Woodstock Croquet Mallet

Jaques first croquet mallets in the 1850s were hand made to this same basic design, with an English ash octagonal handle fitted onto a hand turned English ash head. Originally known as the ‘Hardwood Mallet’, the more up to date name was introduced only in recent years. We calculate that, over the years, we have made more than two million of these mallets! Soon after the end of World War 2, following our well recorded war work creating escape kits for POWs disguised as innocuous games, Jaques already had a bank of at least a dozen wood turning lathes operated by skilled hand turners, driven by a long overhead drive shaft transmitting its power by leather belts to the individual lathes. The handle design, with a bulb on the base of the handle where it enters the head, adds strength at this point; above this bulb the handle tapers to a narrower section to promote flexible driving power. The round shape of the head helps a leisure player strike the ball cleanly and the octagonal handle helps a player feel the correct alignment of the mallet in play. A well thought out design, developed by John Jaques II, popular for over a century. The mallets have always been crafted from the finest straight grained sports ash, a fantastic English timber, and they are sealed and protected with a triple-coat lacquer finish. The head size is 9” x 3” (23 x 7.5cm), and the mallet's overall length is 37” (94cm).