrink fit for an old buggy wheel.

[HWooldridge]

Actually, we can work this out with our friend "Mathematics".

The coefficient of thermal expansion for plain steel is .00000075 in/deg F so we can prove Jr's 1/8" is pretty close for a 48 inch diameter buggy wheel. Looks like this:

Circumference of a 48" wheel is 150.8". Taking it to 1000 degrees (a good black heat) times 150.8 times our CoET = .1131 - so...an 1/8" is a dang good shop number for that type of repair.

However, a 6 inch diameter mallet band will only grow .014 under the same parameters. Therefore, I think the suggestion of banding with an arrangement that can be tightened later is a sound one...

[Ed Thomas]

Hollis: That's why I made the suggestion for adjustable band. I've helped band a bunch of wheels, including some fairly small ones, and a mallet is just very small to be trying to shrink fit. You have to cool the band before it burns the wood, or there goes your fit. But when you water it down to cool it, some of the water will cause the wood to swell right at the band. So it will expand slightly and when it dries, it will shrink slightly and be loose... unless you are really fast, really good, and really accurate. That's a lot of trouble for a mallet.

If I did it at all, I'd just turn the mallet head slightly tapered from each end to the middle, forge the ring so it was a very snug fit, and press it on cold.

irnsrgn: For a piece that small, a traveler isn't necessary. You just wrap a piece of cotton string around the mallet, take the string off and measure the string.

[Strine]

Since the mallet/maul is to be made on the lathe. I would make the rings first. Then turn the head making allowance for thermal expansion. No body has mentioned it yet as it seems fairly obvious...the cold iron ring ID is smaller in circumference than the cold lump of wood OD by the allowance for thermal expansion. The rings should also be slightly flaired. So that the more work the maul does the more the face is driven into the flair preventing the ring from taking flight.

When turning the head, cut a groove about 3/8 to 1/2 inch from the outside diameter as deep as possible. LOL, too deep and and you'll send the turning chisel for a trip round the workshop. Funny before it happens, not so after! Be careful

Heat the rings and whack them on the maul as already suggested. Then drive wedges into that groove you cut at the lathe. Jobs done.

Oh, also, 'tis a wonderful thing to see an "s" on the end of our friend, nay... our soul mate, Mathematics

[Ed Thomas]

Strine: With a parting tool, you can (and do) go completely through the wood without sending the chisel around the shop. It has to be shaped and held correctly though.

Have you really tried the groove and wedge thing? That sounds like the cure is worse than the disease. Maybe I'll check it out some day. I think it would be much easier to do as irnsgrn suggests... drill a few holes and screw it in place if it isn't adjustable.

I still hold by my original one-piece suggestion, though If you need a square head, just cut it square and turn the handle. These are remarkably comfortable, take a lot less time to make, and are more durable.

[Strine]

Yes Ed it really does work. My thoughts on the matter are that it is the tightness of the fit that will keep the rings on. The tighter the better. I'm probably barking up the wrong tree as to what this mallet is for but if it's for maul work it will want to impart some mighty blows. There is not much light work for a maul. So the will of the ring to maintain the laws of momentum conservation and continue on as the head hits its target and stops dead is immense.

I'm sticking with the flaired rings as well as the few old mauls I've come across all had flaired rings.

And I agree about the one piece mallet. The bush carpenters I know just grab a chunk of split fire wood, say a 4 or 5 inch billet 12 to 15 inches long and carve out a handle with the axe. The working end is left in the original shape what ever that might be...triangular, square what ever. They never roll away that's for sure.

[Ed Thomas]

Strine: Ah... some good points. It never occurred to me that Elkdoc might be talking about a BIG mallet. That does make a difference. I just assumed a workshop-sized mallet. Maybe he'll weigh in and tell us more.

[Kristopher Skelton]

I would make the band slightly larger than needed to make an overlap. Then I'd drill holes that were slightly offset- say 1/4" holes offset by 3/32 or so. Then make a point in a piece of iron and drive it through both holes like a nail. This should pull the band tight and you can make the band tighter by driving the spike deeper without concerning yourself with expansion of the ring. You could even saw the end off the wedge if you thoguht it was tighter than you'd ever need

It seems like it might do the trick


Edit: last comment edited, no content lost

[bruce wilcock]

when ever we banded a maul ,the bands where bend on edge first so they made a slight cone shape, and the maul was turned with the band beds tapered ,the band was driven on just warm enough to mark the wood, then three spikes tapped in ,then the maul face was gone over with a hammer to bruise the wood to stop the rings moving,some times we drove wedges into the face about 1 ins in from the edge into the face to swell it out, the bands were about 1-2 ins from the end depending on the size of the maul.

[elkdoc]

I was indeed talking about a regular, shop sized mallet. I think I'll most likely forge a couple of bands and bend the ends outward and give the screw tentioning method a shot.

In the future, I'll probably experiment with some of the other methods mentioned here on some scrap pieces.

Thanks a ton, folks!

[primtechsmith]

could you just drill 2 holes(off set from one another) slam through the buisness end, put the band on, and rivet the thing tight. I realize if you go too tight it will split, but if you snug them up then later on down the road if it loosens up then you can tighten it.....works for tongs. and i see knives, and some hand tools with 2 piece handles like this. Maybe it would work here too...?....?.....?....?

This would be a great demo from on of "yous smart fellers..."

Peyton Anderson

[Strine]

Aha Doc. So it's not such a big mallet. I would dispense with the rings all together and use a bit of yellow box or iron bark; density about 1.12 tonnes/m3 ie it's wood what don't float. Yellow box or iron bark (eucalypt species) is readily available here but I don't know about where you are. Any heavy tough wood would do. Save your pattern for when it wears out so's you can replace it.

[Don A]

See if you can find some seasoned persimmon wood. They used a lot of it back when golf club "woods" were still wood. I cut one for firewood several years ago. I only thought that gum and elm were tough to split. The persimmon was like trying to split a steel-belted tire with a hammer.

[HWooldridge]

Osage orange (bois d'arc) is also 'hard as a whore's heart' and tough. The native Americans made bows and war clubs from it - would make a good mallet.

[elkdoc]

Actually, I think I may have just scored a couple of mallet-head sized pieces of cured osage orange from a friend. That oughta work!

[ThomasPowers]

Osage orange splits a lot when drying rounds though.

Thomas

[primtechsmith]

I made a small hand mallet for knapping off large chunks of chert out of a piece of dogwood i found. It has held up so far in 3 or 4 uses with no splits. Seems to also be some very hard wood!

Peyton

[elkdoc]

Hmmm... Got some elm too. That won't split, as it apparently has interlocking grain structure, or so my forestry professor friend tells me.