......
On the other topics, looking back to my time in trade school, its was very much 'hammers are for nails!' but I suspect they was more about not damaging the chisels than any rational reason.
Also for not accidentally hitting your hand while you are looking at the pointy end
..
Beech mallets are a bit rubbish for anything other then light work,
I've used them a lot for morticing. If you can hit the chisel hard enough to embed it firmly so it takes a bit of wiggle to get it out, then that's hard enough. Any harder and you are making work for yourself, both in lifting a heavier mallet and pulling out the nailed-in chisel.
PS This leads on inevitably to mortice chopping technique, which for beginners is probably a much bigger problem than which tool to misuse.
The technique is to do
all cuts perpendicular to the surface, each cut
paring down the face of the previous cut. Seems slow for first few cuts but rapidly speeds up as it deepens.
No levering, just a wiggle to loosen the chisel. Chippings take care of themselves, you cut though them, but you may have to prise out the last few bits, or poke them through a through mortice.
It's much the same action as a hand operated machine mortice.
