Needing a Froe Mallet.......

[hk538]

I'm looking at either making a Froe mallet myself or getting someone talked into turning one for me. Preferably made out of White Hickory with the head still in the round as being straight from the log. Only thing I need is the handle turned. Any one familiar with these and how hard would it be to turn out something like this?

Thanks again,
Greg

 

[Monty]

Like this?







Would be simple to turn... but you could probably make one with hand tools even if you don't own a lathe. Some other cool pics here.

 

[4yanks]

I have done it both ways. It is very easy.

 

[Big Mike]

Traditionally the froe club or cudgel was made from the trunk base and root ball section of dogwood and hickory trees. With the tough root grain in the root ball running in all directions the cudgel was almost indestructible. This wooden tool was almost never turned but was generally whittled/carved/shaped with spokeshaves, drawknives and axes.

 

[hk538]

Thanks for the replies. I got out today when the rain finally quit and hewed a decent mallet out of red oak. It'll do for now until I can find a good piece of hickory. I like to make things like this out of green stock. Much easier to work with. Then let it season really slow to keep down on the checking/splitting.

Mike, you were saying how you'd like to have a froe. They're easy to make with an old leaf-spring from under a junkyard truck and a cutting torch. I use an old piece of railroad track as a make-do anvil. Have made four so far and just finished the fourth last week. They aren't something you'd use everyday unless you made your own shingles, but they are definately handy to have:-D

Greg

 

[brent innc]

You might give a good piece of dogwood a try. Especially if you could locate a root burl.

 

[hk538]

Almost finished with this one. Still needs quite a bit of dressing up on the sander and maybe a little more thickness in the spine. Start working on the handle maybe Tuesday. Plan on doing some modifications to the shaving horse tomorrow. It's been needing some work for a while now. Just haven't gotten around to it.

Greg

 

[4yanks]

That looks really nice. I'm impressed:icon_thum

 

[hk538]

I appreciate the comments. Just a torch, though it's a much slower process compared to a forge. It's better in a way as I don't have many screw-ups which is a good thing, especially for me:-D The longest part of the process when using leaf-springs from old junkyard trucks is flattening out the spring. Have to use the torch for this also and this takes away quite a bit of oxygen from your tank. It's good steel though and definately worth the effort.

Greg