Thread: carpenters mallet

There's a couple of schools of thought on mallet materials

One says you should make them softer than the material of the tool handle so the mallet takes the damage and not the tools since it's easier to replace one mallet than 20 tool handles

The other is that if it's too soft a material you can't get good solid contact, and you'll wear the mallet hollow too fast, as well as making it more tiring on yourself because it will be too light as well.

I have standard shop bought beech mallet and it's working fine but does feel a little light, I have a laminated mallet made from a scrap of pallet hardwood that is tough but springy, and I recently had a friend turn a spotted gum carving mallet for me and it's incredibly plesant to use - so much so I will be making my next carpenters mallet from the stuff. All three work just fine but it's the spotted gum one that my hand goes to every time.

Why not give it a shot?. You'll probably want a standard carpenters mallet pattern for dovetails though, it's much easier to get a square cut than with the round mallet.

Thanks for your reply andrewr79. Yes I made a laminated mallet from hoop pine 18 months 2 years ago. It's looking a little worn now. Yours looks good & it's got grain & looks like a piece of camphor but I'm guessing it's not if it comes from a pallet. Are you using the carvers mallet more than the carpenters mallet? ( as a preference)
Barry

It doesn't smell like camphor either sadly, not sure what it is other than hardwood.

I really do like the carvers mallet, but I'll still reach for the other for standard carpentry style cuts. This may change as I get better with the round mallet.

Hi Linesman,
I thought if you Turned one in one piece, that would most likely make it a bit lighter.
I think either wood, wood do the job nicely.
Your Daughter is a lucky Girl.

Have made iron bark turned mallets for a friend. It has become his new favourite mallet. Was going to make a spotted one as weell in the interests of research but haven;t come across a suitable bit of wood yet! I think slightly heavier is better cos paradoxically you don't have to hit as hard. If it is too heavy for her make it slightly smaller. If you have her around while you are making it she can try as you go and you can make the handle juuuuuuuuuuuuust right too! If you want it to be a pressy, maybe wrap up the bit of wood with an IOU.

I have a couple of turned mallets, one of them being turned from laminated veranda post so don't know the timber but it is dark and a tad heavy so don't use that one much. The other turned one is a much lighter mallet and is more like a carvers mallet made from a piece of timber someone gave me so don't know what it is. I also have one of the other kind that I made and I use that one the most of all because I prefer the shape.

Ii don't think it really matters what timbers you use, they are functional and easily and cheaply replaced.

Thanks every one for the input I reckon I'll go with the spotty but will turn a round head for a carpenters mallet. The ultimate aim in all this is to fit the tool kit into an attache case style tool box. See att. picture from an old Fine Woodworking Mag. I've been scouring the markets for old quality tools & have a couple of planes & some chisels of varying makes. Hence the concern about the hardness of the mallet on the I presumed beech handles of some of the chisels.

Barry

Originally Posted by linesman

I've got the urge to make a mallet. I have some grey iron bark,& some spotted gum in the shed. I suspect these are too hard & or too heavy. If I should use something softer & lighter what Australian timber would be suitable? The mallet would be for my 30+yo daughter to use for light work dovetailing eg. box making.
As part of my musing over puting a basic tool kit together for her I wondered if a carvers mallet would be more appropriate.

Barry

Hi Barry,
I'm a bit of a mallet-head, I think. I use both carvers' style & square-heads. Made my first carvers' mallet many, many years ago, & really liked it. I made a few mnore of different sizes, and thgese were all I used for hitting chisels and just about anything wooden for the next 30 years. I had a very rough old clunker of a square-head that I used for hitting wedges or anything that was likely to chew up my 'decent' mallets.

Last year, I had some scraps of nice, tight Ironbark from a tree in my front yard, & decided to make a couple of mallets with it. I turned a couple of smallish carvers' types, but there were still several good chunks, so on a whim, I made 4 or 5 square-heads of different sizes, to see what size/weight suited. I've come to like the small one so much, I tend to reach for it rather than my old faithful carvers' style when mortising.

What I liked about the round mallets is that (a) thery take about 10 minutes to make; and (b) the short handle allows you to hit more accurately. (At least I think that's the main reason - most people seem to find hitting a small target more intuitive with them). You don't need to watch the head of the chisel, & can concentrate on what's happening at the pointy end. And even if you do mis-hit slightly, the round head seems to roll off your fist & inflict little pain. However, if you get the balance/size right with square heads, they are easy to use, too. I have no idea how you decide what size suits without actually using it, so make a couple & see what your daughter finds comfy. With the square style, you can start with it a bit heavier than you think, and shave a little off the faces progressively until you get just the right weight & balaance that suits.

As to what wood to use, I've been hitting my wooden chisels for years with malllets made from the hardest woods I can find, and none of my handles carries a single scar. I like dense wood because it makes for a more compact head, with the weight concentrated where it needs to be. I find those prissy little Beech things that are being sold by a few retailers, quite useless. However, there is a problem with a lot of our hardwoods, because they tend to flake along the growth rings in round mallets, & I've had a good few fall apaart under extreme provocation. The chunk of Olive I made my current favourite from has served for about 15 years so far, & looks good for at least that long again.

Just to give you an idea of somewhere to start, here are a couple to compare. The round mallets are Ironbark & Olive wood, respectively. The heads are both about 60mm diameter at the wide end, & tapering back to the handle end a bit. Overall length of head about 120mm in each case. The Ironbark weighs 490g and the Olive 450g, which turns out to be just the right size & weight for me for tapping my dovetail chisels. How you form the handle is a matter of choice, but I recommend making the end that joins the head thinner, to reduce the jar a bit when striking.

The square mallets have Ironbark heads & Wattle handles. The larger weighs 930g including handle (head is 130mm [long side] x 65mm, & smaller weighs 630g (head 115x60mm). It's the smaller one that I find so nice for hitting mortice chisels, the big mutha is for jobs like pursuading big heavy tenons to go home....

Cheers,

IanW thanks for the detailed reply. I got busy today & knocked out some mallets based on your info & of a similar sizing. All spotty gum & all in the similar weight range as yours. I used the small carpenters mallet to cut the mortice for the handle in the large one and was quite happy with it. I'll give the others a trial run in the future. No fancy finishes for them gave them a rub with some oil & only did that as I had the oil out for the handle of the round headed one as I turned it from kwila & kwila is bad for timber stain on damp sweaty hands.

See Att. Barry.

Barry - well done - you knocked those out in jig time. I suspect you will get plenty of good use out of them. I like having a few different size 'pursuaders' at hand. The beauty of these things is they cost nothing but a bit of time to make, and they aren't precious - if you bust one, just make another....

Cheers,

Brilliant mallets Barry! Are the faces parralel to the handle? Can't really tell from the picks. The turned one looks pretty straight un and down. I have a memory of seeing something bout the striking faces NOT being parralel to the handle.

Here is an artical by someone about it! I think his angles are a little to much. The turned mallets I have made were on a bit of an angle but I didn';t get all scientific about it.

Chisel Mallet Angles Made Easy - by swirt @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community

Here are some red gum.mallets I made a while ago! The big one I ending up cutting shorter. It felt good to have the weight closer to the hand. the small ones were actually too light. 250 gms. Big one 550 gms. Dont' know what it weighted after it diet. Only a slight angle to them.

Yes, 250g is a little bit girl-ish, TL!

I know conventional wisdom is to angle the striking faces of mallets; it's supposed to make the action more 'natural'. I've made 'em both angled & straight/parallel, & to be honest, I can't say I notice any significant difference in use. The big differences in how 'good' they are come from weight & overall balance. But given the vagries of wood, and the time between making a batch of mallets, I never seem to be able to repeat the exact feel of any really 'good' ones...

Cheers,

Tea Lady interesting artical on striking angle.I have a angle on one face of the small mallet no science just randomly chose 5 degrees. My old pine mallet was like that & I glued a peice of leather to the flat face & used that face to knock jobs togeather. The problem being I knocked a job togeather that I used apoxy glue on & got apoxy on the leather & it turned hard so I cut it up yesterday to reuse the handle into the new mallet.
Barry.

I've got a piece of Tassie Oak that I've been saving for a mallet. Any ideas how this will go? I'm not sure how similar to Spotty it is (density and weight).