Rainy day activities.

[Dedpedal]

It’s been kind of gloomy today waiting on the arrival of a cold front and storms. I spent most of the morning in the shop piddling around and made a mallet and milled some wood for an upcoming gift project. What do the rest of y’all do?

[capncarl]

Raining here in SW Ga., mostly sideways! Tornados missed a chance, all the conditions were right. A nearby weather station registered 93 mph winds before it damaged the equipment. I watched the high wind blow water off the lawn and made it look like a fire hose…. Then it really started raining, sideways again. Then it was over.

[Dedpedal]

That front hit us about 4:00. We had a funnel cloud about a mile north of us here in Palm Coast. Glad you’re ok!

[LCHIEN]

A cold front came in - lots of rain and high winds and the temperature dropped overnight.

Went to a leisurely Asian Hot Pot lunch with a couple of friends, a good meal when its cold outside!

[Dedpedal]

I heard from a friend in east Texas that it was going to get bitter cold for a few days. Stay warm!

[LCHIEN]

I think a hard freeze is expected next Monday may get to the upper 20's. Cold for us. I have to insulate the stupid sprinkler backflow preventer. Frozen twice int he past and costs 35 each time to replace the sacrificial plastic freeze protector or else it cracks the brass housing and costs $250.

[twistsol]

The high temp forecast for Sunday is -1 degree F. Which is why we spend about $75 to have the sprinkler system shut down and have the water blown out of all the lines. This spring we had to deal with a rookie plow driver that took out 8' of curb and a couple of sprinkler heads and a big chunk of lawn in front of our house last winter. The city came by in mid August to fix it but everything except the curb was already done.

[twistsol]

Nice job on the mallet. It's a project I have on my too long of a to do list.

[Dedpedal]

I liked it so much I gave it to a friend who does things for me that I don’t have tools for,cnc and laser burning, and made another today.

[LCHIEN]

I have a 24 Oz lead shot filled dead blow mallet, a 18 oz rubber mallet, a 10 oz rubber mallet, and a small round 12 oz brass mallet for gentler persuasion. Also a plastic faced hammer or two.

Those weights include the handle... are hammer weights given as the head weight only or the whole thing?

Making a mallet sounds like fun, but do I need one and how big?

What applications do you use it for?

I use the big rubber mallet and the dead blow for assembling and disassembling tight fitting stuff I don't want to ding or bruise. The smaller stuff and a stubby 8 oz ball peen hammer for making microadjustments on line-ups for gluing or fixturing or setting fences.

[Dedpedal]

I couldn’t tell you about how they weight them. Making mallets is kind of addictive. I use a couple different ones for similar jobs to what you describe. I also made a weighted one that has steel BBs in the head. I made it as a challenge from another woodworker friend. The only new hammer I’ve ever bought was a Harbor Freight tack hammer because I thought it was cute at the time. Still haven’t used it.

[mpc]

The pic shows an example of each of my hammer types - some are duplicated at other work areas. From left-to-right, they are:

Basic claw hammer for nails and generally beating on 2x4s.

Dead-blow hammer from HF. Tends to leave black marks on some woods. Intended to knock dry-fit assemblies apart but, because of the marks, I use a different hammer.

My shop-made mallet. If I remember correctly, the head is hard maple and the handle is hickory. This is used to drive mortise chisels - they need a solid whack to do their job. I sometimes use it on bench chisels when chopping end grain. I decided to make this hammer by hand - minimal use of power tools. So the handle was shaped with a spokeshave, the mortise in the mallet head was drilled (drill press...) and made into a rectangular mortise with beveled walls by hand chisel work. Chisel work in hard maple = a workout.

My shop-made round mallet. I have two: one is hard maple and one is soft maple. The hard maple mallet (pictured) is what I use on regular bench chisels if/when needed. It is also used with my carving chisels. The soft maple mallet has replaced the HF dead-blow hammer to knock assemblies apart. Both were made on a benchtop size lathe. Both were some of my first lathe projects too.

My shop made hand plane adjusting hammer: a small walnut handle with a brass head. It lives exclusively to tap hand plane blades on planes without Norris or similar mechanical adjusters.



The hand planes the little guy works with:


The larger hand plane is a little longer than a #5 jack plane and is a little shorter than a #8 jointer plane. I use it for jointing and flattening boards now and then... when I'm in the mood to do those jobs by hand rather than using a jointer and thickness planer machine. The small plane is a high angle finishing plane. Both were made in my shop as "let's have some fun" projects. As was the baby hammer. Unlike most "Western" hand planes, I put the blades roughly centered on the sole; typical Western hand planes position the blades further forward for a short toe length and longer heel. My intent was to make planes with longer toe length so they'd be easier to get started. Oh, the hand planes are hard maple and walnut. The walnut came from the scraps pile at my local lumber yard. Cheap.

Mostly they live inside the house - not in the shop - on display on the fireplace mantle. The large plane doesn't fit in any of my shop storage drawers...

mpc

[Black walnut]

Beautiful work mpc!

[Black walnut]

For a big challenge try The Woodwright's Shop puzzle mallet.

Dedpedal good looking mallet.

[Dedpedal]

Thanks! I’m really digging this one. It might just go on a shelf in the living room so I can admire it.

[LCHIEN]

Which one?

12" 16 oz wooden mallet or 9.5" 8-10 oz mallet?

SOunds like chiseling and heavy assembly I need the 16 oz size.

[LCHIEN]

"... are hammer weights given as the head weight only or the whole thing?"

Just got a 16 Oz mallet from Amazon. the answer to the question is apparently neither.

it weighs 13.6 Oz - handle plus head. Nowhere near 16 Oz.

Maybe its like 2x4s, the weight given is the raw wood it started out with before cutting and shaping?

[Dedpedal]

If that’s true, my last one started out about 25 pounds! lol.