Ron, Thank you! I didn't expect the checkering to be perfect but the reason I removed it was, the mallet came out to be nicer than my average woodworking quality so I just wanted to keep it cool. Oh and haha, don't worry, I'm only good at cutting myself with my tools, not hitting:)
Don, Thank you! The checkering is very fun/cool technique. I want to be able to do it at least the very basic one!