– Hey, I'm Matt. Today, I wanna show you how
to make a three piece mallet. This is actually the 2020
fallen officer's mallet in their honor. It's a very minor thing to
build something out of wood when they gave everything. But I do want to do something
to honor their memory, and this is one of the
ways we can do that. This mallet design is totally
different from last year. Last year's design had six pieces. It had the handle through
the mallet head with a wedge, and it also had a different handle design. This one's handle design's
a little more ergonomic, very easy to hold, as well
as only a three piece design, so it's a beginner woodworking project that most anyone can do. I actually make one with just
a jigsaw and orbital sander, and I'll show you how to do that. For this one, though, I will
be using the oscillating spindle sander and some
other bigger tools. You don't need those. I just want to show you that it's possible to make it in multiple ways.
If you want files for this, digital files, or a physical template, you
can check out our online store, 731woodworks.com/store. You'll find all that
information there for you. So I've got a piece of hard maple here. Total length of my mallet
will probably be just a little less than 14 inches. You can use whatever hardwood you want. I went with hard maple
and cut it to length, and then I took it over
back to the work bench and just tried to figure
out a handle design.
The Komelon handle was
a little too curved, the dovetail saw was too straight, but the ice cream scoop and
knife combo was perfect. (upbeat music) So that's what I did. I just measured over, giving
me enough room to actually get a mallet head up top,
drew a straight line, and then I just traced
around the ice cream scooper.
It just fit well in my
hand, I don't know why. Then I just took a sliding T bevel and made a three-degree angle. I'm just gonna rough this out right now, so this is not imperative
that it be perfect. Took it over to the bandsaw
and started cutting. I know that my blade guide
should be much lower, I've learned that, too. (upbeat music) And then I got it stuck. So then I took a couple of screwdrivers and basically wedged it out of there, and I was back in business. I'm just roughing this out. It doesn't have to be perfect, I just wanted to get it close, and that's all I did
was get it really close, except for the bottom of the mallet. It really needs to be almost exact. I took it over to the
oscillating spindle sander. Oh my goodness, do I
love this little machine. This thing makes it so much
easier to do stuff like this, where you're sanding curves or profiles. (upbeat music) Especially when you go to
sanding these finger indentions on the mallet. I'll show you later that it can be done with an orbital sander,
but this makes life easier.
(upbeat music) And then sand right up
to those lines like that. This is just a really nice
machine to have in the shop. I switched it out for a little
bit of a smaller spindle. That way I could get
into that radius there, where the mallet head meets the handle. If you don't have these
tools, this is how I do it. This is a template that
I'm gonna be selling, and then you can just trace
it and then use your jigsaw to cut it out.
This worked fairly well. It's not as easy as a bandsaw, but you can certainly do
it, as proven right here. (upbeat music) I just kind of roughed
out the finger impressions a little bit. It gets kinda rough with the jigsaw, but I was able to take my orbital sander and sand those back smooth,
and it comes out just as good. (upbeat music) That's roughed out with
a jigsaw and a sander, either orbital and hand sanding. I still could use a little right there to get those saw marks
out, but as you can see, you can actually do that with the jigsaw and orbital and hand sanding,
and you don't have to have the oscillating sander or the bandsaw. Now to cut out the head of the mallet. I just cut off a piece of wenge. Use any hardwood you want. Just lay the mallet up
there and kind of get a rough estimate of what size I need. Give it a light sand on all these pieces before the glue up.
(upbeat music) I put it in a Whiteside
3/8ths-inch roundover bit. You need a good sharp bit right here. And I went ahead and rounded over, up to about a half inch
away from the mallet head. You don't want to get too close
because then you'll be able to see it when the the
mallet gets together. You're gonna see that
roundover up underneath, and you don't want that. But a good sharp bit is imperative when you're messing with
hardwoods, or it'll burn, or just come out kind of crappy. This is walnut here. I actually made one out of walnut as well. And I just kind of give
it a light sanding… If you don't have parallel clamps, you can do F-style clamps as well. I've done that before.
Make sure you use plenty of glue. Don't be worried about
getting too much glue. There's no such thing. (upbeat music) I actually used the bars on these clamps to line up the bottom. That's what's imperative on
this type of mallet build, or the design I've got now, is the bottom needs to
be as close to flush on all three pieces as possible. If they're a little bit off, you can still sand it
down and it'll be okay, but if it's way off, it's gonna
cause a major problem later.
So just use something to help guide you and then clean up any excess
glue you got spilled over. Clamp those tight, let it
dry for four to six hours. (upbeat music) Once the glue's dry,
just take the clamps off. I took it over to the miter
saw and I started cutting it down to the size I wanted. So I cut the top first and
made sure that it was nice and square, just shimming
off a little bit at a time. I'm not trying to cut a
whole bunch off, I just, you see me feeling there and
I'm just feeling for flush. Once all three pieces are flush, I move on to the faces of the mallet.
Move the miter saw to three degrees, because I prefer a three
degree mallet head, ad you can use that on whatever you want. Cut a little off each side, then I just measured from
the bottom of the face to the center of the handle until they were perfectly centered. Next, back over to the spindle sander, and just hit the bottom
there to flush everything up, and then I used the belt on
the oscillating spindle sander to actually sand the faces flat. (upbeat music) Now I'm gonna find center
of this mallet head and then use my center
punch to dent the woods. Line up my drill bit,
we'll start in the center. (upbeat music) This is a two-inch Forstner bit, and then I just drilled on
a test piece to make sure everything was gonna work out
before I started drilling, I took it really slow because
this wenge is really hard. And these, my Wen drill press
is a little underpowered. I just drilled a little
at a time and test fit until I got the fit that I wanted. I actually wanted the coin to stick up out of the hole just a little bit, so that you could actually
feel it when you touched it.
(upbeat music) So the picture of the police
officer holding the flag is actually protruding up. I use some soapstone, this
is what you use in welding to mark metal, and I marked
that, and then I just kind of bumped it with a mallet so
that it left a white indention on the wood, and then
I just took one of my, these are awesome, Two Cherries chisels. That was an extremely awesome
gift from someone in Germany.
So I just chiseled out a section
until the coins sit flat. (upbeat music) Safety first! This is my RZ mask. Just got this green one in. And now let's use the same
3/8ths-inch roundover bit to round over each side
of the mallet head. And you can see right here where
I kind of tilted the router a little bit, it wasn't
holding it just exactly flush. No worries, we can clean that
up with the orbital sander.
Then a little hand sanding
around where the mallet handle meets the other two heads. Then I got a 400-grit sanding block, went over the whole thing. This makes it silky smooth. Then I took a damp rag
and wiped the whole thing, and that actually makes the grain pop. Then back over with the 400-grit. That'll keep it silky smooth all day long. This is star bond CA glue, and the challenge coin
for relentless defender. what's striking is how many
names are on this coin. In 2019, there was only
one side with names. 2020 has two. (upbeat music) I didn't use any activator here, just CA glue and let it dry. Drop the coin in, try to get it straight. And then once it's dry, 10 or 15 minutes, I flipped it over and done
the other side the same way. (upbeat music) I just kind of eyeballed
it to get it straight. That's Odie's Oil, that's
some really good finish. I'll leave a link in the
description if you're interested. It's what I put on all
my mallets, all my trays.
It goes on easy, it's kind
of thick, it smells good, and it really accentuates the
wood grain, check this out. It's food safe, so it's
not gonna hurt your skin. It doesn't have any harmful
fumes, anything like that. (upbeat music) You're starting to see it a little bit. When he hits that wenge, it's really gonna make this mallet pop. (upbeat music) You see that excess sitting on there? I left that on there for
about 10 or 15 minutes and just let it soak in. Once it was soaked in, I buffed it off. If you'll notice on the top here, it kind of started soaking in, so I applied a little bit
more and then buffed it off.
(upbeat music) Let's not forget about our maple mallet that we made with the jigsaw. I'm gonna shape it up with the miter saw and then do the same 3/8ths-inch profile with the roundover bit. I just sanded it with the orbital sander. Actually had to use a razor knife to get some of that
glue out of that crack, and then I hand sanded the rest of it. (upbeat music) Then I'll throw it in the mineral bath, just like I would if
it was a cutting board. Let it soak for an hour or so.
(upbeat music) Take it out of there and
buff it up, and it just, I love the way that it's almost got a reflective property to it. (upbeat music) I know that this doesn't
do anything for families or officer's friends and coworkers that lost their loved ones in 2020. I was a police officer for 13 years, so I know that it's a tough job, and it takes its toll on your family, and then if they lost a loved one, I can't imagine that the devastation that that brings to them, and I just want to do something
to honor their memory.
So I'm gonna make this an annual thing, to make a fallen officers tribute. Both 2019 and 2020 were mallets, I think I'm gonna stick with that, but I don't know what 2021 will bring. If you see a police officer today, shake their hand, hug their
neck, tell them you love them, and that you appreciate what they do. Don't forget, if you want
to make mallets like these, I've got digital files for Carbide Create, SVG files, and a physical
template that you can actually buy and use to make
your own mallets for yourself. Just go to 731woodworks.com/store
to pick up yours. If you like this mallet build, you've got to check out
2019's mallet build, that video's right there. Click that box. If you click that box, you get
a big old virtual fist bump. Also another one of my
favorite builds right there. Thank you for watching..