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T H E H A N D C A R V E D B O W L

Chapter 2 | T O O L S

MAKE YOUR OWN MAUL

When presented with a knotted log, don’t despair that it can’t be used for a bowl; celebrate

because you’ve just met your new maul. The reason you couldn’t bear to wrestle with it one more

second is the very reason it’s useful for hitting things. If all you have is a clear grain blank, that

will work too, but it won’t last nearly as long.

LENGTH & WEIGHT

The most-knotted section should be the part used for

hitting. Hopefully the other end is mostly free from knots

to more easily shape the handle. I aim to make my mauls

with heads as big as possible while still being able to swing

it with a moderate amount of control. Swinging a maul

isn’t like swinging a hammer; it’s more like raising it up and

encouraging a directed fall. You want the weight of the

head to work to your advantage. The length of the head

varies depending on the size of the small log or portion of

wood used. I usually aim for a head about 6" to 8" long. If

it’s too heavy, you can always trim this down.

Begin by using a bow saw or a similar coarse-toothed

saw to cut a line around the maul where the handle ends

and the head of the maul begins. The depth of your cut

dictates the diameter of the handle.

Prop the maul on end, with the head on the chopping

block (haha!). Take a froe and your old maul or a heavy

mallet and work your way around the handle, taking off

small sections. With straight-grained material, the wood

will split all the way down to your saw line and fall away. If

it doesn’t easily break off, you probably need to saw a bit

deeper. Be conservative with this, though, so you don’t

make this point between the handle and head too thin and

weak. If using a gnarled root or burl, the froe step should

be skipped. All of that material will have to be axed away

because the grain won’t break consistently or easily.

SHAPE THE HANDLE

Shape the handle with an axe, but be careful not to plunge

the edge of the axe into the head of the maul. If the head

of the maul has straight grain, any errant blows could

chop off an entire section of the maul head. Another

method is to put the maul in a clamp or vise and shape

it with a drawknife.

It is also possible to forgo using a saw to create the

handle and just use an axe or drawknife to create a taper

that reduces to a shaped handle.