Rawhide Maul - Construction Of Rawhide Blank Question

[rscow]

Hi, first post. I'm making a rawhide maul. I am building it over a 1/2" carriage bolt. I have made a handle from stacked leather disks. I have collected some heavy stuff for additional weight in the head. Not to heavy, I hope.

I have procured a bunch of dog rawhide chews, soaked them, dried on a frame. Cut out a big stack of 3 inch disks. Dry, they compress down to about 3 inches. That should be good for what I have in mind.

So, I need to assemble these disks into a blank, shape it up and drill out for the carriage bolt. What is the best way to secure these disks? Should I glue them? If I glue, with what? Epoxy, gorilla, carpenters?

All the commercial ones I've seen disassembled and the head was a separate chunk. Not a stack of loose disks, so I assume I need to glue them.

ANy experienced maul builders out there with suggestions?

Thanks. Feel free to email if you prefer: rdscowjrATfastmailDOTfm

RDS

[steve hansl]

If it was mine I would use a rubber based glue(Barge cement etc.)and double coat each piece and go from there.

[BillB]

RDS,

A few weeks ago I answered a similar question in another thread and posted a series of pictures showing how my Al Stohlman maul is constructed. The leather discs of the head are held together by pressure only, no glue). If you glue them they will not have the flexibility that a non-glued maul has. In the end it is still your choice on how you do it. Here are the pictures I posted before.

BillB

[BearMan]

Hi Bill & RDS,

Please let me know how those proceedures work out. The way I was taught, by a person that made the rawhide heads on a regular basis, take quite a bit of time. I've made a few myself. My understanding was that if the disks were just stacked up dry, & then clamped,,, the head wouldn't be as hard as it is when done using the "wet" method. Here is the proceedure.

The disks are soaked in slightly warm water until pliable, then the center hole is punched, & the disks are stacked on a mandrel. The mandrel is usually a stainless bolt that is the same size as the center shaft of the maul. Keep in mind that the hole will shrink slightly, making it VERY tight on the mandrel. The best mandrel is one that has an un-threaded section, about the same length as the thickness of the stacked head. Make sure you have some very large heavy washers both top & bottom, to apply pressure when you tighten down the rawhide disks. Keep in mind that something should be between the washers, & the rawhide, to keep from staining the rawhide. I just used some 1/2" exterior plywood, a little bigger than the rawhide.

Once all the damp disks are stacked up, put the mandrel with the loose disks back in the warm water, to make sure all the disks are at the same saturation. About 10-15min. Next, mount the head of the mandrel in a vice, install the heavy washers on the nut end, with the nut,,, & tighten! Now, about every hour,,, re-tighten. You will need to do this, throughout the day,,, & maybe some more tomorrow. Once it gets to where it's staying tight,,, let it sit for about two weeks. It will take at least that long to dry! Try to make sure there is always some good air moving over it. Once it's dry, remove the nut & washer carefully, so that You don't loosen the disks. While it's still on the mandrel, apply a couple clamps, leaving room enough room so that you can drill a couple small holes, a little bit smaller than the nails you'll drive in about 3/4 the thickness of the head. Carefully drive it off of the mandrel, while still in the clamps & re-drill the center hole to the size of your maul shaft. Now, carefully remove the clamps, & drill & nail from that end, so that the head is solid, & won't fall apart. Now, drill & add a few more nails.

You should now have something that looks like a rawhide head. It's NOT ready yet! Re-install the washers & clamps,,without the bolt,,, & let it dry for another week, so that the head dries from the center hole in.

Now, as long as it feels dry, it's ready to shape & sand to the outside diameter. Once it's sanded, apply some thinned down shellac, a couple good coats, both inside & out. Once dry,,, it's ready.

It's not quick,,, but it works.

I hope this helps.... Ed

[rscow]

Awesome reply. Thanks. Time is definitely required to dry these disks. I will go back through your post, and make sure I've got it right. Then get working. No wonder they cost so much.

Roger

[rscow]

Awesome reply. Thanks. Time is definitely required to dry these disks. I will go back through your post, and make sure I've got it right. Then get working. No wonder they cost so much.

Foolishly, I tried gluing the disks together. I used some Titebond. However, they didn't really stick very well. So I took them all apart. Using dog chews probably wasn't the best idea in the world. Or at least I should have used thicker ones. The ones I have look like a bunch of Pringles potato chips. But flat, at least.

So, I separated them all out and soaked them a little and put them over a 1/2" mandrel. Added some plywood backers and a couple of fender washers at each end, then nuts. I have been tightening the mess down periodically all day. I get a turn or so every hour. In other words, following your directions. Once I have squeezed them as much as I can, I will take the whole assembly and hang it somewhere and leave it alone for a couple of weeks.

Now, question: What kind/size of nails do you use? Finishing? Common flat headed ones? Do you put a ring around the whole end? How many would you suggest for a block that should end up about three inches long and three inches in diameter?

Off topic, but I was stationed at the Naval Hospital in Beaufort for a few years (from 1998 to 2001). We loved that town. I hope it is still as great as it was back then.

Thanks for your advice.

Roger

[rscow]

Here is the end product.

Thanks for all the feedback and help!

Roger

[BillB]

It looks really good.

Be careful, folks will want you to go into business making them.

BillB

[Glock21]

So reading your post I never saw what type of nails you used or how many?

Here is the end product.

Thanks for all the feedback and help!

Roger

Also how do you cut your circles out? A hole saw larger than what you need then sand it down to your final size?

Here is the end product.

Thanks for all the feedback and help!

Roger

[rscow]

I just used some common nails about the same length as the block of rawhide. The heads show, but I don't care. Finish nails would probably have looked better...

I marked the circles with a sharpy, and cut them out with some kitchen shears. When done, I sanded them on the belt sander.

RDS

So reading your post I never saw what type of nails you used or how many?

Also how do you cut your circles out? A hole saw larger than what you need then sand it down to your final size?

[JDM]

My first maul took a while. There are things I would do differently next time.

Final weight is about 25.5 ounces.

A place or two on the head and a few of the disks near the handle ended up being a little on the short side of final diameter. I originally intended to turn the head down closer to the washer edges and shape the handle differently, but the difficulty of working with this stuff using redneck improvised tools altered those plans.

Some shaping was done using a handheld belt sander clamped in a bench vise (which itself was clamped to a picnic table), along with a weight plate dangling from a wire to hold back the trigger. Better than nothing, but it didn't work very well. I couldn't push very hard due to the plastic sander case flexing and fear of flipping the whole thing out of the vise. Plus, the good-quality, but very old, sanding belts kept breaking at the seams. I went through 3 of them before I gave up on the belt sander.

I ended up final shaping the handle using strips of broken belts by hand, with the maul head clamped in the vise, working my way round and round. I couldn't get the handle as even as I would have liked. A lathe, or any other means of spinning this thing, would have worked magic and greatly reduced the amount of labor. Dry rawhide and the compressed leather handle are far tougher than someone who hasn't worked this stuff might think. Forget about using a Dremel.

To make the 1/2" center holes for the head and handle, I bought a 3/8"? pipe nipple (inside measures very close to 1/2") for a couple bucks at the hardware store and sharpened/polished the outside of one end. That made a suprisingly durable hole punch. It cut through everything I did without resharpening, and the edge still looks and feels pretty good.

I used the Lignum Vitae wooden maul I scored at a swap meet for $10 for most of the whacking. If you aren't familiar with that wood, look it up. It is amazing stuff. BTW, the LV maul shown here weighs about 24.75 ounces, only 3/4 ounce less than my finished rawhide maul.

The hardware was from a local surplus-type place. Good prices, but they have what they have, not always exactly what you want. I bought the parts shown, along with another washer and regular hex nut. Since I had to stack odd-size washers to make the head ends, I centered them and welded together. Because there was a lot of slop between the center hole and the bolt, I welded some blobs inside the washer to serve as spacers. I then ground them down evenly until the bolt barely fit through while being centered. The picture shows what I mean.

Before welding, I stripped the zinc plating off the parts that had it. I soaked in vinegar for a couple days. If you're in a hurry, stronger acids work quicker. In case you are wondering, the handle end cap nut is probably chromed. Vinegar didn't touch it.

After I got done shaping the head and handle, I used a friend's setup to blast the metal parts (worn 70 grit aluminum oxide) and then parkerized them.

The rawhide head is solidified with 6 nails that extend anywhere from 100% to 80% through the stack. I had to shorten and repoint the nails I had on hand so they would work. I drove them all in from one end (pre-drilled the holes)

The handle disks are glued together with Weldwood contact cement. To make them, I marked using a compass. I punched the middle out positioning the punch on the center point, then cut around the edge with a utility knife. Make more than you think if using an end nut that doesn't have much adjustment, e.g., the cap nut I have. The leather will compress over time. It's best to crank it down and wait, much the same as the head itself.

I should have let the rawhide disks dry more before initially clamping them together. I had let them soak for around 36 hours(?) to soften thoroughly so I could cut the outsides of the circles using heavy kitchen scissors.

Being too soggy, and maybe also from clamping too hard, the inside holes got squished around. After drying, I didn't have a nice, even 1/2" hole all the way through the middle. Looking down the hole, there were obviously voids off to the sides.

After the head was completely dried and nailed, I filled those spaces in with JB Weld. I spooned some inside the head and ran the main bolt through wrapped in a couple layers of plastic wrap. That worked fairly well. If you have some release agent handy, you could probably more properly "bed" the thing similar to doing a rifle action.

So, next time I'd go for only slightly damp on the rawhide to begin with, and, if possible use a smaller bolt size for stacking/clamping during the drying process. Drill to final size after fully dry using a drill press (yet another thing I don't have), then turn the outside to final shape.

As for drying, I left the head in the vise for a good 2.5 weeks as shown in the picture, then removed and used some clamps to let it dry from the inside, which it needed even here in the above average for this year Arizona heat. I let that go another 10 days or so. One end warped a little. The middle of the stack shrank slightly more than the outside. I made up for that on one end by inserting a thin leather spacer.

One of the biggest challenges was finding rawhide pieces big enough. Forget the rolled up dog chews. They are thin, and the middle is full of scraps. I found that out the hard way. I couldn't find big bags of flat chews large enough to work. I finally scored at Petco. They have a "treat bar" or whatever they call it, for dogs. It is open bins of various treats sold by weight. There, I picked out the best looking 3"x3"ish square rawhide pieces. Many were nice and thick. Still, after cutting, there was a lot of waste. If anyone knows of a better source for rawhide, please post.

There isn't much info online about making these kinds of things. I went mostly by BearMan's post above.

Thanks, BearMan, because without your info I wouldn't have had a clue how to approach this.

[JLouw]

Hi Every one. I am in the process of making my own Rawhide Maul. Can anyone tell me how long the carriage bolt should be? Thanks