Yesterday’s turn from the maple went great, but hollowing it out was terrible. It was such a hard piece of wood! So I decided that if I was going to keep working from that wood, I needed to do something solid today. I did two somethings! I have been envying the carver’s mallets I see people using on YouTube. Drooling, really! I have wanted one for a long time, and the other night I watched a fellow shape one to fit the hand of whomever ordered it from him. Reviews where he sold them said the buyers were shocked at how easy to hold they were, and how effortless it was to use them. Well, I could not get everything from his video, but I did stop often and check the fit to my hand, rather than blindly turning a standard handle. I am happy I did, too!
I did the smaller mallet first. I will use it for light tapping or leatherwork. I have a mallet I bought for leatherwork, so maybe that one can come out of the hand tool drawer in the woodshop and go back in with the leather tools.
After the little one, I figured I was done for the night, but then I realized how I could get a larger piece of wood out of the tree, and probably leave scraps that could be made to something like bobbins for Missus’s loom shuttles. So I went back out and got to work on the larger mallet.
I have not weighted them at this point, but they are both very comfortable. Especially the second one. I really put in the extra effort to see to it that one fit to my hand. Either way, there is two new shop tools with no real cost to get them! Now we are cooking on gas!
I doubt it would have been nearly as satisfying to buy one of these as it was to make two! I can bugger them up, and it is no worry. I know just where I can get more maple. And next year, if we are still hanging out here, I am sure I will go and get a lot!