Making a maul (Rawhide! Yeehah!).

[dikman]

Even though I now have two HDPE mauls, I got an urge to make a rawhide one. A chap on youtube used a large rawhide dog bone to make one, and while in a local pet shop I saw that they had a clearance on medium sized rawhide dog bones - 3 for $15. I couldn't help myself so bought the last three.

After soaking for a few hours I unravelled them and ended up with three largish pieces and a lot of small chunks, which were packed in the centre of the bones.

My initial idea was to do what the guy on the youtube did, roll it up into a "Swiss roll" to make the head, but looking at what I had I wasn't sure that would work. A bit of research showed that commercially sold units used stacked discs of rawhide, similar to a stacked leather handle, so I decided to go with that. This also let me use up some of the junk bits, basically if I could cut a 2 1/2" circle out of it then it got used. I used a brass lump that I had (which had a large threaded hole in it) and fitted a piece of wood in the middle with a hole in it to mark the centre of the disc, then started cutting and punching the centre hole.

The discs were then stacked between two pieces of wood, with a piece of milk jug plastic between the wood and the discs, and tightened up. According to what I've read it could take a few days to dry completely and I need to keep tightening it up regularly.

More to come.

[YinTx]

Following your post, since I have a maul coming that I expect will need new rawhide, and was hoping to be able to do the work myself.  Thanks for sharing!

YinTx

[dikman]

After leaving it to dry for a few days I turned it down in the lathe. There's a couple of issues, first is that it obviously isn't dry enough as it still seems a bit soft in places. We've finally got a bit of sun so I'll leave it in the sun for a couple of days and see what happens. Second is that I can still tighten it up a bit more! I'm not sure just how tight I'm supposed to go. I'm thinking that maybe I should apply something and put it in a vacuum chamber to pull it into the hide. This might stiffen it a bit. I thought of a diluted white glue, but I also have some concrete waterproofing stuff, it's a very thin polymer so should soak in quite easily under vacuum. I also wondered whether I should have soaked the cut discs in a diluted white glue solution before stacking and clamping them.

The problem with making this is that there's very little information on how to do it, virtually everything I've found is to do with rolling it up to make a mallet, not stacking discs of rawhide.

[Northmount]

No experience here, but ...

I would try baking it at a moderate temperature as that would dry it out and harden the rawhide like it does leather.  I would also keep tightening it up as the moisture dissipates so the stack stays compressed as it dries.

Tom

[dikman]

Good idea Tom, I've been fixated on drying it in the sun, of which we haven't had much for a few days, but I think you're right. I'll stick it in my small oven on low heat for a while and see what happens.

[bikermutt07]

5 hours ago, dikman said:

Good idea Tom, I've been fixated on drying it in the sun, of which we haven't had much for a few days, but I think you're right. I'll stick it in my small oven on low heat for a while and see what happens.

When it dries completely you could always disassemble, glue, then reassemble?

Just guessing....

[dikman]

I've pondered doing that (there's between 60 - 80 pieces!) but if I do that I need to have the metal end piece in place first, to tighten it up against. Which is another problem, I tried melting scrap brass to pour into suitable molds but I melted the bottom of my melting pot and lost some of the brass!! The pot is (was?) a piece of heavy-walled steel tube with a 1/4" steel plate welded on the bottom. I left it unattended for a couple of minutes, came back and saw this wonderful display of colour coming out of it and it took me a minute or so to work out it was the brass burning!!!!! When I cooled it there was obviously a hole in the bottom and the brass had fused to the steel. I've ordered a graphite crucible and will have to try again.

I've had the thing in my small oven for a few hours, at about 50*C, and it feels like it's drying properly. I don't know why I didn't think of this before (dumb!).

[Northmount]

9 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

could always disassemble, glue, then reassemble

Each piece once dry or mostly dry would have to go back in exactly the same order and orientation otherwise there would be gaps in the stack.  I don't think disassembly is a good idea unless you were going to start over, soaking the rawhide, etc.

Tom

[bikermutt07]

2 hours ago, Northmount said:

Each piece once dry or mostly dry would have to go back in exactly the same order and orientation otherwise there would be gaps in the stack.  I don't think disassembly is a good idea unless you were going to start over, soaking the rawhide, etc.

Tom

That makes sense..... Like I said, I was only guessing.

[dikman]

I'd already figured that out. I could mark the stack first and do it one at a time, sliding each one down the rod, but if I used diluted white glue (the logical choice) I would then have to start drying it out all over again!

After leaving it overnight I checked it this morning and it felt much drier (and harder) but the whole lot had obviously shrunk and had to be tightened up again. It looks like the best way to do this type of construction is to tighten it up and then "bake" it in the oven (low heat) for a few hours, tighten again and repeat the baking/tightening cycle until it's dry and hard.

Unless you live in the middle of a hot desert.

[dikman]

It has now been 16 days since I clamped the rawhide discs, and it looks and feels dry. I cast a brass disc and turned it down to fit on the end, threaded it and Loctite'd it to the end of the rod. To do this I had to remove the clamping piece and when I did it was obvious that it still hadn't dried in the centre!! I still had a tight mass, however, so I screwed it down the rod so it applied pressure to the brass while the Loctite dried. I removed the other clamping piece and I guess I'll just have to leave it open to dry off more. (Note to self, I think I'll stick to making them out of plastic milk jugs!!!!).

[YinTx]

Coming along quite well.  I have an old mallet that needs new rawhide discs, so I've been following along on this to see if I can glean some insight on how to accomplish it.  Thanks for sharing so far!

YinTx

[dikman]

No worries, Yin. The dark centre of the mass doesn't feel damp, but it's obvious that it can't be completely dry yet. It has formed a pretty solid lump, though, as it can be screwed along the rod without any of the discs coming loose. I'm going away for a couple of weeks so I'll let it stand, open at both ends.

[dikman]

I've been examining the maul and I don't think it's damp as it's quite hard if I poke it with a screwdriver. I know you can make glue from the rawhide, so I'm guessing that the moisture combined with the pressure from clamping it formed some sort of natural "resin" (for want of a better word). I'm going to be away for a while (holiday by the sea) but when I get back I think this will deserve a stacked leather handle.

[chuck123wapati]

On 4/23/2019 at 4:33 AM, dikman said:

I've been examining the maul and I don't think it's damp as it's quite hard if I poke it with a screwdriver. I know you can make glue from the rawhide, so I'm guessing that the moisture combined with the pressure from clamping it formed some sort of natural "resin" (for want of a better word). I'm going to be away for a while (holiday by the sea) but when I get back I think this will deserve a stacked leather handle.

So did you finish this maul? If so how is it holding up? I am thinking about making one.

[dikman]

Yep, all finished and it seems fine. I don't know why I didn't finish off this thread (sorry about that, chief). I'll take a photo later of the final product. Reading back on this it was a lot of bloody work!!!

Edit:I just found a photo of the finished maul, I must have forgotten to post it.

I made the handle out of wood segments because it was easier than using stacked leather.

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by dikman

[chuck123wapati]

13 hours ago, dikman said:

Yep, all finished and it seems fine. I don't know why I didn't finish off this thread (sorry about that, chief). I'll take a photo later of the final product. Reading back on this it was a lot of bloody work!!!

Edit:I just found a photo of the finished maul, I must have forgotten to post it.

I made the handle out of wood segments because it was easier than using stacked leather.

 

Awesome indeed i think cutting out all those washers is going to be a pain but i guess not as bad as fleshing out and scraping the hide was lol. i have a hole saw that should work nicely it uses a drill bit in the center so two jobs at once