Howdy all,

I just finished my first attempt at a wooden mallet (round head) to
occasionally use around my shop. Its nothing fancy, mainly for utility - I'm
thinking I'll use it mostly for assembly and some light work with my wooden
handled bench chisels when needed.

I suppose I could just leave it unfinished, but I remember reading somewhere
about a mallet maker who dipped their mallets for upwards of a month in
Linseed oil to penetrate the wood and ad some heft. I'm contemplating doing
this, but I'm looking for a few other opinions.

I'm not overly interested in how it ultimately looks, rather I'd like
something that might increase the mallets resistance to drying out over time
and help it hold up to use.

I could just rub the linseed oil in as that's what I'm use to on the handles
of my other tools, but I'm wondering if soaking it for an extended period of
time would penetrate a bit deeper.

Also, can anyone suggest other options to Linseed oil that would give a
"harder" finish to the wood? Would tung oil or polyurethane better increase
its resilience to impacts (can you recommend a brand name I can ask for) or
are they pretty much all the same?

-thanks in advance