Hey folks!
A tree surgeons near my folks have tonnes of wood (tree bits) that they’re happy for people to pick through.
Was thinking to make a carpentry mallet and wanted to get an idea of what type of wood I should pick and what prep i’d have to do (and if any of this is even worth it!)
Would I need to dry it? Would that mean cutting it down first?
Cheers!
Oak would be nice and hard. Ash is great for the handle, absorbs vibrations and wonderful wood to work with. There are green wood mallets, undried. It’s a good exercise to learn about wood. I learned a lot making my first one. I think Paul Sellers has a good mallet making video on YouTube, if I remember the name right.
Oh use the heartwood, avoid the sapwood (new growth)
Is there anything that has been cut in the last month. I am looking for a few freshly cut hardwood logs.
Thanks Ashfin! I’ll definitely check out those videos. I’d heard that a mallet is a great starting project and seeing as is don’t have one yet… win win.
One question, you mentioned oak and ash, is that because you can see them in the pic? I’m struggling to identify anything and the guys who run the surgeons are rarely about. Thanks again
Hi Julia, I’ll see if I can ask today. Quite good timing as I’ll be there today and at Makerspace on thurs. There’s rarely anyone around to ask tho. I could grab you one anyway and you can see if it’s fit for purpose?
You have to spend a year or two drying it out the slower the better it’s cut up fairly small so you have to put some bitchman or something on the end grain to slow the drying process
Difficult to tell…the ones with papery pale bark could be eucalyptus. The rest are tricky to tell. Usually are london main ones are London plane, horse chestnut and sometimes sycamore. Sycamore and London plane are easy to identify. I’d hazard a guess and say there’s some horse chestnut there
