|
I never realized it until I held the old girl that the handle was the answer to the riddle of the "Perfect Mallet" not the head! The head was only the "Business End" and not the interface to the hand! Yes, its weight and balance do have something to do with the overall feel of the tool but it is the handle that is the true secret to the sublime communication that one has between tool and wood. Alas! To work! I had some nice scraps of various hard, very hard... woods laying about and set to work using an old coping saw, a couple of Stanley scrapers and some hand planes. I did not set the heads in the usual manner of a tapered mortise. I chose to "Split" the heads after gluing them up and setting the tapered top portion of the handle into the heads by the judicious application of West Brothers G2 Epoxy. I chose to make the attachment "Permanent" and make a "Pattern" of my handle in case of any major disasters such as the head delaminating on some framing chisel handle. Mallet heads come and go but the handle, oh the handle.... Here are some pictures for you if only to give other perspective into the proportions of head/handle that really seem to work for me.
Woodworking friends have all commented on the "lively" feel and superb handling characteristics of both large and small mallets.
I epoxied 4, ½" pieces of brass round stock into the head of the small mallet to increase its weight/size ratio, it is excellent. I have finally found "Mallet" nirvana, now if I could only find a plane tote to fit all four of my right hand fingers, simultaneously that is.....
September, 2008
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
