caulking mallets

[grizzly]

I have been researching the C. Drew Co. in the attempt to make a couple of mallets for myself. It seems to be generally accepted that black mesquite is among the best materials for the mallet head. Does any one know if the mesquite was imported or domestic? How about a genus species name? Is there any record of this kind of information?

[gary porter]

Griz, thats really a very big question. Do you want to make a really good mallet or is the main goal to reproduce the Drew. Drew made mallets of what was called black mesquite, a rosewood, live oak, and even white oak. White oak was the lesser of all.
All in various grades and several sizes. You can make a very good mallet out of several woods including black mesquite for Arizona. However probably a closer wood to the actual one Drew used is one sold by Gilmer Wood www.gilmerwood.com (http://www.gilmerwood.com)
and it is Algaroba Negro. I believe that Miles there has some now but now always. Cocobola is another good one and would make a fine mallet.
Some folks have a mallet that they think is black mesqite but it may not be. I've done a lot of research on the subject and what and where the black mesquite that Drew used is really hard to say. The Algaroba Negro may in fact be it. I've made some out of the southwest usa black mesquite and while it does make for a ice mallet it just doesn't look to be the same as the Drews. 4130 tubing is a nice material to make rings out of.
Good luck and let us all know if you find out anything new.
Gary

[ssor]

As far as suitable wood is concerned. The common shad bush makes good mallets as does dogwood, osage orange was used for golf club heads, blue beech is probably as good as you can find for handles.

[Bob Smalser]

I been working for almost a year on and off trying to set myself up to make accurate Drew reproductions.

The problem, of course, is getting the right wood.

I'm almost certain Drew used Prosopis juliflora...they called it Black Mesquite. Grows in South Arizona-Texas thru Central America intermixed with P. glanulosa or Common Mesquite. Black Mesquite has a Specific Gravity of .94 while Common Mesquite is much lighter at .81.

So Live Oak at SG .88 is second best....and Drew's second-quality mallets were Live Oak. But there's a lot more to it than weight when picking woods. The end grain has to hold up to blows and the wood needs a resilience that ain't measured well in the USDA tables. Fellas around here making them out of Ebony and other exotic stock just because of its great weight are getting tennis elbow.

The only sawyer I know down there so far harvesting P. juliflora is mixing it with Common Mesquite and won't/can't seperate it...and I'm not willing to pay for shipping a pallet of unknown mixed woods.

I'm still working on it. You might try Ipe, which has some good properties for mallets according to my research...but in the meantime I'm using a Live Oak mallet until I find exactly what I seek.

PS

Algaroba Nigra is a common name for P. Nigra, which at SG .80 I think is too light.

Both Black Mesquite and Live Oak have the unique combination of heavy weight combined with a relatively low crushing strength that may provide some of the "give" that makes a good mallet a good mallet. Because of that relationship I think P. juliflora was Drew's choice.

[ 04-04-2005, 09:05 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[holzbt]

Bob- How would greenheart do for a mallet? I made a few many years ago and the people I gave them to seemed to like them but I never kept one for myself to try out.

[Dave Fleming]

The key here is the REBOUND characteristic.

You swing a mallet all day long or even for an hour and you will know what I mean.

The wood has to be ***live*** an almost undefinable quality but, oh so important.

I have both Live Oak and Black Mesquite mallets and both Tugboat Dave and I can easily feel the difference in the woods.

The rings and the setting of them may also play a part in the quality of a good mallet.
I have several sets of rings ( NOT FOR SALE ), I have tried by naked eye to discern a weld on them but cannot they are that well ground. It is a fine grade of tempered steel that I will say.

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

In Britain lignum vitae heads and ash handles are normal; mine works OK but of course I am not a professional. On the other hand, the professionals I see at work use just the same thing.

[Bob Smalser]

The Drew catalogs I have list Black Mesquite, Live Oak and "Redwood" for mallets. "Redwood" was the exact same weight as Live Oak and was only listed for one top-quality mallet out of 30+ offered and I suspect it wasn't so popular. I don't have a clue what "Redwood" was.

http://www.numismalink.com/drew.ency.34.81.html

Here's the characteristics of common mallet woods for weight and crushing strength perpendicular to the grain...you can see the similarities:

Black Mesquite (P. juliflora) - SG .944 Crush 9000psi

Black Mesquite (P. nigra) - SG .80 Crush 8700

Lignum Vitae - SG 1.05 Crush 11,400

Bulletwood (M. hidentata) - SG .85 Crush 11,600

Goncalo Aves - SG .84 Crush 10,320

Greenheart - SG .80 Crush 12,500

Ipe - SG .92 Crush 13,010

Live Oak - SG .88 Crush 8900

What I think worked the best to prevent tennis elbow in the fellas that corked all day every day was heavy weight and relatively low end-to-end crushing strength....which also caused the mallets to wear down in use, which is why you don't find many on the antique tool markets. Live Oak and P. juliflora are clearly unique there.

Drew catalogs also list the mallet weight and their mesquite mallets are heavier that their oak mallets. That clearly lets out P. nigra as a candidate.

Other woods like the various rosewoods, cocobolos and ebonies are heavy enough but so strong end-to-end that even with the slots in the head, you might as well make the mallet out of concrete.

Drew rings were untapered tool steel, according to their catalog, which is easily obtained today in the form of drawn, tool-steel tubing that can be cut and heat treated. The only hard part there is sizing the turning and heating the rings so they shrink in place without applying so much heat that you ruin their temper.

[ 04-05-2005, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Thanks, Bob.

My aforementioned UK mallet, supplied to me by Davey & Co in 1984, and not very much used (recaulked Mirelle's topsides once, hardened up once, recaulked deck twice!) is reasonably springy in use, despite having no slots cut in the head. Mind you, I don't have the experience to form a proper judgement.

The rings are quite heavy and indeed they appear to be a moderately hardened tool steel. The mallet is most certainly heavy, and an underarm motion is, shall we say, preferred!

To our national shame you do find caulking mallets for sale in old tool shops here with the head all used up. Why anyone would want one, I have no idea.

[Hughman]

Originally posted by holzbt:
Bob- How would greenheart do for a mallet? I made a few many years ago and the people I gave them to seemed to like them but I never kept one for myself to try out.I made a mallet out of greenheart, and it didn't hold up well, the grain wasn't interlocked very well. It quickly sank to the bottom in Funchal harbor, so I question the SG of .80 listed above, or else it wasn't really greenheart :eek:

[gary porter]

How about the rings? If your rings are very heavy it might well have pushed the SG of the mallet over 1 and bye bye.
Gary

[StevenBauer]

I've seen Ipe's SG listed at 1.06 and 1.08! And I believe it. One site has this list:

COMMON NAMES
Ipe, pau d’arco, ipe tabaco, bethabara, lapacho, ebene vert, amata prieto, ironwood, greenheart, amapa, cortez, guayacan, guayacan polvillo, flor amarillo, madera negra, tahuari, lapacho negro, Brazilian walnut.

Steven

[Bob Smalser]

Cedar's Specific Gravity can get to 1+ too....when the log waterlogs and sinks.

The greener your wood is...the higher the SG.

Lab testing also varies for the imported stock....all those figures listed are USDA measured at 12% M/C, but they're all relative, too, given significant variations in logs....good for relationships and trends, not specifics.

Caulking one small boat a year or less, I don't think it matters much what mallet wood you use. Caulking all day every day like Drew built for is an entirely different requirement. The only real reason I'm interested in a perfect and proven Drew replica is the challenge of doing it....not because my oak mallet won't serve me well the rest of my life.

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Question: Since rebound is important in a wooden mallet of this type, Has anyone quantified "rebound"? Is it related to cell layout in the wood?
Does it change based on where the wood came from in the tree? I would have thought Ipe would at least machine very well, but I don't know enough about caulking mallets to fill a thimble.

[ssor]

Are the rings reusable? If so then an old worn out mallet could be a good source for the hardware. Did they ever use elm? I would think that much of the species mentioned wouldn't have been readily available 100 years ago when most of the ships and boats needed caulking. Most of the native american hard wood was sought after in most of the world markets. I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but if someone does then we will all benefit.
Thanks
Ross in Bel Air

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

That's a good point. Probably 98% of all the wooden ships and boats that have ever floated were built using very inferior tools.

Towards the middle of the ninteenth century, things started to change, as the hand tool experts amongst us can explain in detail, as metallurgy improved and industrial processes developed, and as the skilled tradesman became able to afford to buy better tools, having the money to spare to buy them.

For example, before the railways, it was hardly practical for one firm, making hand tools, to supply anything other than their local market, so they tended to produce a standard grade item. With the railways, a firm could, if it chose, make a better product and sell it nationally and internationally.

By the turn of the last century, such things as Drew marlingspikes, Norris infill planes, Disston handsaws and such were being made and sold.

Other craft trades reached their zenith at this time also. The ultimate pocket watches, to mention an interest of mine, were made in England as "deck watches" to navigate battleships with (chronometers are sensitive to concussion, as the detent escapement may jump, so they were stowed in the bowels of the ship and practical navigation on the bridge was carried out by means of a deck watch, of equal accuracy but with a far more robust lever escapement).

During the past hundred years, these trades gradually lost out in favour of mass production, but just lately some craftsmen have started producing items of equal quality, for sale to a very small market, and frankly for the fun of it.

[gary porter]

Hughman, World Woods lists Greenheart (Ocotea rodiaei) with SG of 1.03. Perhaps thats the variatioin you have which would also explain the rapid sinking.
Gary.. smile.gif