Carver’s mallets - from table lamp

[Philip Davies]

Picture, if you like, one of these mallet heads atop the other. It was a table lamp, of teak, very nice, but an electrical failure, which came to me to salvage the copper. (Bright copper wire getting us nearly £6 a kg) ..They thought I might like to burn it for warmth, or charcoal.
I tried cutting it in half on the Shopsmith, but could not reduce the speed. Again. It would’ve been helpful to have domed them, as it was, I did it freehand, with an Arbortech in an angle grinder.
This is the cradle I improvised to cut it on the bandsaw.


I shifted it somewhat to the left, to try to cut it square, not entirely successfully. To stop it rotating, I stretched bicycle inner tube in and around the cradle.
I was however able to turn the handles, on the Shopsmith, from the haft of an old hay fork.

I hope they look nice enough to to find a buyer. Caveat emptor, I’m not sure teak is ideal for a carvers mallet, heavy enough and for wood carving not likely to chip if just tapping.