The dogwood tree this came from was diseased and dying, and I cut it down when we felled its companion red oak that was killed by lightning in June 2006. I kept a 5"d x 5' log, bark on, on my deck for about a year. I then debarked it, and it split from the butt up about 2 feet within a few days. I don't know if the splitting was strictly moisture loss, or the fact that it was growing on a hill right next to a 24" diameter, 100' tall oak caused a lot of internal stress.
I cut the mallet blank from above the split, roughed out the handle with a hand saw, and used drawknife, spokeshave, and sanding block to shape it. It developed a small shallow split by a twig knot during this process. That was about 1 1/2+ years ago IIRC, and it has not developed any more defects. It has no finish on it.
The sister pieces are still in my garage. This is what they look like today:
The left piece is 16" long x 4 1/4" diameter, and weighs 6 lbs 6 oz.
The butt (split) piece goes from 5" to 4 1/4 " and is 23" long- weighs over 10 lb
The mallet weighs 35 oz (I plan to trim it down more some day!! It works okay but isn't balanced well, so I need to make handle longer and head shorter)
I gave the weights, because it figures to about 4 lbs per 144 cubic inches and I figure this is dry.
Hope this helps. I guess the bottom line is that you probably will have splitting unless you dry it very slowly. I don't know if the heat of turning will increase the problem, or if hollowed would equalize the moisture loss and reduce the problem. I knows nothin' 'bout that spinny stuff :confused_:confused_
Hope this helps
Go
PS: I counted 45 growth rings in the butt piece.