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How do you construct a Beetle?

Started by Bryanew, November 18, 2005, 04:44:25 AM

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Bryanew

Has anyone got any specifics on building a "Beetle", Commander, Persuader, or other colorful names for that big ol sledge.

Jim_Rogers

I have a step by step procedure of how to do that, but I can't post it now.
Maybe later today.....

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Jim_Rogers

Years ago, when I started timber framing I went to the tool store and wanted to buy a mallet, and or a commander.
Well they wanted $46 for a craver's mallet.
I thought that was a little to much to pay for a simple wooden mallet.
So I made my own.
What I did was I took a piece of 4x4 oak and figured out the number of bdft needed to make the head weigh 3 lbs.
That was what the books said a mallet should weigh.
I planed the rough stock down a little and rounded over the edges on my bench top shaper/router table.
I made several mallets some a little more heavier than others, depending on their intended use.
Here is a picture of my collection:



I also, asked the tool store clerk if he had any commanders as they did sell timber framing tools.
He didn't have any available at that time.
I said I'll have to make one of my own.
He said if I did to make another and he'd see if he could sell them with his other timber framing tools.

What I read or was told was to make a commander head out of softwood so that the commander wouldn't dent the timbers when you use it to help two go together.
Then you make a hard wood handle.

Knowing that you can make any size dowel using a router table and a round over bit, I made my own dowel shaped handles.

How you do this is to joint two adjacent sides of your stock and then plane the other two sides to the exact thickness as your diameter of the dowel.
I wanted a heavy handle so I bought a 3/4" round over bit so I could make a 1 1/2" handle.
Using the round over bit and running the square stock past the round over bit four times produces a round dowel.
Like this:



You don't run the stock all the way pass the bit and this will leave a square end on the handle.

Next you bore a hole 1 1/2" through a piece of softwood, usually a extra block cut off the end of a long timber.
This block is know as a "drop" block.

Then I rounded over the edges and ends on the router table to relieve the sharp edges.

And then insert the handle through the block to create a commander.

Now you slide the handle all the way through until the square end touches the block.

This will prevent the head from every flying off the handle.

You can see the square end on the smaller of the two mallets.

We make and use two different sizes.
One is 6x6x14" and the larger one is 6x8x14 or so.
I like a short handle on the smaller one for using up on a ladder.

If you need or want me to make a handle for you, I can.
Then I can mail or ship the handle to you, and you can make your own heads.

Just let me know.

If you need more info also, let me know.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Engineer

I don't think I have a good picture, but when we built my house frame, one of the guys took several pices of OSB rim joist (basically 1-1/2" thick OSB) and glued the pieces together to make a chunk about 7x7x 12" long.  Used a piece of 1-1/4" octagon oak peg stock for a handle, and soaked the head of it in polyurethane overnight.

You know, I laughed, but that mallet has held up to two different frames so far, and hardly a ding.  I suggested a piece of pine (he said too soft and would split).  I know people use all kinds of stuff, but that termite barf hammer worked really well.   ;D

mark davidson

jim, nice description of the commander process.... the only thing I would add is to bore a round hole in the head of the commander, then take your chisel and square one end of the hole. this way the handle will set right into the head and can be trimmed off flush.... it will stay out of your way better. you also then have the fabled "round peg in a square hole"
another thing I add is to route out a channel 1/4" deep near the face on each end of the head and run a couple of rounds of fence wire to help keep the head from splitting apart....
The chipboard commander is used by many strawbale builders in ontario to help bash the strawbale walls into place.... ugly but tough as nails!!!

Bryanew

Thank you for the information. I appreciate all the shared info and experience you folks offer.

hayton1960

I used to refurb pallets on piecework at one time. You were always looking for quick ways to do things. We generally used a sledge to knock bad boards off of brewery pallets (1" boards nailed with guns) I hit on the idea of using a beetle (mell) Mine was made from oak pallet blocks and oak board ripped down to make a handle. I didnt mess with routers, just axe and spokeshave to fit up to 1 1/4" round hole, wedged tight (chair seat style). Forkstaff plane could come in handy I reckon as well. The other lads made fun at first until they saw how fast and efficient it was (safer as well you didnt get lumps of board flying about so much) If I was going to make another to use to drive wedges (for splitting logs), I'd use a turned elm head (wild grain resists splitting easily), cleft ash handle and thin offcuts of steel pipe nailed at either end to reinforce and hinder splittting. That time was when I started to wear steelie clogs as I got sick of nails going through regular boots :D

Jim_Rogers

I have cut the square into the head so that the end of the handle would sit in a bit, but you don't want it in very much as you don't want your commander to "stand" on it's own.
A every experienced teacher told me this.
Someone once jumped down off some staging and landed on a commander handle that was sticking up.
Not something I want to see.
Softwood head are made to not dent timbers.
If swung correctly the head should hit the side of the timber flush.
If you don't hit it flush you put a dent in the timber and force a crack in the head.
It's all in the user's swing.
Wire isn't needed as it can slide off and damage good timbers.
As mentioned bring extra heads to raisings, in case a "rookie" swings it wrong and breaks a head.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

hayton1960

Quote from: Jim_Rogers on November 21, 2005, 08:46:50 AMSomeone once jumped down off some staging and landed on a commander handle that was sticking up.
Not something I want to see.

Now that sounds like a nasty accident :o
It reminds me of a time when me and a mate were "a bit worse for wear" from supping ale and decided to see if we could do olympic style hurdling over spiked railings ::) I got over ok (just), but his boot stuck on one of the spikes, he just sort of swung round in an arc and hit the ground. Nasty; mind we had a good laugh about it ;) You think your indestructible when your that age :D

Jim_Rogers

Quote from: Jim_Rogers on November 21, 2005, 08:46:50 AM

As mentioned bring extra heads to raisings, in case a "rookie" swings it wrong and breaks a head.


I had a very nice commander with a great softwood head on it.
I had used it at many raisings without any problems.

I took it to a guild raising of a 45' x 80' barn at school in MA.
I swung that commander all day long as my assigned job was with the post crew.
What we had to do was move the posts of standing bents to plumb them and get them in line with the correct spot where they should be.
These posts were 12x12x 20 or so and we had to move them sometimes 1/2" or more to get them in line and in the correct spot.
We had a crew with a supervisor, a man to hold the block against the post (to pad the post, as the head super insisted on this), me to swing the commander, one man holding the level, one man holding one end of a tape, one man holding the other end of the same tape, one man holding the second tape going 90° to the first tape, and one man holding the other end of this tape.
This crew worked behind the raising crew moving the post of erected bents into position as the rigging for the next bent was being set-up and we had to get our bent in line and ready for the next of the seven bents.
When I got there, bent one was up and they were working on aligning bent two.
They were happy to see me show up with my "commanders" as they had broken four commanders the day before by improper swinging, and didn't have any replacement heads, on hand.
I used that commander all day, never broke the head.
I must have swung that commander hundreds of times that day.
And had it down to moving one of the posts 1/16" with each swing.
It was a great day and we had lots of fun.

Now, one week later, I went to the timber framing school in Maine.
I brought that same commander with spare heads, again as it was their raising day.
I gave this commander to a student and told them they wouldn't break that head as I had used it all day one week before and had swung it hundreds of times and it was ok.
THREE, yes, THREE swings later the head was broken.
It is very important to understand that the head must hit the beam, post, timber flush.

Such as this:



If the timbers won't just slide together you should check your tenons and mortises to make sure they are the correct size.
Pounding in an over sized tenon may cause the mortise timber to split.

It is better to look at the problem and figure out why they won't go together and correct the problem so that they will, without loosing your close tolerances.

Hope this helps.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Bryanew

Jim, If I understand the moral to your story, Don't let the "New Guy" touch the good tools.

Deadwood

Once again I am late at getting into this post, but I have read every post with appreciation. Thanks guys for all your info, I needed to make a mallet for hammering away on my chisels as I recently got into the handcut dovetails thing. I'll scale down your ideas but I think they will work to make a fine Mallet, though in my line of work, I might use a chunk of beech instead of soft pine huh?

Jim_Rogers

For a mallet for hitting chisels I use a piece of hardwood, not softwood.
And you have to make one that is the right weight for you.
I'm not sure of the exact weight it should be but somewhere between 2 and 3 pounds.
Everyone makes them differently and they can be all shapes and sizes.
Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

TexasTimbers

Hey Deadwood,

No doubt Jim knows the right weight for TFing dovetail mallets, but it sounds like to me you are referring to furniture sized dovetails. If you are, mallet/hammer weights are going to be in the 10 - 20 ounce range. In fact, A 20 ounce mallet for use on 1/4" to 1" chisels in the use of wood removal for the pins and tails is a little heavy for my liking.
My favorite mallet weight for use in this range dovetail is 12 - 14 oz. Remember, your chisels should be  SCARY SHARP!!!  and wont take much peruasion to slice through wood fibers when they are.
If you aren't familiar with this "system" (nearly a religion to some) then take the time to read about it and you'll probably be very glad you did!
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Deadwood

Dear Kevjay,

Yes, thank you and yes.

Yes I was referring to furnature dovetails and thank you for giving me the 20 ounce weight range, and that is a big yes on the Scary Sharp method.

I typically use grit sizes right up to 2500 and then go the extra step and hone my chisels by stroping them on a piece of leather charged with jewlers rouge. When I get all done, I don't have any problems slicing through wood fibers.

As for you Jim, I apologize for not making myself clear. I love the look and methods of timber framing, but am a bit shy at getting into it. In a few weeks I will need to make an archway and thought that might be a good way for me to cut my teeth. I aliken it to woodworking and carpentry. I am a good woodworker, but working in minuture is my forte, I get by at carpentry, but I am not as good at it as you might think. I'm afraid it will be that way with timber framing, working with 8 inch timbers is far different then cutting tiny dovetails in the ends of half inch boards. When I get to that archway though, I know where I will turn for help. You guys have all been great so far and I look forward to being your online student.

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