Pants Boy

That's a keeper!

Got sorted with a fair bit of Camelthorn just now ... if my mate wasn't a dominees I'd kiss him.

Hmmm ... gonna have to go rob my mate again, and pretty soon by the looks of it Thanks for all the mallet orders!

I like this stool's design, but am I the only one that sees a problem with the breadboard ends on the seat?

Ha ha - a mate just asked me whee I screwed those mallets (Screws in the pic) - those screws were used to hold down a template to my mitre saw station, no screws in the mallets, only wedged tenons.

You have a reply, bonehead.

Fixed it for you.

Finished the moering trio. Will make you a Rhodesian Teak carpenter's mallet for R250 and a Camelthorn carver's mallet for R200. Can ship via Aramex for R100 .Handles will be Beech, I'm glad I listened to V12 and went with Beech. Works really well

The two big differences would be finish and tolerances. I can just about guarantee you that the NNB does not have a flat sole, and it would not be smooth. Then on to adjustments - I bought a cheap plane some time ago and couldn't get the blade to line up properly at all. It would either be skew or would not go below the sole etc etc etc. Took out the blade and chucked the rest. Blade got used as a paint scraper.

Close to what Myles described, though I used a router mounted in a router table and a fence for these. They are indeed two pieces. I also make solid ones if I can find the right size wood, the I normally make a big round hole for a round handle. It took me very close to 30 minutes to drill a 20mm hole in that camelthorn head - that stuff is damn hard. (Sharp Forstner bit used on a drill press for the curious) I may have to enlarge that hole to 30mm though ... not really smaaking the feel of the 20mm at the moment. Measure twice, cut once, force to fit in any case.

It's not big, just a pain. Maybe 50cm X 50cm X30 or so, sort of a wedge shape. I can't find my chainsaw, so need to try and figure it out on the bandsaw and table saw. Will see if I can get a pic tonight. I'll post some pics and prices of the mallets once done.

Your thumb's gonna be effing thor if you hit it with these ... lol. Weighed the heads, they're around 850 - 900 grams each.

I've got one more block of camelthorn that I'm trying to figure out how to split properly - will probably get four or five 3 inch mallets out of it. I'll let you know once I get it split

Hammer time. One of these is Ed-zulu's, the other two mine. Didn't get around to sanding them, just a quick paraffin rub to show the color. Head is Rhodesian Teak and handle is Beech. Small chisel mallet I'm making, Camelthorn head with Cherry handle. I'm going to wrap the handle with paracord to give it a little more bulk, otherwise, it's come along ok. Camelthorn is amazing on the lathe, comes off smooth as butter but blunts a chisel faster than Chinese Algebra.

It's easy to work with, but has interlocked grain, so be careful when you plane or saw it. Planing for tear-out and sawing for binding. It oftentimes has a chalky feel to it, due to naturally occurring carbonate (or some such?) - it's most definitely not oily. It's often used as a substitute for much more expensive Burmese Teak, as it is also very rot resistant. The trees are MASSIVE, you'll be able to find planks that are 80cm wide. Due to it's massive size, watch out for warping and twisting when sawing (as mentioned)

The only thing I hate more than Beaver Puke (Chipboard/melamine) is Beaver Puke Customers. They ALWAYS give you lip and are NEVER satisfied, no matter what. I've stopped doing kitchens because of customers calling you back a 100 times over nothing. I very nearly ripped out a complete install in February where the customer was dissatisfied with the fit of cabinet doors - after I showed him that a sheet of paper can't fit between the doors and a steel ruler held underneath. My biggest gripe is that he refused to make the last payment (Around R6K, too little to litigate and too much to do nothing about)

I've laminated a bit of Camelthorn to the end of a piece of Beech, so waiting for that to dry before chucking it on the lathe. I'll be fine sanding and sealing the two BAM's tonight so will have pics tomorrow. Send me an address so long

No pics, but I'm busy with three mallets - two Carpenter's mallets out of Rhodesian Teak with Beech handles (these things are blerrie heavy, may have to cut them down a tad next time) and another smaller Joiner's mallet with a Beech handle ... and a turned Camel Thorn head Gonna be making another two or three of these, I robbed a mate's firewood stash - he throws his outoppie's offcuts in there.

Kiaat, mahogany, blackwood, all on the cheaper scale.

Ok, so I changed my mind a little over the design of my new mallet, went with this instead. Works a treat. Ed, where can I ship yours"

*Krugersdorp. He still has some clamps available from the first batch, maar jy moet gou spring

There's an oom in Witbank (If I'm not mistaken), Renier de Beer that recently went through a hell of a lot of trouble to have moulds made for pipe clamps. He's busy shipping his first batch at R280 ea. They look really well designed. Give him a call on 082 717 8337 or find him on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/renier.debeer.927

He he that's like asking how long is a piece of string Normally if I can make something out of it, it's large enough.

My suburb has Oak and Ash trees - I've hunted down the guys doing the trimming for the municipality and offered them R100 every time they drop wood at my place that I can use. No oak so far, the trees are already massive and aren't trimmed all that often, but made a couple of nice ash knife handles from their scraps.

I broke my mallet. Dammit. So, next quick project, if I have time between paying customers, would be a mallet. Now I've got some stuff in the scrap bin: Rhodesian Teak - 45mm thick Kiaat, plenty of 20 and 18mm offcuts Beech, 22mm African Walnut, 10mm and 18mm Red Mahogany, 22mm Chamfuti, 20mm - I hate this stuff Stinkwood, 18mm Yellowwood, 18mm Plenty Pine offcuts, that gets sent to the fireplace once a week I'm leaning towards a Rhodesian Teak head with some sort of laminated handle - maybe a thin strip of walnut, say 5mm, in between two layers of beech of +-15mm? What say you? (I'll also be turning a round mallet out of RT to use for fine chiseling)