Hide mallet care question

[Richard_C]

Back in '76 I needed a mallet to turn the 'ears' of the fuel gauge sender in the petrol tank of my Hillman Hunter. Had to be spark proof, the tool shop at the end of the road had a copper/rawhide thor mallet, perfect. Overkill really but has served me well for 45 years on all sorts of things.

Thor Thunderhammer really needs some tlc. The copper end is easy, file off the edges and face. But what about the hide end? It's very dry and hard, edges a bit split, dented.

Is there anything to be done, can you soak hide mallets then dry them again, or use leather soap or ???

 

[Sideways]

I had an old one to renovate. The hide had dried, shrunk and was v. loose in the head. I ended up pouring a good eggcup full of veg cooking oil on it to try and soften the rawhide. Nothing happened. I tossed it back in the shed and a few months later, it had absorbed some oil, expanded a bit and was much less loose. Not as good as original but worth a punt if the alternative is replacing it.
Did you know (I didn't) that they make them with two copper faces. It adds a little to the weight and the baby #1 in copper-copper is quite a nice little tool.

 

[dannyr]

nice tools -- often available used and some only need a little fettling to be good agin

I've also had the drying/curling hide end prob -- soaking in oil (sunflower, linseed etc) has to help - one I wedged in with an offcut of old shoe and then filed around the business end

 

[Daniel2]

How bizarre you should be talking about Thor mallets.
Just yesterday I decided to treat myself to a couple of Thor
copper mallets, from Workshop Heaven.
I'd never even heard of them before, but they look like
nice tools.

 

[pe2dave]

Leather cream if you want to do the job right?
(Thank you the repair shop )

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Link doesn't work.

 

[pe2dave]

Try this. Sorry, Amazon subscripts

 

[AdrianUK]

Use Neatsfoot oil, it’s exactly what it’s for.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I was about to say the same. I've used neatsfoot for decades on bike jackets, boots, shoes and my Barmah leather hat. I wonder whether it would make a mallet head slippery, though.
Apparently it used to be used on oilstones.

 

[AJB Temple]

It is fine on mallet heads Phil. I use it too. I dip mallet leather heads into it in a shallow cup every year or two and leave overnight. I do this at the same time as greasing cast iron machine beds etc for the winter.

 

[Rorschach]

Use Neatsfoot oil, it’s exactly what it’s for.

Be careful on storage though, if you live in a humid area then neatsfoot can cause terrible mould.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

There aren't many areas more humid than here (97% atm), and I've never seen any.

 

[Rorschach]

There aren't many areas more humid than here (97% atm), and I've never seen any.

Same kind of humidity here and I had terrible trouble but not on every item treated. It's a well documented problem on horse tack.

 

[Limey Lurker]

Has anyone seen the price of the large hide mallet on page 160 of the Dictum catalogue? I bought an unused one from a charity shop for 50 pence before I got the catalogue.

 

[Richard_C]

Thanks all, useful information and I will get hold of some neatsfoot oil and give it a go.

As it was so old I assumed, wrongly, that Thor would either be long gone or just a brand with everthing cheapened, changed and made in the far east. I stumbled on their website, thorhammer.com, and find they still make them in Shirley (place, not person) even the #3 copper/hide like mine. Soft faced hammers and mallets is all they do - a proper old fashiened specialist tool company in the Midlands. I guess they grew up alongside the motor industry - their webpage mentions SS cars (Jaguar as it is now).

You can buy spare heads but need to make a special tool and a hydraulic press (or similar, they say, so I guess car jack and walls) but that seems OTT for an event that happens to me every 40 years. Prices seem reasonable.

Their website has an interesting history section for people who like that sort of thing, and in the download section you get instructions which suggest you let the copper end peen over until it covers the metal rim, at which point it will live on much longer.

Anyway, back to the original task of refurbishing what I have. Move 'em on' head 'em up etc., Rawhide.