Gerry Slater Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Hi, I have hickory, maple and ironwood, ten acres of it. I want to make some mallets to pound hot steel without marring the finish, eg. tightening a twisted clasp in joinery on grillwork. Any recommendations for the best wood? Thanks. Gerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Hi Gerry... welcome to IFI. I always suggest reading this to get the best out of the forum. READ THIS FIRST - I think any of the three will work just as well, I like to use hickory because we have a lot of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Make the handle from hickory and the head from either maple or ironwood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Hard maple or soft maple? As JHCC said: Hickory for the handle, and maple or ironwood for the head---if it's hard maple. Soft maple---don't bother using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerry Slater Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Sugar maple, I’ll find out how hard it is, I’m just gonna go ahead and make some of each, maybe I’ll be able to post how they work later. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 That's hard maple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Soft maple would be fine for this application; just don't expect it to last. But, as ThomasPowers says, sugar maple (acer saccharum) = hard maple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Branding Iron Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 More important is the effort given in finding the right piece of wood for the mallet head. A good tight grained burl, tap root base or gnarled piece with a ton of tight grained visible eyes from limbs (at least 1/2 dozen for a good sized mallet) should suffice nicely. A good head can be cut, worked green and put to immediate use without issue. The handle would be best to use at least something air dried to avoid any major twisting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 If you are using seasoned wood that is brash then putting rings on the end can help to keep it from splitting. I usually used firewood as a wood source, save for the osage orange ones I turned on my wood lathe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 I use: yard, garage, rummage, etc. sale baseball bats to make mallets. I cut off 6-8" of the fat end, square up the cut on the belt grinder and drill it for the handle which used to live on the other end of the b'ball bat. The remainder makes a decent thwocker though I have a cut down bat for a proper thwocker. I pick up WOODEN B'ball bats at yard, etc. sales for give away prices, my last batch was 6 bats that got tossed in if I actually wanted what I was paying for. I must have 8-10 b'ball bats around and the first two mallets haven't worn out in I'm thinking 20 years of occasional use. We're talking disposable tools here a 2" x 4" will serve well if not for long. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 I've also found old croquet mallets at yard sales for next to nothing and they work just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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