Reply by Lumber2Sawdust

One important aspect that wasn’t mentioned here so far is surface area.

At least for me, I’m busy looking that the cut, and making sure the chisel is aligned (plumb, square, etc) correctly when chiseling. Having a mallet with a large head means you always hit the chisel properly. I’ve tried using a steel carpenter’s hammer in the past. You end up with a lot of glancing blows on the chisel, and very sore bruised knuckles. Usually I end up with a less-than-ideal project, and a grumpy attitude to go with it.

I made a large mallet from some scrap hard maple that I use a lot. I would like to build a smaller one for more detailed work like dovetails someday.