What is cedar

It turns out cedar and redcedar are not the same! Even weirder, but redcedar is not even a proper cedar tree. It is, instead, a juniper! It has rich, red, almost purple heartwood, with a strong cedar-like scent. The heartwood is quite rot and insect resistant. I had unearthed a nice piece of this wood from the ground in my yard, with the help of my brother, Bruce, a while back, but could not decide what to do with it.

The plan

Eventually I decided to try to make a mallet for my dad for christmas, so I got to sawing and planing.

The build

After I roughly shaped a few pieces, I got building! First get the mallet head to size, then get the handle to size.

Once both parts are ready to go, we just tap them together until they fit.

I wasn't sure if my dad would want to apply a finish, so I left it unfinished, packed it up, and made it into a christmas gift.