Hardwood Mallet

24" of 1x6 hardwood. 14" for handle if not making it all out of the same wood. 1/2" hardwood dowel. I usually use oak. Wood glue

Shaper Origin A mallet (which poses a chicken and egg issue in some cases)

[EDIT: Updated 1/22 to smooth out the indentations on the handle where you hold it to reduce post-cut sanding] I use 3/4" or 1" thick 1x6 hardwood stock for these. Each mallet is 3 pieces: handle/middle, and 2 head sides. They can all be cut from the same piece or contrasting, which is what I prefer. I usually make the handles out of hickory and then something darker for the outer sides. Depending if your dowels are actually 1/2" or not, you may need to add some margin to the dowel holes. There's a separate SVG for making a test dowel hole for fitting included in the project. You can put that in a corner or on a scrap piece to see what you should use for offset. I usually end up somewhere around -0.003" or -0.004" to make the oak dowels I get locally fit. Lay out the head pieces so the grain runs from side to side rather than top to bottom if you want the mallets to last longer. I usually pocket out the dowel holes first and with no offset and then finish with the offset, checking if the dowels will fit. If they're too tight, glue won't fit in there too. Cut the dowels to the thickness of all 3 layers. That will vary depending on your stock. After the pieces are cut, I glue the 3 layers together and drive dowels through. Clamp to let the glue dry, though these often fit so well that the dowels pretty much hold everything in place while the glue dries. Sand to get the surfaces smooth and to break the edges, particularly on the handle. Finish with boiled linseed oil, properly disposing of or handling the application cloths to prevent fire risk.