If the only tool you have is a hammer …

If the only tool you have is a hammer …

.. . then all your problems start to look like nails.

Yesterday evening I gave a demonstration at my woodturning club on turning a wooden mallet with an oval handle. I spent time over the weekend preparing for the demo. While I was turning a mallet in my shop, a friend of mine came round to visit. As he watched me we got to talking about hammers and he told me of a big carnival hammer he once had.

Boys will be boys, and not long after that we had this big log on the lathe and were busy making a monster size mallet

Mother of all mallets

The head is 7 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ and the oval handle is 2′ long turned from poplar.

I took it to my demo and used it as an icebreaker at the beginning of the demo. It got a good laugh and helped to relax me as well as add some entertainment to the evening. Things came full circle at the end of the demo. I had turned the tenon on the handle ever so slightly oversize and was having difficulty pushing it into the hole of the mallet head. So I grabbed the “mother of all mallets” and with a sharp tap the handle slid snugly into the head, ending the demo nicely.

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