Is there anything that I should watch for when making laminated blanks?

And is there any concern in using laminated blanks for something like a carving mallet?

 

Any wisdom or advice on this would be appreciated

Good tight joints/surfaces and side grain contact and you should be good to go. I use TiteBond II for just about everything.

1 hour ago, Static_LV said:

Is there anything that I should watch for when making laminated blanks?

And is there any concern in using laminated blanks for something like a carving mallet?

 

For a MALLET handle only use vertical glue joints.  See "A"

 

Do NOT use horizontal joints.  See "B"

 

For this particular application I did use the horizontal joints at the bottom.  These were my Grandfather's hammers and so I have no intention of using them.  

 

 

Reason for not using horizontal joints on a mallet or hammer handle.  They will break under strain.  Maybe not so much for a mallet but I made a handle for my 32 oz ball peen hammer at work.  Handle broke one day right at glue joint.  Nobody got hurt, but the steel wall has quite the indentation in it. oops!

 

 

 

Good points, thank you.  

I am gluing up long grain to long grain with good jointed surfaces. I suspected that “B” might be a problem so I didn’t go that route.

 

To reemphasize all grain going the length of the mallet. Also be sure no spaces on mating surfaces. If you do a seperate head the grain on the head should be perpendicular (90 degrees) to the handle.

If you make large slabs of say 3/4 or 1 inch boards you can cut them then swap ends and make a brick like this.  Saves alot of time.

 

 

 

It also really helps if you try and use wood species of the same hardness.  Using a very hard dense wood and a soft wood together can cause problems for even the most skilled turners.

Lol you guys are way more advanced than I am.  I am just gluing up a single species of wood in a big enough block to turn things out of because I have access to boards but not really 12/4 or 16/4 stuff in the size I want

There is some beautiful stuff here but last week was the start for me and I have a long way to go before I do anything more complex than mallets, handles, and maybe drawer knobs.

10 hours ago, Static_LV said:

I am just gluing up a single species of wood in a big enough block to turn things

Any sized scraps can be used-

 

You can make a pretty good mallet out of just about any hardwood. Great use for the scrap pile. If you want to pick up some maple and black walnut scraps come on over. I got lots. 
Paul