DIY: Making A Basic Mallet Tool

Today I watched Bort (rope maker, rock heater) make a basic slightly primitive mallet tool for all ya' hammering or clobbering needs. The process was quick, simple and creative - using very basic tools to start with: a hand saw, axe, and a big rock... and of course a log to carve the mallet from.

Using a dense sweet smelling piece of Hickory to start with, he cut the log to the length the mallet would be. Oh my gawd ya'll, Hickory smells sooo good- kinda like a combo of Banana Boat sun tan lotion, summer snow balls in New Orleans, and sugar bread!

He then used the saw to cut into the log where the head and handle of the mallet would divide. As seen in the picture below, the log is not sawed all the way through, but rather only partially inward.

Then using an axe to split the wood, he hit the back of it with a rock (you can use a hammer but the metal on metal sound is sick). This is done on the longer part of the log & on all four sides to create the shape of the handle. As seen below, the woods splits down to the circular saw mark made.

He continued this step all the way around till the handle of the mallet was approximately the desired grip size.

Then using a tool I can't remember the name of (so someone help me in the comments section) the mallet handle was smoothed down and given a more rounded shape, making it much easier to hold.

The last carving step is to repeat the axe and rock splitting on the short heavy end of the log, creating a square shaped head for cave man quality whacking! After finishing his, Bort made me a mallet my size (using his new mallet instead of a rock for splitting with the axe)- and we both decided to paint them with poke berries and blood root...

the end result may cause primitive feelings, hysteria, and a constant seeking for something to bang on.

XOXO