Mallet Wt. for Dovetails, Mortises?

[Tom M King]

I don't know why, but I find a round head more natural feeling. I don't remember ever miss hitting with one, but when I used to use the more square faced ones, I do remember the handle torquing sometimes, and the marks left on the face were not all in the same place. I haven't had a squarish one for ages. Personal preference, I guess.

A few Summers ago we were working on some sills in a 1798 house. I used a 1-1/2" timber framing chisel, and a 30 oz. Wood is Good mallet for 15 hours in a row over two days-mostly sitting on an upended 5 gallon bucket. Neither my arm, elbow, nor chisel handle suffered a bit from it. If it had been a hard, wooden mallet, I expect all three would have been feeling it.

[Jim Koepke]

The end of your chisel may not like it much, but a 10 oz. or so Warrington delivers wonderfully crisp, concentrated impetus. Our Asian woodworking brethren would have no trouble understanding this.

Only one of my chisels has what could be considered a real hoop at the striking end:

3:4%22 U.S.N. Chisel.jpg

Most of my chisels do not have anything but wood at the striking end:

Chisel Handles.jpg

Light mallet blows on these do not cause problems. The chisels on either end can take a more enthusiastic blow if needed.

jtk

[Warren Mickley]

Quality consistent steel honed at a not too obtuse angle, all supported by good honing media means you don't need a two pound mallet to chop a bloody 1/4" wide mortise. Good Lord man that thing would blot out the sun.

Quit reading these old tomes as if they were Gospel, valid for all time and in all places.

I only mention the historic texts because they reinforce what I know from experience. I have probably made six or eight thousand mortises over the last 45 years. When you bad mouth 18th century workers, you are probably on shaky ground.

[James Pallas]

I would agree that there is much knowledge in history. However innovation did not end in the 18th century. If that were so we would not be having this discussion. Many of us would never have lived as long as we have done. Many great tools and processes have been added to our kits since Mr Roubo wrote his masterpiece.

[Jim Koepke]

Quality consistent steel honed at a not too obtuse angle, all supported by good honing media means you don't need a two pound mallet to chop a bloody 1/4" wide mortise. Good Lord man that thing would blot out the sun.

Quit reading these old tomes as if they were Gospel, valid for all time and in all places.

Well, in my case it was a 24oz (including the handle) mallet for chopping 1/4" mortises:

ab Chopping Mortise.jpg

It worked fine for more than 24 1/4" mortises chopped.

It also seems to work well when chopping 1" mortises.

jtk

[Ron Bontz]

Just my opinion, but I believe what ever century, 16, 17, 18, 20th.... There is no end all tool or method. Master craftsman adapted to what ever they had at their disposal at the time. They used those tools and methods and then passed them on to others. I just use what ever works for my novice self. I only know what I was and continue to be exposed to. No doubt there are as many variants of mallets as there are craftsman. The mallet I use on occasion only has a head size of approx. 2.5" x 5" long and weighs about 24 ounces. Works for me.

[Jim Koepke]

Just my opinion, but I believe what ever century, 16, 17, 18, 20th.... There is no end all tool or method. Master craftsman adapted to what ever they had at their disposal at the time. They used those tools and methods and then passed them on to others. I just use what ever works for my novice self. I only know what I was and continue to be exposed to. No doubt there are as many variants of mallets as there are craftsman. The mallet I use on occasion only has a head size of approx. 2.5" x 5" long and weighs about 24 ounces. Works for me.

Using what is at hand gets the work done faster than waiting for the 'perfect tool' to come along.

It is very easy to attenuate the force my mallets deliver. Some folks prefer to use a Genno to power their chisels. Some of us save a little money and have a little fun by making our own mallets.

My lighter weight mallet would likely make me tired quicker while making my hand, arm and shoulder tired and aching after a day of mortising.

jtk

[steven c newman]

Strange...I was using mine today...
Plane Til Drawers, chisel work, pins.JPG
Biggest thing...one does not NEED to "swing for the fences".....just let the hammer do the work...

$7 hammer from Wal E World....Used to both drive chisels, and do a little bit of assembly...

When a "Tack Hammer" will work...why swing a "Sledge Hammer".....

[david charlesworth]

375 gm barrel shaped Japanese hammer works well for me.

David

[Charles Guest]

I only mention the historic texts because they reinforce what I know from experience. I have probably made six or eight thousand mortises over the last 45 years. When you bad mouth 18th century workers, you are probably on shaky ground.

Shop practices varied Warren. Nobody is bad mouthing anybody. You still don't need a two pound mallet to drive a 1/4" mortise chisel, or 5/16", or 3/8" for that matter. Sorry. Can you use one? Of course you can. Do you have to? Of course not. Will speed and quality suffer? No - emphatically no, it will not.

You regurgitate this stuff as if they were edicts set down in stone and they are anything but. Sure, a lot of it makes perfect sense but what doesn't make sense is that a workman isn't allowed his (or her!) preference. It's Moxon's way or the highway. And that's rubbish. We all have access to Moxon, et al. We don't need it administered straight into our veins.

[steven c newman]

Ah...the endless search of the One True Path....the "My Sensei is better than your Sensei"

The "Path" I follow is what works for me....what works for someone else....is THEIR problem/Path....

Some go a-charging at the Windmills of the Perfect Edge....

Meh...too much time on me hands...sitting around, stuck in the house. No Yard Sales to go to, in search of plunder...nothing to do but make sawdust, and plane shavings...

[Phil Mueller]

I still smile when I look at this “first shop made mallet” from probably a decade ago. Made from scraps, it weighs in at 42 oz. It’s filled with #8 shot. It works well, but I don’t use it much just because if the thing decides to break apart, it’s going to be a mess of lead all over.


F4C07B24-AD58-407F-A442-50FE5C71735A.jpg

[Jim Koepke]

Made from scraps, it weighs in at 42 oz.

That does seem a bit on the heavy side. My small sledge is only 3lbs or 48oz.

jtk

[Michael Bulatowicz]

I realize I'm a bit late to the party, here, but for what it's worth I'll throw in another vote for the 20 oz. range. My two favorites are a 20 oz round carving mallet for dovetails and a 650g (23 oz) nylon faced hammer for mortising.

[Jim Koepke]

The end of your chisel may not like it much, but a 10 oz. or so Warrington delivers wonderfully crisp, concentrated impetus. Our Asian woodworking brethren would have no trouble understanding this.

Shop practices varied Warren. Nobody is bad mouthing anybody. You still don't need a two pound mallet to drive a 1/4" mortise chisel, or 5/16", or 3/8" for that matter. Sorry. Can you use one? Of course you can. Do you have to? Of course not. Will speed and quality suffer? No - emphatically no, it will not.
[edited]

My mallets are not two pounders, but for one of my recent endeavors a two pounder may have been better:

Big Bopper Meets Big Chisel.jpg

A 10oz hammer would not be my preferred tool for a few reasons. It wouldn't do too good at driving the chisel to take off thick chips. The smaller head would not give me a feeling of security while tapping the chisel and keeping my eyes on the work. In other words, the larger head on the mallet compensates in size for what is missing in mass.

Another good reason is a hammer would have to be purchased. My current mallets are made from firewood or wood that grew on my land. Added to this is all of my chisel's handles would have to have hoops installed or suffer getting beat up by a steel hammer.

Surely the woodworkers of centuries past could figure out if their mallet was wearing them out before the end of the day they could make a lighter mallet.

In reflecting on what has transpired, Warren did mention the weight of his mallet at 30oz. He even said:

I am glad I did not read this 40 years ago. Roubo specifies a mallet head that is 85-90 cubic inches of ash or hornbeam, which is a little over two pounds.

My guess may be incorrect, but to me it implies if he read this 40 years ago he may have followed the text and made his mallet heavier than what he did.

Finally, with the same swing (arm motion and time) simple physics tells us the head of a 2lb mallet will deliver more force (foot pounds) to a chisel (or anything else) than a 10oz hammer. (P = F * D / T)

And no, my mallet does not blot out the sun. A simple to make mallet works for many woodworkers and has been doing so for centuries. Just like for centuries our asian counterparts have been using hooped chisels and metal headed hammers.

Why do you insist on telling us we are doing it wrong?

jtk