Thread: Brass Chisel Hammer - Opinions Please

Dunno, yvan. Is this what you are talking about? Paul Sellars doesn't seem too impressed by them....

Everyone has his/her own preferences for what we use for walloping chisels. Mine is a wooden mallet of some kind, and I would not be reaching for a stubby brass hammer. I don't like whacking wooden handles with metal, and it seems to me the action would be choppy & tiring on the wrist, but since I've never tried one, I may be dead wrong.

Being a cheapskate, I hate spending money on tools I can make myself, and in this case, for virtually nothing. Mallets, either the round 'carver' type: Mallet Olivewood red.jpg
or square-ish 'carpenter' style: Buloak hdle.jpg
are literally a matter of a few minutes work apiece, and you don't need to spend a cent on material if you can lay your hands on a couple of bits of scrap hardwood. The best part about making your own is that you can muck about getting the head weights and handle thickness/lengths just how you like them....

Cheers,

More likely to be referring to these:
http://www.glen-drake.com/Tite-Hammers/

not that there's much difference.

You can see on that page that they are intended for "carving and close work" i.e. where you're not taking a big less controlled swing, but you need a tap with heft. For those purposes I reckon they'd be pretty good actually. Small swing, lots of energy imparted.

Very much doubt they'd be any good for mortising though.....

Yvan ,
I made these two about six months ago.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1429608899.279943.jpgFor close up work taking just slither of timber off ,there both great both a bit bottom heavy.
But that's the way I designed them.
There not for belting the crap out of chisel .
There both are just for small repetitive light taps only
Which I actually find quite controlling when your just wanting to take away small bit of timber .
Better than even just pushing on the end of chisel .
But we all have different ways of working .
As Ian pointed out ,both cost zero money, and a bit of time.
If you did have to pay for materials, I would estimate it being maybe $20/30 including the small amount of brass.
And yes granted I have a small metal working lathe .
But you could make them both with out one
.And they both work great.
apologies for the crap iPhone pics it's my only camera and I'm not very good with a camera [emoji1]ImageUploadedByTapatalk1429608774.906144.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1429608817.721792.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1429608860.493618.jpg

Originally Posted by yvan

I have noticed these hammers on the net. Some with short handles others with longer ones. It would seem "logical" that a small stubby hammer with a reasonably heavy head would be comfortable to use with chisels.
Views, opinions and practical advice gratefully received!!
Yvan

As Ian implies, it depends on the type of chisel. I also wouldn't wish to wack wooden handles with a metal face, whether brass or steel. However I am happy to do this to my Japanese hooped chisels, since that is what they are designed for. In the case of a hooped bench chisel, use a gennou (which is steel and not brass). Head from Japan Tools and handle in Jarrah ..



For unhooked wooden handled bench chisels I use a mallet with a wooden face (but it does have a brass body for a little extra mass - total 18 oz), made by Veritas and re-handled in Jarrah by myself. Leather on one face ..



I used to use a round carver's mallet, like the one Ian shows, but eventually decided that I preferred striking with a flat hammer face. It seems to direct force better, and there is less chance of a glancing blow when striking hard. Veritas make a nice brass carver's mallet, if that is what you were considering ...



Glen-Drake make a brass chisel hammer ...



Edit to add a morticing mallet.

I am adding this in to show the other extreme. If you plan to mortice with large, thick chisels, then you benefit from a large mass in a smaller head (than would have been necessary at this weight). This one is reinforced with brass to total 36 oz. Even so, the face is leather.




Regards from Perth

Derek

The first time I chopped a mortise I used a hammer on my chisels. There were two mortises in the project.

That one job did more damage to my chisels than every job since.

I suppose there is some value in having a lot of mass behind a very short handle though... For what I do, which is pretty traditional use of bench chisels, a wooden mallet is definitely the right choice.

Can you comment a bit more on what kind of work you do? That may facilitate better answers. Not that I have any of those... but you've already drawn the attention of a couple of folks who do

Cheers,
Luke

So there you go, yvan, I think my contention that mallets are a personal thing has been well illustrated already....

Perhaps I should have included a warning when suggesting you make your own. As you can see, anyone who makes a mallet of any kind never seems to stop at one! That's partly because it's good to have a variety of wallopers on hand, some jobs call for light, controlled taps while others need more sturdy encouragement. But I suspect it's mainly because it's just fun using scrap materials for something useful. As Simplicity says, even if you have to buy a bit of brass, the cost isn't prohibitive (& a good deal less than buying a tool you can make for yourself! ). Brass is easy to work with, and at least where I buy brass, they are quite happy to chop off however much you need - I wouldn't want to pay for a whole 3 metre bar of 1 1/2" brass......

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

The first time I chopped a mortise I used a hammer on my chisels. There were two mortises in the project.

That one job did more damage to my chisels than every job since.

I suppose there is some value in having a lot of mass behind a very short handle though... For what I do, which is pretty traditional use of bench chisels, a wooden mallet is definitely the right choice.

Can you comment a bit more on what kind of work you do? That may facilitate better answers. Not that I have any of those... but you've already drawn the attention of a couple of folks who do

Cheers,
Luke

It all started when I started to cut notches in a 140mm x 40mm x 850mm piece of pine to house legs to make a sawhorse, all by hand. I used a 19mm chisel and tried a mallet which I found quite big and somewhat cumbersome. I swapped for a 13oz square headed Japanese hammer which I found a bit light, before settling for a claw hammer with a good weight but too long a handle....which perfectly illustrates IanW's comment that there is a need for several hammers depending on the sort of walloping required I hastily add that the chisel suffered no harm!

BTW, the sawhorse design calls for compound angles....Well the said notches with the legs fitted will require a lot of epoxy to fill the gaps !!!

yvan

Originally Posted by IanW

So there you go, yvan, I think my contention that mallets are a personal thing has been well illustrated already....

Perhaps I should have included a warning when suggesting you make your own. As you can see, anyone who makes a mallet of any kind never seems to stop at one! That's partly because it's good to have a variety of wallopers on hand, some jobs call for light, controlled taps while others need more sturdy encouragement. But I suspect it's mainly because it's just fun using scrap materials for something useful. As Simplicity says, even if you have to buy a bit of brass, the cost isn't prohibitive (& a good deal less than buying a tool you can make for yourself! ). Brass is easy to work with, and at least where I buy brass, they are quite happy to chop off however much you need - I wouldn't want to pay for a whole 3 metre bar of 1 1/2" brass......

Quite so Ian! Dereck's collection alone illustrates what you said and just about everyone suggests that home made is the answer. Much appreciated

yvan

Yvan

You just can't have too many hammers and mallets .

A mallet, ironically, is a very tactile tool and I happen to think that the right mallet, or hammer, (for you that is) makes the difference between a job being tedious and a delight.

I also keep one old mallet to thump seven bells out out things and as such it is sacrificial. I last used it to whack some concrete formwork .

Regards
Paul