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Making a wood carvers mallet

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micktoon:
 Hi Lads , I think the bottom line is any mallet hitting a tool will work  :thumbup:, it just seems to be certain types of trades prefer certain types, There are say 55 peole in total go to the wood carving club and I don't think a single one uses a brass mallet they all use wood and maybe one or two the nylon type. I am sure a brass one would do the job so maybe its as simple as because no one has a brass mallet no one else gets one ?
  From a practical point of view most carvings getting done at the club are in lime ( basswood ) so do not take a real hard hit so a lightish wood mallet is fine for the job , probably of any wood. I think the Lignum 'V's Apple etc is probably because the carvers of old using a mallet 7 days a week all day probably wore out the Apple quickly compared to the Lignum and you know what its like getting used to a new handtool compared to one that has 'become part of you' . No doubt the stone masons having steel over brass will be for the same reason maybe ?
  Cheers Mick.

rick barnes:
I have a carvers mallet that was my great(x3) grandfathers.  It's made of from a hard maple burl. Still works.

Arbalist:
That's interesting that nearly all the guys at your club use wood Mick. Some well known brands like Veritas, Pfeil and Two Cherries offer several sizes of Brass mallets for wood carving, makes you wonder how many they actually sell!?
I suspect the kindest ones to use on your chisels are actually the Urethane ones?

http://www.woodisgoodco.com/mallets.htm

This is quite interesting for a do it yourself version:

http://www.wkfinetools.com/tmaking/art/perfectmallet/pmallet1.asp

Not sure whether I should use that lump of Brass now for a Mallet!  :Doh:

rick barnes:
I use my urethane mallet from woodcraft most frequently.  It is a bit quieter. 

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