Continuing on in the Fish Whacker theme,
Seems there is enough here to make some Crab Hammers





Crab hammers are great for Dungeness and Red Rock Crab.
The also work well for King Crab legs.

Granted these are a little large, but what the heck.

The hammers are made from maple - lots of that in this part of the country.



I have a number of chunks big enough for a 2" diameter hammer.



These little chucks you drive into the wood work well for smaller projects.



It takes only a few minutes to turn this down.



One of the problems with this wood is that some of it is spalted, some just
turning pithy and some of it is hard.

I went down to Harbor Freight and picked up some large sanding belts.
I cut them into strips and this strip is glued on to wood to help sand the mallet
head evenly.



I use a band saw to even up the block since this isn't exactly a precision project.



I am making two more cuts angled at 45 degrees in order to end up with
a nice striking edge for the really tough crab legs.

The stained areas are CA glue.  I use it on the knots to keep them from falling out
and on the pithy areas to harden them up.



I figure a 3/4" hole tapering up to 1" for the handle will make the end product
appear uniform enough.  I couldn't figure a way to clamp this so I held it by
hand, drilling slowly.



 The handle is going to turn down quickly.  It looks like I will need to use a little
care because I think I see some bug holes.  



Yup, there are bug holes.  I penciled in some grips,  the shape of the end
and tapered  the handle from 3/4" to 1".



This looks about right.



Sawdust and superglue fill the bug holes.



Looks pretty good sanded down.



I used good old Elmer's wood glue to connect the pieces.



Tung oil  really brings out the color in maple.  Some of the shiny stuff on
the left mallet head appears to be a bit of  Curly  maple or somehing.

I was able to leave a bit of bark on the handle, which looks pretty nice too.

They ended up  looking pretty good.  Some of the wood still looks a little
green so these will sit a while, like till next Christmas.



Carol, Crab Hammers and Mayrland Blue Crab.