For the past week, I’ve been fighting a head cold. No fever, but a stopped up head and a runny nose, which doesn’t sound possible, but that’s how I felt. Fri was the worst. I made it through work just barely and went home and passed out. This AM I felt like I had been run over by a truck. But as the morning and day progressed, I began to feel better and better and I was able to get a few things accomplished. I did have to take several breaks though.
I learned a lot about wood’s moisture content from my wood crafting adventure over Christmas break. I should’ve let the pieces dry before doing so much work on them. Perhaps the mallet head would not have split so much.
None are so bad that they’ll scrap the piece, but I prefer not to have them. And I may try to squeeze some glue in the cracks. Bearing all of this experience in mind today, I went slow on the mallet handle.
The grain structure is really nice looking in this stick. On my first mallet I used a taper on the handle to facilitate securing the head. I’m using a straight handle and wedges this time.
Tomorrow I’ll drill the handle pilot hole and start to square it up.
A couple of folks I follow on Instagram made cutting boards for gifts and orders prior to Christmas and it sparked my interest. So I started one today. I’m using the walnut I snagged at Woodcraft a few weeks ago and piece of southern yellow pine from my scrap bin. I had to plane the pine to thickness and 6 square both boards.
Tomorrow I’ll cut 3-4 strips from each board and do the first glue up. Be safe and check back tomorrow.
-Charlie
Mesquite St Woodshop 