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the blank over, making sure it's tight into the comer of the jig and drill through to complete the hole.

ADDING THE HANDLE

Now you can set the mallet head aside and turn your attention to making the handle. I used both the band saw and another router table jig to shape the handle.

1 started out with a blank about 5" longer than the finished handle. This allowed me to keep each end square while shaping the handle.

Start with the Tenon. The first step is to narrow a portion of the blank using a dado blade, as you can see in the margin drawing. This part will become the round tenon that fits into the head.

Once that's complete, you can head over to the band saw and rough out the basic shape of the handle using the pattern you see on the opposite page.

The next step is to make the tenon round. To do this, I built the "turning jig" in Figure 5. It holds

the ends of the handle blank so you can rotate it over a straight bit in the router table. You'll want to sneak up on the size. (I used calipers to check my progress.)

Now you're ready to round over the edges of the handle. The problem here is the handle is a complex curve, so you can't really rout a roundover using the flat surface of

a router table as a reference. So I made a "bridge" to help out with this task (Figure 6). It acts as a pivot point to position the handle properly against the bit's bearing for effective routing.

Final Shaping. The next thing to do is cut off the square ends and smooth the handle using a rasp and sandpaper. Take your time here to get it fit just right for your hand.

Glue and Wedge. Now you're about ready to glue and wedge the handle in place. First, I used my band saw to cut a slot in the round tenon for a wedge. While I was at it, I cut the wedge to shape.

After checking the fit of the handle, apply a thin layer of glue and tap the handle tight against the head. Finally, add a little glue to the wedge and tap it in place. After trimming the wedge and tenon flush to the head, sand everything smooth.

HANDLE BLANK

(114" x 1V4"-16%")

214

4*6

WASTE

TENON

6⁷Ae

HANDLE

214

WASTE

NOTE: CUT TENON AND SHAPE HANDLE BEFORE ROUTING

FIGURE

WEDGE LOCKS HANDLE IN PLACE

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GRAIN ON LAMINATES ALTERNATES 90* FOR STRENGTH

HANDLE SHAPED TO FIT HAND