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On my bench, always standing at the ready, is an old friend that needs to be coaxed into retirement. My mallet has served me for many years, but I noticed a while back that its age was beginning to show.

I turned this mallet when I was 15 or 16 years old. That was some 35 years back. The mallet kept its original shape and showed no signs of wear for many years. But throughout those early years, it was inexperienced and was not called into duty very often. It was only after I decided to hand cut all my dovetails that my mallet saw steady action. It was my reliable sidekick during my learning phase and became a trusted friend as my skills increased.  

It’s not that this re-purposed baseball bat couldn’t do the work any more. I could pick it up and whack out any dovetails whenever necessary. But I noticed that my friend was losing weight and that I was swinging harder with each thwack. (I noticed that in my shoulder and wrist.) I was absorbing more to compensate for my mallet’s shortcomings. As more and more glancing blows were delivered, I felt that the time had come.

This is not the first time I pressed my mallet into semi-retirement or had to do the job with a stand-in. I was woodworking with a friend at his place when we began a dovetail discussion. In order to demonstrate my point, I needed to cut a couple dovetails. He had a mallet, but I didn’t. And he wouldn’t let me use his mallet (big boy games you know). So I picked up an old baluster, then whacked out a set of dovetails much to his surprise. I’ve also used a square piece of stock while In a pinch and without my tools.

I did acquire a new mallet a while back and it worked great. The only difference was the new guy was a bit square. Sure, it was balanced correctly. It was, and continues to be, durable. But I discovered that I changed my methods when using my square mallet. I no longer spun the mallet in my hand as I drew back for the next blow. I continuously beat on the same face. It was just a matter of time before the square mallet would begin to show signs of battle. This new mallet worked and it did so without being flashy. In the end, that lack of flash may have been its demise.

I was mesmerized when a round mallet came into the Popular Woodworking shop from Blue Spruce Toolworks. This mallet was infused with acrylic and offered a lifetime of service.

Even though the mallet was sent to editor Christopher Schwarz, I borrowed it from his bench while he was away and gave it a quick try on the dovetailed bracket feet for a couple blanket chests , our October cover project. I immediately coveted this tool.

When I found out a new mallet could be ordered in a variety of colors, I quickly placed my order for a red body with that striking black handle. It was the true definition of flashy. When my mallet arrived, it was a bit less than the brillant red I had envisioned , Schwarz called it pink in a Woodworking Magazine blog entry (click here). To me, it has the word “flashy” written all over it.

I’ve had opportunity to put my new friend to the test and so far I’ve been more than pleased. Whacking steel-banded chisels has added a few small blemishes, but I don’t expect this mallet to show any significant signs of wear for some time to come.

What are you using for a mallet? Better yet, what have you used? Have you gone the way of a baluster or something else? Leave a comment so we can create a list.

– Glen D. Huey

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Showing 7 comments
  • Steve Huey

    I remember when you turned that first mallet. I was and am younger but I whacked out my share of dovetails with that mallet as well. I ask two things – 1. Don’t throw out the old mallet as I think I have a claim to it sense right about the time you made that mallet I started missing my baseball bat. And 2. If you get any magazine comps _ I would like one of those new mallets in blue. I tried them and they are worth buying. (Especially if you don’t have a brother in the wood business!)

  • Karl

    I prefer to use a mallet I turned from a hunk of ash, but when I can’t find it I use what looks (and feels) like a toy mallet. I inherited it in a friend’s divorce, and I suspect it was purchased at a leatherworking store for $5 or less.

    Ugly. Unsatisfying. Workable.

    I really need to turn another mallet to avoid having to use the "toy".

  • glen

    Guys, Thanks for your input. I have to say that my bench brush is different, but so far Jacob takes the prize for strange – a coffee can filled with nails? I can, and will, only imagine what sound that makes in use.

    Glen D. Huey

  • Jacob Adams

    In the shop I have used a coffee can filled with nails. The bottom gets a little domed, but it will knock out waste quickly

  • Tim Aldrich

    The only mallet I’ve used so far is a shop-made affair. I took a chunk of treated 4×4 that I had left over, drilled a hole in it for a handle cut from a broken lawn rake. It’s not very durable, but it was free.

  • Doug Fulkerson

    I currently use a mallet I made from a dogwood trunk my dad gave me. It was made by going down about 5 inches from one end, sawing half way through all the way around, then splitting away the waste and spokeshaving the handle smooth. It isn’t a "fine" tool like your new one, but I like that it looks kind of crude and rough around the edges. It has been used for everything; from tapping chisels to driving nails to splitting logs with a froe to sealing the lids back on cans of shellac to tapping the pins back into door hinges.

    The oddest replacement for a mallet I’ve ever used was the broken limb from a bow. I needed something to hit my froe with and it happened to be laying there.

  • Mike Halporn

    The back of my bench brush? In a pinch, it works. Really.

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