Turned Mallet

This was a quick one day build, which was a nice change of pace for me. The head is made from a piece of 2x2 cocobolo I keep on hand to make ring boxes. I drilled a 1” hole in the center of it before putting it on the lathe to turn to shape. I used carbide turning tools with a few different style cutters. After turning the head, I found a piece of scrap maple to make the handle. I turned down a 1” tenon to match the 1” mortise and made sure the fit was perfect. Then I shaped the rest of the handle until it was comfortable to hold.

In lieu of a wedged tenon, I added a 1/4” brass pin through the center of the head. This provides a mechanical hold should the glue fail. To prevent the mallet from marring any surface it hits, I glued on some leather patches to either end using liquid hide glue. I then applied a single coat of walnut oil. The mallet is roughly 6” x 12” x 1.75”.