What is the angle on a mallet face?

[Kent A Bathurst]

You know - the ubiquitous beech mallet, used for whacking mortise chisels and others, whose faces are at an angle to the centerline of the handle. Like the Lee Valley one below.

What's that angle v. the handle centerline?

Going one question too far, I suspect: If you were making one, what angle would you use?

This will be used 90% on LN and Ray Iles mortise chisels - heavy, and Ima whale on that sucker.

Thanks


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[Rob Luter]

It depends on the length of the handle. The faces are angled so the plane established by the face intersects with the tip of the handle.

[David Carroll]

I've made several over the years and mostly just eyeballed it, or traced the angle from one that I liked. These days I use the urethane Wood is Good carver's mallets. Their angle is about 4-degrees off 90. My favorite stone carving hammer, built just like a small woodworkers mallet, but with an iron head is 5-degrees. I think that's about right. I imagine the longer the handle the closer to 90 degrees and the shorter the handle the more angled it should be. This is based on my own conjecture.

Maybe draw it out on paper and see if it looks right, or mock it up out of a piece of 2x4 with a dowel handle and see if it feels good before committing to a nice piece of hardwood.

DC

[James Pallas]

Turn your wrist like you normally strike a blow. Put your fist flat on your bench. Grip a stick in the fist. Measure the length of handle you want on the stick. The angle you want can be measured bench to stick. Perfect for you. Probably 3 to 5 degrees.
Fun way to arrive at it too.
Jim

[Edward Weber]

Here's a link that explains how the angle is determined. Scroll down to the end of the build.
http://www.timberframe-tools.com/tools/mallet-head-angle/

[Kent A Bathurst]

Boffo, gents!

A guy can learn some good stuff hanging around with you fellers.

[Jim Koepke]

My last mallet was made with the faces at ~4º > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?288317

506324

This is now my main user. The turned handle makes it fit the hand very well.

My first mallet was made of a type of cherry firewood.

506325

It has seen some heavy use over the past dozen years > https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?161952

This Roy Underhill mallet making episode still seems to be available > https://www.pbs.org/video/big-ash-mallet-jn5sfd/

jtk

[Reed Gray]

With all the years I spent doing construction, driving stakes and nails, I don't think I could get used to an angled head on any hammer. Table height is not an issue, I would still tend to strike square to the handle.... Some old habits just don't go away....

robo hippy

[Edward Weber]

With all the years I spent doing construction, driving stakes and nails, I don't think I could get used to an angled head on any hammer. Table height is not an issue, I would still tend to strike square to the handle.... Some old habits just don't go away....

robo hippy

I was pretty much the same way, it took me a while to get used to using an angled face and I'm still not quite there, as in comfortable.
I think my next mallet will have a face angle about half as much as the last one I made.

[David Carroll]

There's a lot of truth to what you say Reed. If it is true that the optimum angle is dependent on handle length and arm length, then any mallet purchased is only optimal for a tiny percentage of users. But in practice, one takes a couple of swings at the chisel and feels if it is striking sweetly. If it isn't, you adjust your arm, shoulder and wrist position until it does "feel" right. We do this really without thinking about it. The only time it is a problem is if an angle is so far off that no comfortable swing will land on a chisel without it wanting to bolt out one direction or the other. Fortunately with a wooden mallet, the remedy is easy enough.

DC

[David Zor]

I made mine based off of a mallet that Roy Underhill made. I think maybe Pop Woodworking or Lost Art Press posted the dimensions. I don’t remember if I followed the directions to a T, but my faces are a little over 4 deg off 90 and from the top of the head to the end of the handle is about 13 1/2”. It smacks a Ray Iles mortise chisel reel gud.

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[Scott Winners]

or mock it up out of a piece of 2x4 with a dowel handle and see if it feels good before committing to a nice piece of hardwood.

DC

This is brilliant. Thank you David Carroll.

[Kent A Bathurst]

.....dependent on handle length and arm length, then any mallet purchased is only optimal for a tiny percentage of users. But in practice, one takes a couple of swings....feels if it is striking sweetly. If it isn't, you adjust your....[choke].... until it does "feel" right..........

Joey Votto version

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[Jim Koepke]

Changing the angle after making a mallet is relatively easy if the original angle doesn't feel right to the user.

There is this consideration to ponder:

If one starts with a shallow angle of 4 or 5º it is easy to increase the angle with a minimal loss of mass to the mallet head.

If one starts with a steeper angle of 15 to 20º then more mass will be lost from the mallet head to correct it toward a lower angle.

jtk

[Eric R. Smith]

With all the years I spent doing construction, driving stakes and nails, I don't think I could get used to an angled head on any hammer. Table height is not an issue, I would still tend to strike square to the handle.... Some old habits just don't go away....

robo hippy
Old framer here. I drive with the face square from any angle an used the face to steer what I’m driving. All my mallets in the shop are round like a carvers mallet.

[Reed Gray]

I have been pondering this since this first came up. Lots of time to think while swimming laps in the pool. So, why would anyone want to angle the face of their mallets? With the face angled, then a lot of the force of the blow is going away at an angle. You would have to swing harder with an angled face to get the same amount of force that a square face would give you. Hard work never hurt nobody, but no point in working harder than you have to....

robo hippy

[David Zor]

I believe the idea is that the face be perpendicular to the tangent of the arc that the mallet is swinging on. So technically, by angling the face, you’re keeping it square. At least that’s my knuckle dragging understanding of it.

[Edward Weber]

Reed, with respect, I think you're misunderstanding the physics and geometry of the angled face.
The entire point is so that the face hits X square to the face. This can certainly be done with a straight faced mallet but some woodworking mallets evolved to incorporate the human form and the body mechanics that lead toward an angled face.
The arc that the mallet travels typically determines the face angle and there is no loss of energy if the face strikes X squarely. example
(http://www.timberframe-tools.com/wp-content/files/mallet-arc.jpg)
https://www.infinitytools.com/blog/2016/05/09/choosing-the-proper-mallet

With a lot of mallet work done closer to the body at bench height (small swings). Working up close typically puts the forearm at an angle, in this case a straight faced mallet would have the tenancy to push whatever you're striking away from you. The angled face mallet is designed to resole this situation.
This is "usually" why you see the shorter the handle length, the steeper the angle.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Lots of time to think while swimming laps in the pool.

And I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the lyrics to a song, trying to recall if it was Moby Grape or Atomic Roster. I knew it wasn't Cat Mother and the All-Night Newsboys.

[David Zor]

And I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about the lyrics to a song, trying to recall if it was Moby Grape or Atomic Roster. I knew it wasn't Cat Mother and the All-Night Newsboys.

Those are not the lyrics you’re looking for. Please see Nick Cave’s “The Hammer Song” for some more appropriate insomnia lyrics.

[Reed Gray]

Cat Mother..... You couldn't play that on the radio a long time ago.... "When your feet are in the stirrups and your a-- is on the ground".... I did have a few times like that. No more....

As for the physics of the angled hammer head, the face is not in line with the mass of the hammer head. No clue as to how much difference it would actually make.

robo hippy

[Edward Weber]

Cat Mother..... You couldn't play that on the radio a long time ago.... "When your feet are in the stirrups and your a-- is on the ground".... I did have a few times like that. No more....

As for the physics of the angled hammer head, the face is not in line with the mass of the hammer head. No clue as to how much difference it would actually make.

robo hippy
True, the face in not in a "straight" line with the mass.
BUT
With a properly made mallet, the face is in line with the arc of the swing, as shown in the photo I linked to. This means that the point of impact is at the optimal face angle and X intersection.

[Jimmy Harris]

The angle is all about comfort. The steeper the angle of the face, the lower you'll want to hold your mallet hand above the chisel's butt so that it still meets the chisel's butt perpendicularly. So the main advantage of an angled face is not having to hold the mallet as high up above the chisel and relieve some work on shoulders. Though, what height is most comfortable depends on your personal preference, how tall you are, and how high up you're working.

So there's not really a universal right or wrong angle so much as a right or wrong angle for how you prefer to work. Either you adapt to the mallet, or you buy the mallet to adapt to you. Personally, I'm just as comfortable with a steeply angled, rounded carver's mallet as I am with a flat faced rubber mallet, so I don't even notice a difference when switching between the different designs. To me, a good mallet has a good rebound, the right weight, and good balance. And even the balance part isn't usually a huge deal, because I can almost always choke up or slide down the handle to find a good balance point to work from.

[James Pallas]

Interesting conversation. No claims on expertise here just what I have learned over the years. Lay your arm flat on the bench point your finger straight. Raise your arm up until fist is flat at the edge of the bench. That’s your angle. The other method that I described in an earlier post works as well. For framers and steel hammer people. Remember that all good hammers have about a 5* crown on the face. And those gennous generally have a curve in the handle that accomplishes the same thing. The photos are self descriptive.
Jim

[steven c newman]

I have enough trouble to keep my mortise chisels standing up at a perfect 90 degrees to the work....not about to have a mallet hit it at an angle....I prefer a flat face mallet.
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A Chopping day 14 mortises x 2 rails = 28 mortises to be chopped.
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Let alone while I am trying to chop a square through mortise...