My mallet head slips

[Dukester]

I'm new to the neanderthal thing and have been trying to use this mallet

(Lee Valley mallet link) I got for Christmas. The head on it keeps slipping down and hitting my knuckles. I've tried banging on the top, pushing it up, etc. It simply will not stay up. Is there a trick to keeping the mallet head in one place? Should there be a wedge in it like axes have?

-- Cheers, Duke

[bridger]

a little beeswax to glue the head to the shaft should help

[Leon]

Umm a spot of glue on one surface.

[Frank McVey]

You shouldn't need a wedge. The wedging action of the tapered shaft in the tapered mortice should be sufficient.

Try driving the shaft further home with a heavy block of wood.

HTH

Frank

[George]

Try holding the narrow end and rapping the broad end of the handle firmly on a bench a few times to drive the head down onto the wedge end.

Come higher humidity, you won't have the problem

What you really want is a carver's mallet. Turn one on your lathe.

[Dukester]

I don't know how the humidity could get any higher; it's been raining for 3 days here; hasn't seemed to affect the mallet. Anyway, I contacted Lee Valley and they are sending a replacement without hesitation (I did not ask for a replacement). Once again I can't say enough kind words about L.V. If you haven't bought anything from them before, don't hesitate to do so. (Not affiliated, just a happy customer...)

Cheers! Duke