SandSquid Report post Posted June 9, 2012 I need to get a hold of several medium weight mauls for the campers to use here. Being of limited funds and wild imagination, got to thinking that a resourceful person with a modicum of turning skills and a wood lathe ( at the house, 150 miles away....) and a hardware store could probably make quite a few for not much money. I'm guessing the the "hardware" is about a 10" long 1" bolt, and some fender washers and a acorn nut to cap it off. Handle is easy enough... The rawhide head has me puzzled. I'm thinking a bunch of rawhide stacked and glued together with contact cement, or epoxy? They don't need to be fancy or even nice just useable! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mlapaglia Report post Posted June 9, 2012 I need to get a hold of several medium weight mauls for the campers to use here. Being of limited funds and wild imagination, got to thinking that a resourceful person with a modicum of turning skills and a wood lathe ( at the house, 150 miles away....) and a hardware store could probably make quite a few for not much money. I'm guessing the the "hardware" is about a 10" long 1" bolt, and some fender washers and a acorn nut to cap it off. Handle is easy enough... The rawhide head has me puzzled. I'm thinking a bunch of rawhide stacked and glued together with contact cement, or epoxy? They don't need to be fancy or even nice just useable! Have you thought of a hardwood Maul? There are cultures that only use a wooden maul with great success. Get some hard 4x4/s round them out and turn a handle on the end. I have seen and used one that was a 4x4 left flat and just a handle chiseled on the end. Worked great. Cost even less than making your own rawhide ones. Heck in a pinch one time I used a 3 inch log of pine from the fireplace stack and that worked great. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Northmount Report post Posted June 9, 2012 There is a post somewhere here that has a number of photos and details where a person was experimenting with making their own rawhide maul. A 1" diameter bolt is expensive overkill. 3/8" should be plenty. Your handle and rawhide will make it plenty rigid. I think they used rawhide dog chews as the source for the rawhide. Since you have nice quiet evenings next to the campfire, I'll let you do the search! I'm lazy. Should be a fun project. I have thought about it too. Have to get a couple other projects done first. CTG Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
electrathon Report post Posted June 9, 2012 http://www.harborfreight.com/1-lb-neon-orange-dead-blow-hammer-41796.html About half the cost of what you are going to pay for the bolts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGGUNDOCTOR Report post Posted June 9, 2012 Th eproblem I would see with the dead blow hammers is that the surface gives too much, and they do not take well to hitting small diameter items that are hard. I was going to suggest a mallet as opposed to a maul, as that is all I have ever used. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
electrathon Report post Posted June 10, 2012 Th eproblem I would see with the dead blow hammers is that the surface gives too much, and they do not take well to hitting small diameter items that are hard. I was going to suggest a mallet as opposed to a maul, as that is all I have ever used. When I am using a bigger tool, like a basketweave, I always use a dead blow. It stops the double impact from the bouncing. I have one I got a couple years ago and it is still working great. Another 10 years or so and it may fail. If it does I will pay another $6 and get another one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mlapaglia Report post Posted June 10, 2012 Glue a piece of rawhide or leather to the face of the deadblow. Thats what I did to mine. I used leather and contact cement. Works great. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SandSquid Report post Posted June 10, 2012 That mallet would totally work, and the price is right, I'll pick up a few next time I get down to "the big city"... The closest Harbor Freight is still an hour away in Jackson, TN though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mlapaglia Report post Posted June 10, 2012 Careful. A 1 lb mallet in the hands of an inexperenced child can be dangerous. A single point seeder will go half way into the granite. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sylvia Report post Posted June 10, 2012 Why not just cut a bunch of 2.5" chunks from a nice sized limb and drill a whole and put a stick into it?? You can make some wedges to help hold the heads on the handles. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGGUNDOCTOR Report post Posted June 10, 2012 (edited) Mlapaglia, I had forgot about that, and some kids TRY to see how deep thay can drive the punch into the leather. Another thing that I did was paint the tools so that they were easily found if droped in the dirt. If I was going to do it again I would use the high vis yelow/green instead of blaze orange. I also took my metal detector up to camp to find buried tools. The ground was so soft,and fluffy that tools easily became covered. Found a couple of Mercury head dimes in the process of looking for tools =) Electrathon, the deadblow hammers I had from Harbor Freight were the black rubber ones, are the ones you posted different. The rubber ones would split if hitting hard skinny items, so I only use them for wide objects. Sandsquid, one resource that we used at camp were the dads that came up. Most of them loved to be put to work building things, or helping out in some way. You may even have a dad who has a woodshop that could crank some mallets out for you. We would do an announcement during breakfast for volunteers, and we always had plenty ofhelp. Just let them know what you need, and see what they can come up with. Edited June 10, 2012 by BIGGUNDOCTOR Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SandSquid Report post Posted June 10, 2012 Mlapaglia, I had forgot about that, and some kids TRY to see how deep thay can drive the punch into the leather. I had not thought of that! thanks for bringing it up, because it has been specifically requested that I work with a small group of young men that are coming in two weeks who are in the "Camp Peace". The Official description is "This camp addresses the need of children and youth in our society who respond to everyday situations and problems with aggressive behavior. Camp staff will help youth learn ways to short-circuit their tendency toward violent responses, while helping campers develop effective problem solving skills that enable them to avoid confrontation." Three years ago we were slightly leery of them coming to archery, but nobody got stuck with any arrows, in fact they loved it and their counselors scheduled additional sessions and used it as an incentive.... I'm sure they can handle the swivel knives as well!! Another thing that I did was paint the tools so that they were easily found if droped in the dirt. I've started wrapping all "my" tool handles in bright duct tape they sell at WallyWorld. The camp does not really have any tools (yet) but I was planing to coat them in PlastiDip when we got some funds raised to purchase a few sets of the "basic 7" Sandsquid, one resource that we used at camp were the dads that came up. Most of them loved to be put to work building things, or helping out in some way. This is a "Kids Only" sort of Church Camp. Parents drop and dash for the week. If it's going to happen I need to make it so. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGGUNDOCTOR Report post Posted June 13, 2012 As to the parents not being there, tell them when they get up there, or notify them beforehand -if you can. Like I mentioned before, some dad may have a nice wood shop at home to make mallets in. It was amazing what we could get donated by parents. They even got some of their employers involved with donations. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
