I've got wood

They did, but I bet Ezra hasn't strength tested his.

Think you could make polo mallets shafts? We've used wood and bamboo before, but they break quite quickly (although so do ski poles a lot of the time)...

Think you could make polo mallets shafts? We've used wood and bamboo before, but they break quite quickly (although so do ski poles a lot of the time)...

Potentially. I know little about polo though so I'm not sure of what's required weight/flexibility/strength wise.
Any suggestions?

I must admit the butt end of split cane fishing rods always looked perfect to me - cork handle, strong and flexible.

It has to be able to take the impact from another object (bike tubing, other mallets, body parts, walls) at a full swing (whatever that force may be... As hard as someone can swing it with one arm, really). It doesn't need to be particularly whippy or flexible. You should be able to lean on it (so overly flexible rods, like many newer golf clubs, are not ideal).

Weight is probably the most important aspect after strength. Some of us have been using ti, but it's really quite heavy. I had some bamboo that was great weight-wise, but would only last a week or two max. One direct hit with another mallet and it would split.

Jammy - were you by any chance taught at london guildhall/metropolitan on commercial road(in guitar making that is)?
If so, do well sir, me too! Graduated 2006
If not, fair play. Intrested to see what you come up with.

I didn't, though I did start that course very briefly.
I studied at MANCAT in Manchester to HND level. Often thought I might head south and turn it in to a degree at the London met...

jammy, unless you're willing to work with Lignum Vitae (for handlebars), then I think Nhatt should be listened to.

Name / Plant Family / Gravity
Lignum Vitae / Caltrop / 1.37
Snakewood / Mulberry / 1.35
Leadwood / Buckthorn / 1.31
Burma Ironwood / Legume / 1.29
Quebracho / Sumac / 1.28
Womara / Legume / 1.28
Wawra / Combretum / 1.23
Billian / Laurel / 1.20
Pau d'Arco / Bignonia / 1.20
Knob-thorn / Legume / 1.19

Don't bother, the quality of the course/lecturers nose dived whilst i was there. Money trouble and the change from HND to degree sucked the soul out of the course.
When the leeds college of music course shut down most of the guys who started up there on the HND at the same time as i started the degree joined our course. They were all streets ahead due to spending 99% of the time in the workshop. By the end of my course we were only allowed in 2-3times a week(depending on staffing)
Would love to see some of your work some time.

Wooden mudguards are easy to make and fun to use!
Here's one I made earlier!

Shop 14 are selling some nice ones, I noticed on their blog a while ago. I think they wooden guards look lovely, but again I'm a little worried about bar strength.

Fixie Inc wooden handlebar did look a treat.

http://www.bikerumor.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/fivestar_6.jpg

Wood rims too. ;)

jammy, unless you're willing to work with Lignum Vitae (for handlebars), then I think Nhatt should be listened to.

Name / Plant Family / Gravity
Lignum Vitae / Caltrop / 1.37
Snakewood / Mulberry / 1.35
Leadwood / Buckthorn / 1.31
Burma Ironwood / Legume / 1.29
Quebracho / Sumac / 1.28
Womara / Legume / 1.28
Wawra / Combretum / 1.23
Billian / Laurel / 1.20
Pau d'Arco / Bignonia / 1.20
Knob-thorn / Legume / 1.19

density and strength do not correlate at all in this situation, sorry.

Don't bother, the quality of the course/lecturers nose dived whilst i was there. Money trouble and the change from HND to degree sucked the soul out of the course.
When the leeds college of music course shut down most of the guys who started up there on the HND at the same time as i started the degree joined our course. They were all streets ahead due to spending 99% of the time in the workshop. By the end of my course we were only allowed in 2-3times a week(depending on staffing)
Would love to see some of your work some time.

www.darkmatterguitars.com

Though it badly needs updating! I'll be launching a new website soon

If you were considering doing wooden handlebars I would suggest you research the strength of wood in relation to the most commonly used material used for handlebars i.e. aluminium. From a quick search on Google it would appear that the relative strength comparison is approximately 12:1 with a figure of 455 Mpa for the ultimate strength of aluminium alloy grade 2016-T6 as opposed to 40 MPa for Pine Wood(parallel to grain).

The other factor effecting the overall strength of a component is what is referred to as the Moment of Inertia. In order to offset the 12:1 ration in ultimate strength the MoI would have to be 12 times higher for a wooden handlebar. Without going into the calculations I would say this is inlikely even if the wooden bar was a solid bar as opposed to an aluminium tube.

That said, i would estimate the 'KOOL' factor of a rod of American White Ash over your Cinelli's to be about 100:1. NUF said!!!!!

can you make me a polished 'dildo' style handlebar with a walnut veneer?

Build the handlebars. I will test them for you if you wish. Mind you I weigh 5 stone piss-wet through.

There is such a thing as too much use of the search function/google.

It has to be able to take the impact from another object (bike tubing, other mallets, body parts, walls) at a full swing (whatever that force may be... As hard as someone can swing it with one arm, really). It doesn't need to be particularly whippy or flexible. You should be able to lean on it (so overly flexible rods, like many newer golf clubs, are not ideal).

Weight is probably the most important aspect after strength. Some of us have been using ti, but it's really quite heavy. I had some bamboo that was great weight-wise, but would only last a week or two max. One direct hit with another mallet and it would split.

Has anyone tried wrapping a bamboo mallet in any sort of glue impregnated cloth?

I would imagine it might cut down on splitting?

Nope. I think lacquering does the job though. Otta has done this. Haven't tried one though.

why not get hold of the short polo mallet sticks?
they take as much abuse as you guys can give them??

fenders and chainguiards are the only place wood belongs on a remotely modern bike. and thats a stretch.

How do jammy? Im that other guitar building geezer that was at the bike jumble in Leeds. I made a few wooden bars out of various different timbers. My strength and load testing wasn't so scientific, I just jumped on the fuckers. They didn't break. I laminated mahogany with walnut (straight grain mahog with harder but less uniform walnut) and got some fairly stiff wood, fnarr.
How are you going to bend them? I laminated mine first, then turned them, then attempted to steam them very unsuccessfully. Either the wood got hot enough and the it de-laminated or it wasnt hot enough to bend.....

density and strength do not correlate at all in this situation, sorry.
I think carpenters/joiners/cabinet makers etc should be listened to-properly laminated solid wood handlebars would massively out-strength hollow aluminium bars if like carbon fibre and glass fibre manufacture the grain/weave/lay up and glue/resin choice and manufacture are pretty much flawless.Drops would be a step too far!

I am a qualified Carpenter and Design Engineer and have in the past work on a number of equipments and structures where I had to conduct stress analysis. As indicated in my previous contribution the two elements which generally dictate the overall strength of a component are the ultimate tensile strength of the material and the Moment of inertia of the section which is roughly defined as the resistance to deformation as a result of its shape and form.

There are other factors which come into play such as the direction of the loading as wood is more effective in compression whereas steel and aluminium are more effective in tensile. But the Ultimate tensile strength(UTS) and the Moment of Inertia(MoI) are the two keys elements to be considered in any stress calcs.

To say that 'laminated solid wood handlebars would massively out-strength hollow aluminium bars' is guessing.

I am a qualified Carpenter and Design Engineer and have in the past work on a number of equipments and structures where I had to conduct stress analysis. As indicated in my previous contribution the two elements which generally dictate the overall strength of a component are the ultimate tensile strength of the material and the Moment of inertia of the section which is roughly defined as the resistance to deformation as a result of its shape and form.

There are other factors which come into play such as the direction of the loading as wood is more effective in compression whereas steel and aluminium are more effective in tensile. But the Ultimate tensile strength(UTS) and the Moment of Inertia(MoI) are the two keys elements to be considered in any stress calcs.

To say that 'laminated solid wood handlebars would massively out-strength hollow aluminium bars' is guessing.
Guess I'm probably right then ,maybe ;)

Think of all those wooden lats used in ladders that blokes would be up and down all day with hods full of bricks on their backs. They wouldn't want them to fail would they? Of course they have been replaced with ali ladders, but they worked well enough for long enough. I think they are more than strong enough.

Think of all those wooden lats used in ladders that blokes would be up and down all day with hods full of bricks on their backs. They wouldn't want them to fail would they? Of course they have been replaced with ali ladders, but they worked well enough for long enough. I think they are more than strong enough.

The wooden rungs may bear a lot of weight, but what about sudden impact at, say 25 mph? I can't help but feel that there are sound reasons why wood is not a popular material for bicycle components.

Having said that, carbon fibre proved an expensive disappointment, when push came to van...