Another dumb question

[Ace Lungger]

I finaly got my mallet turn down on my wood lathe, I know you Pards have seen that type, where you take a 3x3 piece of oak or any hard wood, and turn you down a handle, What i wanted to ask , is should I wet a piece of the heavest weght leather I have and wrap it and tack it down, or should I use light weight leather?

I will be great full for some advice!
Thanks
ACE

[cowboywc]

Howdy Pal
Most people with a piece of rawhide to cover the wood. Wet it til it is like a wet noodle, stitch it together
When it dries it will shrink down tight.
WC

[Ace Lungger]

WC, I don't have any rawhide, and I quess i could order some but no more than I need, can I use anything else?

I thank you for the answer, and if that is what I have to do, i will just wait until I go some where I can pick up a piece!

Thank you a lot
ACE

[knucklehead]

Ace i have a wood hammer that has no leather on it at all.
the hammer works very well. i use it quite a bit when i need a lighter hammer than my heavey hammer.
the heavey hammer is the 1 pound plastic one from leather factory and i use this one for doing basketwave, border stamping.

i think you can get away with using the oak hammer for awhile without covering it in leather
but thats just my 2 cents worth.

[Ace Lungger]

Thanks Knucklehead, I new I could get buy, because my cheapy mallet from Tandy is just wood and not good wood either!! I had just seen some wrapped, and would save denting up the oak, even if it is had, so big stamps do take a wack!!
Thanks

ACE

[knucklehead]

yep the big stamps take a wack. sometimes more than one wack.
the 3-d stamps take about 4 or 5 wacks while shifting the stamp around on the edges of the impression.

the baksetweave stamps take a good wack to get all of the impression to be uniform from the stamp.

[cowboywc]

Howdy Ace
The old time "Striking Sticks" as they were called were wraped in rawhide to save the wood from getting
chewed up by the end of the tool. They would replace the rawhide before the wood was messed up.
The wood mallet from LF/Tandy is ment for kids and beginners. Most people after the decide they want to
continue with leatherwork will buy a rawhide mallet or a polly one. The rawhide one will cave in on the ends
after awhile (depends on how much you use it), the poly will last a lifetime. I went through 2 rawhide mallets
before I bought a polly. I used it daily for over 20 years and you can hardly see any wear. I bought a fancier
one from Barry King 2 years ago.
With the wood or rawhide you will also get little chips falling off into your work that you have to keep brushing
away.
WC

[outrider]

Howdy Pards,

Like WC, I went to the poly mallets and mauls two years ago and they do not show any damage at all.  another trick with a straight maul (as seen in John Bianchi's video) is to use the maul ( I have the 2 in. dia.) to pre-form the section of a holster for the cylinder of the gun.  I have used this method numerous times and it really works well

[Dalton Masterson]

Hey Ace, go check out your local pet section for dog chew bones. They are nothing but big strips of rawhide twisted together. Just soak them and start pulling apart. Make sure you get one that looks fairly loose knotted tho, to make it easier. DM

[Ace Lungger]

Thanks for all the tips!!! Fourty rod, is sending me a Rawhide mallet, I might have ti trim the ends, I will get one of those big dog bone chews and use the rawhide, and i also have a guy sending me a mallet that looks like chrome, but on the bottom 1/2"of each end has a hard rubber or plastic! It was free, so i will see when I get it!  I also like my wacking stick I made, since i new it was just temp, I took a ppiece of scrap oil or chrome  tanned leather, fill the back sink with super hot water and let it set for about 20 mins., and streched it and streched it, then I did staple one side, and streched it nall i could to finish stampled.

It will work till I get some rawhide on>
Thanks ACE