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

[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