Chisel mallet

[Wend]

Thanks to the advice from old threads on this forum, tomorrow I will be the proud owner of a 14mm mortice chisel, ready to attempt to cut my first mortice. However, what I have not been able to find much advice on is what to hit it with, and there is a bewildering array of hammers and mallets available. I wonder if anyone could give me any advice please?

Currently I have a 600g ball-peen hammer, which in terms of weight seems similar to the average carpenter's mallet. Would I be better off with a wooden mallet (presumably giving a softer blow)? Or would some sort of nylon, deadblow, or some other sort be better? And any recommendations on what sort of weight would be best?


Many thanks for any advice!

 

[deema]

If the chisel handle is wood. It should be struck with a wooden mallet or something with a similar density. A wood mallet is easy to make, and Paul Sellers did a uTube video on how to make one that can point you in the right direction.

If the chisel has a wooden handle that has a metal hoop at the sticking end, then you can use a metal hammer.

 

[JohnPW]

I think the general "rule" is a carpenter's mallet (not the round carver's type) for chisels with wooden handles. I suppose a soft faced hammer would be OK too.

For plastic handles, you can use anything.

 

[AndyT]

It's down to personal preference.

Richard Maguire, professional joiner and builder of benches, prefers a lump hammer - https://youtu.be/d2Lgs5Bavl8 - while the even more experienced Paul Sellers prefers a Thor nylon faced hammer.
I'm only an amateur with a wide choice of tools but I prefer the traditional squarish beechwood mallet.

I reckon it's just as important to sort out a firm bench to work on, with no bounciness to absorb the energy of each blow.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Even plastic handles and iron hoops will deform with a hammer. A good heavy beech one well soaked in linseed is your friend. Your second best friend for lighter work is a nice carver's mallet. (A plastic faced dead blow is fine, of course.)

An off cut of ash and an offcut of a beech bench leg, and a scrap of yew and a lamination of slices of a beech worktop.

 

[JohnPW]

Richard Maguire, professional joiner and builder of benches, prefers a lump hammer - https://youtu.be/d2Lgs5Bavl8 -

In the video, he says he prefers the Thor mallet now and doesn't use the hammer anymore.

Using a metal faced striking tool on a wooden chisel handle is just wrong!

 

[MikeG.]

Don't hit it with a hammer, please.

 

[Wend]

Thanks all!

One problem with the Sellers make-your-own-mallet approach is that he uses a chisel and mallet to make a mortice in it ;-)

But seeing as I have other projects I want to be getting on with anyway, I think I'll just spend a few pounds on a cheap carpenters mallet, and perhaps revisit the idea of making my own if I'm not satisfied with it.

Thanks again for all the advice!

 

[MikeG.]

I made my own mallet 20+ years ago, and without making a mortise. I laminated some scrap ash together to form the head, and in the process, was able to cut the "mortise" from one of the layers, using a saw. I have given it an almighty amount of work since, sometimes using it for 9 or 10 hours a day, and there isn't the slightest sign of the laminations failing. So, if you want your own homemade mallet, but can't make one for lack of a mallet, you now have an alternative........

 

[John15]

About a year ago I changed from a wooden mallet to a Thor nylon face type. I find it very comfortable to use and preferable to a wooden mallet.

John

 

[Racers]

Bowling ball carving type mallet is my usual one, before that end grain Hawthorn home made mallets.

Don't use a hammer it will knacker up your chisel handles.

Pete

 

[matthewwh]

A good heavy carpenter's mallet (the square faced kind) is the traditional tool for driving mortice chisels. 14mm is quite a big chisel so you'll need something with a bit of whump to it, a lot of the commercially available ones are too light but Narex do a 23oz which is ideal and won't break the bank. Alternatively if you have the time and inclination you could make one, a nice simple project and one that makes your tool kit that bit more personalised.

 

[Jacob]

Yes big mallet, round or square. Round best - the square shape is intended for framing and will get hollow on the face if used for chisels. But they are cheap to buy, easy to make, so it doesn't matter much.
The idea of a large headed mallet in preference to small headed hammer is that you can concentrate on the pointy end of the chisel with less risk of hitting your hand, as compared to nailing - a nail point is self locating and you concentrate on hitting the other end.

 

[jlawford]

I started my woodworking journey around a year ago. I started with a beech wooden mallet from Axminster, but now use the Thor hammer as recommended by Paul Sellers. There is no comparison really. The face of the beech mallet is all dented in, the Thor delivers a perfect blow so all the force transfers straight into the work (although there may be times a lighter touch from the wooden mallet is better).

http://www.axminster.co.uk/thor-soft-ha ... r-ax900209

 

[DTR]

I use a big traditional square-headed mallet. I've tried chiselling with a Thor no.2 but I'm not a fan. Like Jacob I prefer a large head for clobbering with. One day I'm going to put some new faces on my Thor no.0....

edit: not sure if Thor's numbering system has changed or I'm going senile. I thought the smaller the number, the bigger the mallet...... :-k

 

[DTR]

Fourteen replies and no-one's posted this yet......?

(hammer) (hammer) (hammer) (hammer) (hammer) (hammer) (hammer)

 

[Racers]

Mine

DSC_1994_zpsc61ea507 by pete maddex, on Flickr

Pete

 

[ED65]

Currently I have a 600g ball-peen hammer, which in terms of weight seems similar to the average carpenter's mallet.

To give you yet another option, you could pop a rubber cane protector onto the end of your ball-pein to convert it into a soft-faced hammer.

I don't think striking unreinforced wooden handles with a hammer is something to be avoided completely. A lot of the good practices we have handed down to us come from a professional perspective, with a certain associated heaviness and frequency of use that few occasional woodworkers will even come close to.

 

[Racers]

I have seen at car boots lots of blunt chisels with handles smashed to pieces, its enough to make a grown man cry.

Pete

 

[custard]

tomorrow I will be the proud owner of a 14mm mortice chisel, ready to attempt to cut my first mortice.

That's a pretty big chisel for morticing. Maybe you're doing joinery work in softwood, or timber framing in wet timber, in which case fair enough. But for furniture scale jobs I'll use a 5/16" chisel (equal to about 8mm) much more often than anything else. For morticing fine stuff, like delicate crossed stretchers on occasional tables, I'll drop down to a 1/4" or 3/16" (about 6 or 5mm), and for bigger stuff like dining tables I'll go to 7/16" (about 11mm) or I might double up with twin smaller tenons.

Chopping a 14mm mortice in kilned hardwood isn't a dainty occupation, it's starting to become real work. The sort of work in fact that requires a beefy bench and a mighty mallet!