Rawhide Maul - Construction Of Rawhide Blank Question

[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