Bamboo building and many mallets

Ive been building a shishi-odoshi this week with that bamboo I picked up from my sons school last month. It is proving to be more difficult that I thought it would be. Lots of fussiness. I should have it and the video done by Friday. Heres where I was with it last night. Then I had to think about it overnight.

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After I posted my garden gate video, a few people sent me great examples of gates they have made. But I think this is my favorite. From Romano Bertarelli in Germany, this one speaks for itself!

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Wait, more mallets? Sure, why not. If you havent jumped on that bandwagon yet, try one! Im tellin ya...youll find all sorts of uses for it.
Heres one from my pal Brian Gidney:

And Bruce Thoms version: 

Now Bruce has also been busy making boxes. Check out this bandsaw box...only his second one. Very cool.

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Larry Briski made a couple of projects based on videos I posted eons ago. A beautiful jewelry box:

And a drill press table! Out of all the home-made shop upgrades and jigs I have made, noting is more useful than my drill press table. I highly recommend building yourself one!

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Now Daniel DeKeyser is a very busy 17-year-old woodworker who has made not just a mallet:

But the drill press table too!

A table saw sled, 

and a router lift for a router he doesnt have yet! Wow. Thats ambitious!

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Back to business! And a whole heap of mallets

Hi guys, I am back from my week off and feel fairly rejuvenated. The biggest problem with returning from a vacation is trying to catch up on all the email and messages that have piled up over the week!
I was thrilled to discover how many of you busy bees have been making mallets. So lets dive in.
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Wes Woods in Idaho made his using oak from an old pallet and added black walnut wedges.

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Carmen Salamone had the great idea to fill the head of his mallet with pennies. I think Ill try that next time!

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Heres Denny Scharringas take using birdseye maple, ipe, and mahogany.

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Ron Ward made a mallet without the help of a table saw, but it came out great. I especially like the head shape.

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James Everett raided his scrap pile and put some red oak, purple heart, and walnut to use.

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Bill Wilson checked in with his walnut and padauk mallet. He used lead weights from black powder bullets for the head.

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Mere Minutes

I am making a door harp for Fridays video. Plus a little of what I did on my summer break.

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Mallets and step stools

Bill Akins sent me over this picture of a quickie "Thors Hammer".

"After the movie came out, my son was with me in the shop. I was rooting through my cut off bin and pulled out a hunk of 4x4 posts and a closet dowel rod. I held them up and said, “Look Tyler, Thor hammer!” He just had to have one, being the super hero fan that he is. The handle is recessed halfway into the head, screwed from the top and glued in. The handle is wrapped with saddle string." 

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Justin Thomas is deployed in Kuwait and built this maple and walnut.mallet to use when he gets back home. It looks too nice to use! Update: Justin informed me of something special about this mallet...its filled with Kuwaiti sand! Thants pretty cool.

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Heres a solid oak mallet Bill Bumpus made. No added weights added to the head.

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George Raburn is the guy who sent me the beetle-kill pine that I used in last weeks project.  Heres his son who made one with the same wood. Looks exactly like mine!

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Periklis Therrios was FAST. He built this step-stool hours after I posted my video! It only took him two hours using pocket screws.

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