Tite-Hammers

[Jez]

hello all

I just ordered a Glen-Drake marking gauge after watching Rob Cosman :shock:

and got a catalogue with it with these
http://play-glen-drake.com/v-web/ecomme ... 35f1c065ef

I don't have a mallet and im looking for a good mallet for my chisels as the ones they have at collage are also used by the joiners and have very large holes in the faces...

ive googled around and searched the site and can't seem to find a UK shop that sells them :x

anybody know of anywhere

also if you have one, how are they ?


thanks alot,
Jez

 

[Alf]

Ha hum, I'm not suggesting I recommend such a purchase, but I would have thought Mike Hancock at Class Hand Tools would probably be your best UK option for sourcing one.

It annoys the heck out of me when folks on forums do the whole looking-down-the-nose-what-d'you-want-that-fancy-boutique-tool-for thing, but in this case, well there's gotta be better things to spend your money on, haven't there? What handles d'you have on your chisels, btw? If they're wood I suggest you use a mallet that's more forgiving than the chisel handle - easier to replace one mallet than X number of chisel handles. It's not nearly as sexy, but the plain old beech mallet hasn't endured for years for nothing.

I'll go away and rain on someone else's parade now, shall I...?

Cheers, Alf

 

[Jez]

:shock: i guess ill go with a good old mallet then...

thanks for the advice lol

 

[Alf]

Well wait a bit 'cos someone may come along and explain to us why it's the bee's knees and then I'll be looking for a UK source too.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Scott]

Would the Veritas Journeyman's Mallet not be an option if you're after a brass hammer? Personally I'd stick with traditional beech but I did once wonder in passing what Mike Hancock's polyurethane ones are like ...

 

[Colin C]

Cat amongst the pigeons time :roll:
You could make one, you should be able to get some off cuts that will be it for not very much and it will be all yours or get some Lignum vitae and turn one.
( I am guessing time to get my coat)

 

[engineer one]

what about a dead blow mallet in one or other funny coloured plastic
type material???

i was lucky enough to get a dutch one, and that is a laminate which looks
nice, but alf is right; rather like the stone mason's mallet i have from my
late father, it was his grandfather's but of course since then has had
about 4or 5 heads and at least the same number of handles the beech one
will do what you want.

too many people want all the bits before they are start trying to
find out how and in what way they will use the tools. before you consider
a mallet of any sort, make sure that you know how often you actually
will use it. are you sure that you will use the super mallet often enough
to justify the cost????

i never thought i would use the wooden planes i bought, but having sharpened them, i now will because the feel and look right, but had
i not got them i would not consider it. at least i have tried them
to discover when i will use them.

paul :wink:

 

[MikeW]

Would the Veritas Journeyman's Mallet not be an option if you're after a brass hammer? Personally I'd stick with traditional beech but I did once wonder in passing what Mike Hancock's polyurethane ones are like ...

Those look like the Wood is Good mallets. In any case, they work well, at least for carving. I have two sizes for when I am using larger gouges. For the smaller tools I use the small brass carver's mallet LV carries.

The round face on the carver's mallets would seem to be a possible source of deflection on the end of a chisel.

Only because it is what I am use to, my vote [yeah, as if I had a vote] is for the traditional Beech mallet. Though I do usually modify them to have less angle on their faces.

The dead-blow mallets have a bit of give to them. There are dead-blow hammers which have a very tough plastic on their heads. I use these all the time. They would transfer the power of the swing decently.

Ok, I'm broke. You got my last two cents :lol: time to go...

Take care, Mike

 

[Jake]

...[all the wrong answer] ...

Surely what you meant was you are just about to bring out perfect hyper-real replicas of those beautiful original curly-shaped antique mallets in a range of exotic hardwoods that will make us drool?

 

[engineer one]

here we go again mike w.

as jake says, you are trying to convince us
that a man who can convert maple that he stole from a pizza eating
bear and turned into mighty saw handles has no money :lol:

anyone with the hutzpah to deprive a bear of its beer and pizza is
expecting miracles if he expects that we would believe he has no
more cents to throw into the ring. :lol:

seriously, i think, as i said before you should look at what you are
going to do before chosing a mallet.

stone cutters use chisels which are about 7inches long, whilst the
mallets are also about 7 inches long from handle to top of head.
this is because the work on stone is actually quite delicate, and
you really only want to swing the head.

in wood work, your chisels are often about 11 inches long as indeed are
many of the mallets, so you use them differently.

hitting stone, you wrap your hand around the shaft very near the
lower sharp end, and hold the mallet near the head. with wood,
you tend to hold the chisel at the far end on the say wooden handle near
the ring, and swing the mallet/hammer from the base of the
handle, this gives you a different form of control, but allows
you to hit harder.

from what i have seen, carvers also tend to use shorter gouges
so they need smaller mallets, whilst knocking out a mortise
needs a long swing and a long chisel.

that mike is my dollars' worth.

paul :wink:

 

[MikeW]

...that mike is my dollars' worth.

paul :wink:

And worth ten times as much :!:

Didn't know that about the stone cutters, so I never really thought about the difference in holding the chisel--Cool!

Take care, Mike

 

[MikeW]

Sorry, Jake. No mallets from us.

Now other tools... :wink:

Take care, Mike

 

[Alf]

Ok, I'm broke. You got my last two cents :lol:

Yeah, right :roll: :lol:

Colin, you know I almost went to the trouble of digging out various mallet plans and saying the same thing, but laziness intervened. Actually it still has so here's a link to some info posted elsewhere instead.

Cheers, Alf

 

[MikeW]

Ok, I'm broke. You got my last two cents :lol:

Yeah, right :roll: :lol:
...Cheers, Alf

No, really. That little bit of thought wore me out the rest of the day!

Well, not really. William and I slipped the chess board out to the shop about 8 pm and just finished a rousing round of seven games...

Take care, Mike

 

[j]

Speaking of the old beech mallets. How are you supposed to stop the head from sliding down the handle? I got one for 50p from the boot sales
Seems nice and solid, quite heavy, slightly battered, but the head keeps slipping.
It looks like it's a tight fit when pushed up the handle, but doesn't stay there.

TIA

J

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Would the Veritas Journeyman's Mallet not be an option if you're after a brass hammer?

I have this one and love its heft (for such a small mallet) and balance. It is a joy to use.

There are times when I think about the possibility it causing damage to the chisel handles. However, I use it with very light taps, since it is small enough to fit into the palm of one's hand and feel like its extension.

I have wondered whether it might be possible to heat and shrink a thick plastic skin over it. Then I could put aside my paranoia and just enjoy it 100%. Any ideas?

Mike, are you on the bears again? Don't you know that two is the legal limit?

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[MikeW]

...Mike, are you on the bears again? Don't you know that two is the legal limit?

Regards from Perth, Derek

Nah. Last weekend was my monthly allotment of bears, er, beers. Now G&Ts on these warm evenings...

Back to the topic. It seems to me a mallet is such a simple thing to make. Not that I have, mind you. But if I really needed to wack something hard, I would just make one. If I didn't already have a few that is.

Even choping a mortise, I like the feel of wood against the end of the chisel. I've tried brass as well as steel hammers. Never really "felt" right to me. I think for me it is the feedback a good solid wood mallet gives.

In fact, chopping a mortise is the only time I strike a chisel. Everything else is sawn close enough I use the paring chisels. I haven't used my bench chisels in a year. Except to open paint cans...

Take care, Mike

 

[MikeW]

Speaking of the old beech mallets. How are you supposed to stop the head from sliding down the handle? I got one for 50p from the boot sales
Seems nice and solid, quite heavy, slightly battered, but the head keeps slipping.
It looks like it's a tight fit when pushed up the handle, but doesn't stay there.

TIA

J

Hi J,

Seems to me if it is slipping down the handle excessively--mine do once in a while, the mortise and or handle is not making a good fit. Might try putting some ash on the handle where the head should sit and slide the head into place, then remove the head.

Look inside the mortise and see where the ash has transfered to the mortise walls. It should be a fairly even smear on the mortise walls. If not, you may need to make adjustments to one or the other.

Take care, Mike

 

[engineer one]

strangely enough that was probably where the first use of a
wedge on a mortise and tenon came from :lol: :lol: :lol:

so us old timers always made new wedges
if we bought mallets whose heads had shrunk away from the
handles. or you could use a metal wedge like they use in
hammers, (ifyoucan find one)

paul :wink:

 

[Alf]

J, presumably the sort as linked to earlier? Tapered handle and mortise in the head? Mostly just a sharp rap or two on the head end of the handle (hold the head and bang the handle end on the bench top) will seat it okay. It's probably moved in different workshop conditions so needs a little tweaking as Mike suggests. I had one mallet that dried out so much in my w'shop compared to its previous abode that the handle threatened to come right through, so I gave it a good soak in BLO, which not only tightened it up but also gave it a bit more weight.

Derek, how about Jim Thompson's idea? Is there likely to be a suitable size of pipe available I wonder? :-k

Mike, whatever you do, don't start making mallets. They're like bears, you say to yourslef one's enough, you can stop any time you like, but inevitably you find yourself lured into making/eating another (delete as appropriate...). I went through a terrible phase of mallet-making a while back, just about managed to recover - but I've got a bit of apple tree stump drying in the potting shed that's just begging to be made into a round, one-piece mallet and the urge to relapse is strong... 8-[

Cheers, Alf