Round Mallet Square Mallet???

[Burt Alcantara]

I need a mallet for chisel work. Will make it myself. As I've never used one, what's the difference between the two? Most of the videos I've seen seem to favor the round.

What's your experience?

Thanks,
Burt

[Dusty Fuller]

Simply because I have a lathe and can easily make more. Not opposed to flat/square/etc. Round ones are just easier for me to make.

[Tommy Emmons]

If your chisels have wood on the end of the handle use a wooden mallet and use a hammer if the handle has a steel plate on the end of the handle lke the marple chisels do. I use a flat head mallet myself, but I have read that the round head mallet it the preferred choise. I am not an expert, just sharing what I have learned.

[Tony Bilello]

I have never used a square one to make the comparison but hitting a chisel handle is not very challenging.
On the lathe, a mallet can be made in less than 5 minutes using old 4X4 scraps 10 to 12" long. I like pine even though it is kinda light in comparison. I can knock things together and dent my mallet and not my project.
Matter of fact I have several of them.

[Burt Alcantara]

Chisels have a steel cap. The hammer doesn't feel right to me. I have a lathe so making a round one shouldn't be much of a problem. FWW has a good plan for a big squarish one.

Burt

[Rod Sheridan]

I use a fairly heavy flat face mallet for mortising, and have a couple of home made round mallets for finer work and carving.

Regards, Rod.

[Burt Alcantara]

Tony,
How is your mallet wearing? I'm a fan of using 2x4s for more things then I'd like to admit.

Burt

[Kirk Poore]

I need a mallet for chisel work. Will make it myself. As I've never used one, what's the difference between the two? Most of the videos I've seen seem to favor the round.

What's your experience?

Thanks,
Burt

A round mallet is always facing the right direction, and doesn't have corners to bang into your chisel hand if you don't hit quite square.

Denser wood is better, in my experience.

Kirk

[Tony Bilello]

They get pretty beat-up looking after rough use, but are still usable. My mallets go through hell at times and still last for years. If you used it for fine chiseling, it will look nearly new for a very long time. Mine get used for tapping furniture parts in place during glue-up and for beating steel parts in place when assembling stationary tools. Just about everything where I dont want to damage my project but still need striking force. If I find an old 4x4, i will make several mallets at once and end up giving most of them away.
Gluing two 2x4's together should also work if the gluing surfaces are 'flat'.

P.S.: I always keep one on my sailboat. I do not want to strike anything made of fiberglass or near fiberglass with a steel hammer.

[Charles Trout]

The business end of a square mallet would be end grain, which would probably last longer for serious pounding.

A round mallet is always aimed in the right direction, so you can focus on the work....

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

If you have some leather, a lathe, some pipe, some all thread, and weld-wood you can make a really sweet leather round one that can both wail with the best of 'em and be as gentle as you please.

As to whether one is better or easier to use than the other (flat vs round) I offer that it really doesn't much matter.

[William OConnell]

I have several mallets of all different materials and wood density and two leather ones like described ( man I can't believe I'm a mallet connoisseur when did that happen) I use this octagon poplar one for most general beating and tapping around. I made it with a miter saw and a talesaw

http://woodworkers.us/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=44&g2_serialNumber=4&g2_GALLERYSID=f4c13a4333d9a8eab3a873422bf0f341

[Stephen Shepherd]

I have both and almost always pick up the round mallet for all chisel work.

An advantage of the round mallet, that no one has mentioned, is that when you hit yourself (not that that would ever happen), a round mallet does less damage than a square mallet.

Stephen

[Stu Gillard]

I use a round mallet for carving, and a square mallet for chopping.
If you do make a square mallet, make sure the handle has flat sides referencing the face. It makes it so much easier to automatically orientate the mallet every time you pick it up.

[Mike Henderson]

I use a round mallet simply because that's what my lathe produces.

Seriously though, I like the fact that I can just grab the mallet and not have to worry about orientation.

Mike

[glenn bradley]

I use this square in shape but rounded face, weighted with extra lead do-jobber: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=72340&d=1190430648

[Don C Peterson]

I started out using an English style flat faced mallet, then I picked up a round carver's mallet with the urethane head, since then I haven't looked back. I hardly ever use the square mallet anymore.

[Larry Browning]

I like the fact that I can just grab the mallet and not have to worry about orientation.
Mike

Having very little experience with round mallets, but quit a bit with baseball bats, I would think that orientation does matter. At least that's what my coach always told me. Of course we are not hitting a chisel with the same force as we do a baseball, or are we????

[Jeff Craven]

I made a flat faced mallet, but I shaped the handle, so I can tell where the flat face is without looking at it.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8725/img8309ak1wv7.jpg

[Mike Henderson]

Having very little experience with round mallets, but quit a bit with baseball bats, I would think that orientation does matter. At least that's what my coach always told me. Of course we are not hitting a chisel with the same force as we do a baseball, or are we????
With baseball bats, you risk breaking the bat with the wrong orientation. I've never heard of a broken mallet, probably because the mallet is much shorter and you don't hit a chisel as hard as you swing a baseball bat.

There is one thing about grain orientation and a mallet. When you pound on the face cut sides of the mallet, the wood begins to delaminate. But most carvers I know just accept that as part of the use of the mallet and don't worry about orientation when using it. Mallets are so easy to make that you'd just make a new one when the old one became grody.

Mike

[Gord Pat]

To me it all depends on whether you are doing woodworking or carving.
The woodworking chisel usually forms it's own guiding jig, so it has to be struck squarely so the force goes straight along the chisel , so you need a flat square face on the mallet, whereas the carver's chisel can be struck from many different directions and at different angles of attack, the round tapered shape is best for this as you don't need to align the chisel and the mallet.
But in the end it's up to you , lots of people don't like to be told what tool to be used and how, especially if their grandaddy told them.:)

[Joel Goodman]

For the urethane round model what weight?

[Don C Peterson]

I have the Wood is Good 20 oz model. I almost bought the 12 oz model because I thought it might be easier to control, but I was cutting mortises at the time. And after using it for a while in both heavy mortising and lighter work, I don't feel the need to add a lighter mallet.