The Woodshop Shed

Joinery Mallet

Furnished content.
(from Lumberjocks.com)


This is a basic woodworking mallet useful in joinery and chisel work. I started with a salvaged piece of hardwood. The species is unknown to me. I cut the head to shape, resulting in tapered faces and a slightly rounded top. Then I marked layout lines for a tapered handle. The waste for this mortise was removed with an auger bit in a brace. Next I chopped the mortise, keeping the lines in the top and bottom openings parallel as I crept up on the layout lines. A tapered handle was made out of oak: 1 1/2” at the top, 1 1/14” at the bottom, 15 inches long. I planed the handle square and smooth, with chamfered edges on the gripping surfaces. The mallet head was shaped by adding curved chamfers on the main edges and 45* chamfers on the striking faces. I finished it with boiled linseed oil. Two pieces of wood, properly shaped and joined with one mortise, become a very functional and useful tool. It has great balance when the mallet is gripped up under the head. But it has powerful striking force when the grip is moved nearer the bottom of the handle. Fun project for me.

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