The excellence of design in a mallet depends primarily upon its utility. The "fixing of essentials" is paramount in importance. Whatever grace of form or refinement of proportions it may have are the result of adaptation to use. In an object of such hard usage, decoration too must play a minor part. As to essentials, a mallet must he of proper weight, must "hang" well in the hand; the head must be of the hardest wood available, that will not easily split, as maple; the handle must be of a tough elastic wood, as hickory, and its form should be oval, so that the worker can feel, without seeing, that the face of the head will strike square. The handle should be joined firmly to the head, as with the round mortise-and-tenon, wedged, and there should be a convenient method for hanging it. A coating of shellac helps to keep the wood clean, and improves the looks. Some prefer to have tool handles left unvarnished, because of the notion that raw wood does not blister the hand. The design here given, Figs. 153, 154, stands all these tests.

Fig . 153 Mallet.

Fig-. 153 Mallet.

Fig. 154. Working drawing of mallet.

Fig. 154. Working drawing of mallet.

The materials required are:

I piece maple, 2½"x2½"x5". I piece hickory, ⅞"x1⅝"x11".

The head, maple. Plane up true the working face, working edge, the width and the thickness. With the try-square, carry a fine pencil line across the center on all sides as in Fig. 155, A B C. Notice carefully how the annual rings run in the piece. Like most all woods, maple is less likely to split with the annual rings than across them. (See Wood and Forest, p. 53.) Therefore plan to make the hole for the handle as nearly as possible along the annual rings, as in Fig. 155.

Fig. 155. Maple block for mallet head.

Fig. 155. Maple block for mallet-head.

Fig . 156. Boring hole in head of mallet.

Fig-. 156. Boring hole in head of mallet.

To determine the location of the handle hole, mark with the marking-gage the center point on the cross lines already drawn, on two opposite sides. Fasten the block, thus marked, firmly in the bench vise, as in Fig. 156. Put a ¾" auger-bit in the ratchet-brace, hold the knob of the brace in the hollow of the left hand and hold the body firmly against it so that it will change position as little as possible; with the try-square, see that the bit enters the wood at right angles, both horizontally and perpendicularly, and when the hole is once started, use only a down stroke with the ratchet brace. The brace is thus held steadier and works easier than when it is swept round and round. If two persons can work together at this process, one can test the bit with the try-square, while the other bores. Bore half-way thru and repeat from the opposite side.

With reasonable care, the holes should meet exactly. If they do not, chisel off the projecting shoulders inside the hole with an inside bevel gouge (24").

In order that the handle may be firmly held in the head by means of a wedge, as described below, it is necessary to enlarge with the inside bevel gouge (¾") two sides of the hole in the head at what is to be the outer (curved) edge. Make these cuts so as to have the hole oblong in the direction of the length of the head, that is, ⅞" wide on the long axis and taper it inwards for ¾". See Fig. 157.

Fig. 157. How the handle hole tapers out.

Fig. 157. How the handle hole tapers out.

Fig. 158. Lay out of sides of mallet head.