# Wooden Mallets for Joinery



## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

Hi all-I'm new to woodworking and I've started making cabinets and furniture. Being new to the craft I know next to nothing. I've seen so many different wooden mallets on YouTube and in forums like these that I feel totally lost.

Now for the question…

As an aspiring furnature and cabinetry maker what should I look for in a wooden mallet?

Thank you in advance!


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## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

What do YOU want to whack?

There are many ergonomic factors when using a mallet. Different folks have different size hands, different physical strength, and work wood differently. That is why there are many choices.

Some folks don't like using a large wooden mallet at all, and use smaller whacking tool called a hammer. The Japanese use metal hammers for whacking their wood chisels for centuries.

IMHO - Best to make a couple different types and learn what style you like best.

BTW - Wooden whackers wear out when weally used. lol
Making several to determine your favorite style will not be wasting time. The lessor choices will become back up when you 'fly off the handle' and wreck your favorite in middle of project.

Best Luck!


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## Rich1955 (Jan 26, 2020)

It depends on what you are going to do with it. For working with chisels I use a round carvers mallet that I made. for joinery I prefer a small 7oz, dead blow mallet as it won't mar the work piece. If you like a wooden mallet, I would make my own, there easy to make and you can customize the handle to fit your hands, as for weight be careful not to make it to heavy, your arms will thank you. I would also put a thick piece of leather on the face so you don't mar your work. Search on you tube to see how to make one. Hope this helps!


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## MPython (Nov 30, 2018)

I use mallets for two different tasks: striking chisels and knocking joints together (or apart). I don't use the same mallet for both tasks. I use a round mallet for chisels (the two mallets on the left in the photo below) and a heavy, leather faced mallet for knocking joinery together (the mallet on the right in the photo below).










Both kinds are fairly simple to make, but you probably need a lathe to turn the round ones. You can substitute a dead-blow mallet for the other one (I have one and I use it interchangeably with the wooden mallet for assembly and disassembly of joinery). I like some "presence" or weight in both kinds of mallets. I bought my two round mallets and my dead-blow mallet. All three have enough mass to suit me. I made the wooden, leather faced mallet and weighted the head with lead shot to give it some more "presence." A soft face is essential in my view for assembly and disassembly of joinery, hence the leather face on my big wooden mallet. My dead-blow mallet has a urethane covering that serves the same purpose of cushioning the blow. A hard face on these mallets bruises the workpiece and can easily leave permanent dents that mar your finished project.

.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

I made one from the Wood By Wright youtube video out of oak firewood. It worked great for bashing stuff but was way too heavy and tired out my shoulder pretty quickly. After doing some research and seeing that both Paul Sellers and Richard Maguire both use and were recommending the Thor 712 mallet, i bought one on Amazon and thats pretty much all I use now. The hard face is good for most things, and when pounding joinery together I just use the soft face, so works for 99% of everything i do:
https://www.amazon.com/Thor-712R-Faced-Hammer-Handle/dp/B0001P0YF0


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## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

CaptainKlutz-Thank you! I want to wack chizles and joinery. Your suggestion to make multiples to figure out what works best is an awesome idea. Knowing that i want to wack chizles and joinery but know nothing about woodworking because I'm super noob what designs do you think I should focus on at starting?

Rich1955-Thank you. Extremely helpful! Few questions for ya…
1. Do you have a particular design you like for the round carvers mallet? 
2. Same question for a dead blow mallet.

MPython-thank you for your input, you deffintily braight the points made by Rich1955 into sharper clarity for me. That being said… I do not have a lathe and so for rounded mallets I'll most likely have to buy as well. With this in mind do you have any suggestions for a manufacturer or a craftsman that makes a quality tool?

SMP-thanks man! I'll take a look at the Thor 712 mallet. Any grips with the tool you'd like to air out? Or are you happy as a clam with the Thor 712?

Again thank you to all of you for sharing your wisdom. As a new woodworker it's hard to know where to start and this is what I needed.


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

> SMP-thanks man! I ll take a look at the Thor 712 mallet. Any grips with the tool you d like to air out? Or are you happy as a clam with the Thor 712?
> - Papa_Bear


Well, I know Paul Sellers didn't like the grip on the plastic handled version. I saw him cut off the rubber part and rasp and sand the plastic and stained it brown. When I saw the wood handled version on amazon, i just ordered that one instead. On most wooden handled tools they are usually to shiny/slippery for my taste so I normally scrape/sand the handles and refinish with shellac or BLO but in this case its been "good enough", not my first choice on finish but works good enough to where i am too lazy to personalize it lol! I also have a marples wooden mallet that is a better size than the one i made but i never use that one now either. If money was no object I would probably buy a Blue Spruce carvers mallet with the poly impregnated maple for carving. But alas I am too cheap.


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## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

SMP-so Blue Spruce mallets are beautiful, and they seems to be designed and engineered to a high standard.

Thanks for sharing. Still to early in the learning process to pull the trigger but deffintily the front runner now. Great suggestion SMP!


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

> SMP-so Blue Spruce mallets are beautiful, and they seems to be designed and engineered to a high standard.
> 
> Thanks for sharing. Still to early in the learning process to pull the trigger but deffintily the front runner now. Great suggestion SMP!
> 
> - Papa_Bear


I also hear good things about the Wood Is Good mallets, but i personally don't like the looks of them, they look like a big roller skate wheel to me. But the price is good.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

I saw this "fitting formula" on the net of how to angle the face:










.


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## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

John Smith-Thank you! Very cool. Does the site give any guidance on the actual angel of the light/heavy duty faces?


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

sorry, I don't remember what site it was - it was a few years ago.
you can find the angle of the face with a simple angle finder after you draw the diagram
of your arm and hammer on paper - and use that as a template.

.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

sorry, I don't remember what site it was - it was a few years ago.
you can find the angle with a simple angle finder after you draw the diagram
of your arm and hammer on paper - and use that as a template.

.


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

Everyone is going to be somewhat different, from all aspects. Material, weight, length, head type, and design, etc etc etc.

My favorites to just wack, to help convince parts is a shot filled 1 pound dead blow, it has a 1" diameter head. I find bigger makes splinters. I really just tap with it, if light tapping doesn't work with 1 pound behind it, you need to take off more wood.

For tapping chisels I like a piece of Brass bar stock that is 7" long. Fits my hand like a glove, delivers the strike just like I thumped it with my hand itself, so dead on every time, and somehow it makes the angle perfect for flush hits. I never scar the top of a chisel using it. Mine is 1" diameter same as the dead blow. Most who use them opt for larger diameter, bigger ones make my arm/wrist tired feeling quickly. Mine does not. I use a pretty light tap here as well. I find those other designs dull chisels faster, and I loose control of my strikes.










I tried one of those confounded angled head mallets once, same with one of those bells shapes on a stick, and with both had close to 50% missed strikes (IE: not dead on strikes). That said I made most of my living swinging a carpenters hammer, either framing 24 oz, or curved head 16" trimmer for well over 35 years part time, and for 15 years full time. So I know how to swing a hammer.

Like I said earlier, different for every person. Make no doubt you should use some of the many choices before spending money.


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## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

therealSteveN-thanks, Steve! As usual your wisdom is solid! I was wondering about getting dead on accurate strikes to my chizles with some of the designs I've seen and heard about…

Is the brass bar your using to strike the chizles just a naked piece of stock or do you modify it beyond cutting it down to your desired size?


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## MPython (Nov 30, 2018)

> MPython-thank you for your input, you deffintily braight the points made by Rich1955 into sharper clarity for me. That being said… I do not have a lathe and so for rounded mallets I ll most likely have to buy as well. With this in mind do you have any suggestions for a manufacturer or a craftsman that makes a quality tool?
> 
> ....
> 
> - Papa_Bear


Papa Bear,

I have several round mallets. My favorite is the ridiculously expensive Blue Spruce one. The striking head is infused with hard plastic, acrylic I think, and it is virtually indestructible. I've been using mine for several years and I can't find a mark on it. I have a "Wood is Good" mallet. It's much more affordable than the Blue Spruce one and works well. They offer the mallet in several sizes sizes. It has a urethane head which works like a dead blow mallet. It absorbs the shock of the blow but still delivers most of the striking force to the chisel. They are kind to your chisel handles and they too are virtually indestructible. I also have a carving mallet with a brass head. It is good for precise detail carving, but I don't think it would be a good choice for general, all round woodworking. You might want to look at Highland Woodworking in Atlanta. They have a wide selection of all kinds of woodworking mallets. Here's their link: https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/mallets.aspx

Python


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## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

Python-thanks for the update. Before you owned these high end mallets did you have a mallet style or design that you revered over others?

Thanks again everyone. I'm learning a lot!


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## MPython (Nov 30, 2018)

> Python-thanks for the update. Before you owned these high end mallets did you have a mallet style or design that you revered over others?
> 
> Thanks again everyone. I m learning a lot!
> 
> - Papa_Bear


I've made many mallets over the years, some turned on my lathe, mostly from local dogwood, others the flat style from various hardwoods. I've had my dead blow mallet purchased from my local hardware store for many years. I don't know that I had a favorite, but I probably used the dead blow mallet the most and I still use it a lot. It' not a fancy one, just one of these: 
https://www.amazon.com/YIYITOOLS-Hammer-Resistant-Sparking-YY-3-002/dp/B084V7WBVR/ref=sr_1_7?_encoding=UTF8&c=ts&dchild=1&keywords=Dead-Blow+Hammers&qid=1603725661&s=power-hand-tools&sr=1-7&ts_id=553198


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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

> I was wondering about getting dead on accurate strikes to my chizles with some of the designs I ve seen and heard about…
> 
> - Papa_Bear


You don't "necessarily " need dead on accuracy. What you are looking for is center of percussion. Which is different on different shapes and sizes and styles. Paul discusses COP here on his recommendation for beginners:
https://commonwoodworking.com/chisel-hammer-guide/

And on his old wooden one. This shows dimensions of his favorite wooden mallet, no angle but length on top and bottom, you can then use a protractor to deduce the angle:
https://paulsellers.com/2013/04/heres-my-mallet/


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## AndyJ1s (Jan 26, 2019)

> John Smith-Thank you! Very cool. Does the site give any guidance on the actual angel of the light/heavy duty faces?
> 
> - Papa_Bear


The face angle will depend on half the length (face-face) of top of the head, and the length from the top of the head to your wrist/elbow, assuming the head is symmetrical on the handle.

Lay those out on paper, wood scrap, etc, and set your sliding T bevel to match.

If you know how to use ARCTAN or INV TAN on a scientific calculator, then those same measurements can be used to calculate the angle, then lay it out with a protractor.


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## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

Hi all-I feel so blessed for all your input. Thank you all so much.

Andy-busting out my TI89 right meow. Thank man, great suggestion!

SMP-those links are gold. I really appreciate you sharing!


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

some people just like to make mallets.
some have a use, some are used frequently, some just sit on the shelf and look pretty.
don't despair ~ eventually, you will have many. (it just takes time).
this is only a few of what I used to have. I have given some away and sold some on Ebay.










.


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## Rich1955 (Jan 26, 2020)

> CaptainKlutz-Thank you! I want to wack chizles and joinery. Your suggestion to make multiples to figure out what works best is an awesome idea. Knowing that i want to wack chizles and joinery but know nothing about woodworking because I m super noob what designs do you think I should focus on at starting?
> 
> Rich1955-Thank you. Extremely helpful! Few questions for ya…
> 1. Do you have a particular design you like for the round carvers mallet?
> ...


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## Rich1955 (Jan 26, 2020)

My carvers mallet I made to fit my hands, It weigh's about 10 oz. as for the dead blow mallet I just purchased one from Menards. Its nothing special and the 7oz weight works for me. I don't like to have to hammer my joinery together if it's to tight, I adjust it to fit better.


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## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

Rich-Great point! I'll keep that in mind for my next project. You're not the first to suggest that if you have to force it together you should probably do a little more work with the chisel or sander.

John Smith-I love those brass headed mallets in the Pic. Do you have any tips for building the types of brass headed mallets in your photo?


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

PB - the metal head mallets were made with a metal holding chuck.
you should never turn metal on a wood lathe without significant experience
in wood turning and metalworking first. (AND the proper tools and accessories).
you can certainly make brass mallets without a lathe - YouTube is full of tutorials.
I drilled and threaded a 5/16" hole for the all-thread into the head and epoxied the tail into the handle.
(sounds simple enough, doesn't it).





































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## Papa_Bear (Oct 20, 2020)

John-these are beautiful! Thank you for sharing. I'm deffintily going to attempt to make one. Sounds simple, but if I've learned anything it's that the best craftsmen make everything they build look easier than it is.

Mine won't be this pretty, but it'll deffintily get the job done.

Thanks again for sharing!


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## Foghorn (Jan 30, 2020)

Some beautiful mallets John. You've inspired me to fire up my Taig lathe and try my hand at a few.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

thanks guys.
the first one I saw was copper - not made for "whopping" on stuff, but, rather the
gentle tap, tap, tap on chisels and gouges. 
(held in the hand like so - - - ).


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and I said: wow, I gotta make me one of those !!
not having any copper bar on hand, I did have a piece of brass round stock just big enough.
I've worked with brass quite a bit and new its characteristics. well, it turned out "okay" and
I gave it to my neighbor that just ranted and raved over it.
then, I ordered some pre-cut brass round stock in various sizes off of ebay and a four jaw
metal turning chuck to fit my Harbor Freight wood lathe. after two are made; then four;
then six; then ten - - - - once you get the hang of it, it is very addictive !!!
then, I got some aluminum bar stock - then some stainless steel, then some copper (which I haven't used yet).
then I had a pretty bad table saw accident and all my power tool usage came to a screeching halt.
so I am just now getting back the self confidence to work with the saws and lathe again so I will
get some copper heads made in the next projects.
but if you look on YouTube, you really don't need a lathe of any kind to make some nice metalheads.
no matter what you do; just think safe and work safe !!!




























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## SMP (Aug 29, 2018)

If I'm going for looks i'll make one of these some day. Uri Tuchman is one of my favorite youtubers, massively skilled guy with great videos, and shows how to make the tools he uses to make the items.


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