Getting hammered on the cheap

Today it was time to put on my bushcraft clothes and go hunting for a piece of timber, having used my new leather craft tools yesterday, I quickly realised that my awning peg mallet was far too unwieldy for such fine work. I don't like to cut trees unnecessarily and I knew where the farmer, having trimmed some trees, had piled up the limbs ready for logging. I selected a piece of what I thought was sycamore and quickly cut off about 10 inches. I set up workshop in the awning and with the aid of one of my knives began roughly removing the wood from what was going to be the handle. In about twenty minutes I ended up with the basic shape of the mallet. I wanted the construction to be one piece because it would be easier to make and I wouldn't have the problem of the head coming loose. So from this point on I began removing wood with a little more care. The handle needs to be comfortable because I imagine that I will be holding it for hours at a time as I work the leather.

So here the handle is all but finished it just needs a little careful shaving to leave it smooth. The next stage was to fashion the head and because I was leaving it round this was very easy, it was just a case of removing the bark and soft sap wood. So within about an hour and a half from start to finish it was all done ready for use. I know it's a bit like me, not very good looking and a bit working class, it just needs a little time to dry out and if it doesn't work I'll take it back for a refund.