It's been a long time...

It has been a long time since I've blogged about anything. What I've been building, designing, creating or just doing in general.
Since my last post (31st July 2012) I have moved house (rented) 3 times which was not stressful at all!
One of the properties had rubbish heating that cost the earth to run. It was so cold you could see your breath in the air while watching TV. It had a serious damp and mold problem, kitchen cupboards stank, we had vermin living in the loft and our agents did nothing to help us.
So in all a terrible experience. It is worth mentioning we viewed and moved in when the summer was here so none of the problems showed until we were there.
So fighting our agent and trying to sort our living situation took priority so my furniture making suffered.
I managed to start a few new projects but I never really got stuck in due to the living arrangements.
But a good thing to come out of the time missed was I now have my own small workshop that I am currently working away in. In which I will build up my machines and hand tools with every sale of my work.
I have opened an eBay account that will turn into a full shop with more products and items for sale and I am now on instagram also.
This year is my year! I will have more products available, more stuff for sale and more people will know my work and that I exist in the world.
So. Watch this space!

Mallet!

I have been looking for a while now at getting a nice wooden mallet for fine chisel work instead of using a heavy hammer. While on my search for a decent mallet it seemed that all I found was either way to over priced for what it was or very cheap and tacky which and would fall apart after a few projects.

So I decided to make my own! That way I could make it to what I wanted it to do and what I wanted it to look like. I had a rummage around it my stack of small oak off cuts and found a nice chunk of kiln dried 4x2 and a perfect piece for a handle.

I started by cutting the head to size and giving it a 5 degree angle on each end. I took the handle piece and a plane and started to taper it gradually testing the grip until I was happy with the thickness. Next came the measuring and marking out as the idea was to make a mortice right through following the exact sizes of the handle and ensure a perfectly tight fit. I marked the center of the head, top and bottom and sent a 4mm pilot drill through the make sure the hole was straight before sending a flat wood bit through to remove most of the waste.

Next job was to clamp down to head and begin the chisel work to remove the rest of the waste wood and to form the tapered mortice. Once I got to the inside edges of my marking lines I began testing the fit regularly to keep on top of the perfect fit I was after. It wasn't long before I was happy with the fit.

I grabbed a bottle of wood glue and a rubber mallet and placed to head in a vice and roughly worked out where the glue would need to be placed on the handle to sit inside the head. I applied the glue to both pieces and started to tap the handle down from the top until it wedged firmly inside the head piece. The fit was perfect and didn't really need and glue but it is in there anyway for added support.

Waited a few hours for the glue to set before taking some sandpaper to it and taking off all the edges and corners. A nice small coat of Danish oil to bring out the grain and a small amount of wax after it dried finished it off nicely.


 This is the finished mallet :

I am very happy with the result, the weight is just right and it looks a hell of a lot nicer than everything else I was looking at. After a few weeks of use it is still perfect. Still looks brand new and still solid.

It was an easy tool to make which I urge people to try making themselves instead of purchasing those on sale at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure many on sale are fine and perfect for the job its meant for just in my mind they just didn't work for my personal tastes. So why not try making one!? A basic tool kit and knowledge is all that's needed. Plus it will surely add to the satisfaction of using a tool you made yourself to complete a project!!