Making a brass and wood carving mallet

 

Tools and materials I propose:

Mini machinist’s lathe

Cutter Set for Metal Lathe

Cobalt Drill Bit Set

Drill Chuck for mini lathe

Woodturning Lathe

Wood turning tools set

Chuck kit

I wanted to make a small precision mallet for woodcarving. Usually these mallets are made of brass and have wood handles. I salvaged a few metal parts and a piece of mahogany. I used my metal lathe and my woodturning lathe to make it. 

I begun by drilling the hole on the head of the mallet on the machinist’s lathe. I slowly expanded the hole to the appropriate size using various drill bits. I used cobalt drill bits. 

Then I turned the long nut round. One side of the nut was smaller. And also one side of the brass head has a larger hole. This way the handle and the head fit together with a mortise and tenon joint. 

The head needed to be slightly tapered. I found that 2 degrees were perfect. I created the taper on the lathe. Then I sanded the piece and polished it with steel wool. 

I then moved on the wood lathe. I turned the mahogany true. I created a tenon on one side to fit my chuck. 

Then I drilled the hole for the nut. I fine tuned the hole with a chisel so the nut would fit snugly. Then I epoxied the nut in place. 

Finally I turned the handle using a roughing gouge, a skew and a spindle gouge. 

I sanded the piece at 400 grit and then polished it with abrasive pastes. 

My mallet’s weight is about 190gr. It came out great and fits my hand nicely.

But that was it. See you soon with a new project video. 

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