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Snips... ;-)Talk about Mallets
All this talk about wood for mallets makes me believe I am the only one on the list who has deliberately opted for a softer wood. I can divide my chisel uses into three general categories. The most frequent use, i.e. paring, is where I use my hands or even body weigh to push the chisel into the wood. The second use is where significant force is required, i.e. mortising, in which I use a standard mallet which has a head with the end grain oriented along the striking face. However, I also find that I need a solution for those cases in which some additional force is needed but I don't need to apply the full force of my mortising mallets. For this I use a carver's type cylindrical mallet made of a soft maple. I chose this wood because the wood is softer than my chisel handles. Thus, if I apply a little too much force for the chisel, instead of potentially mushrooming or splitting the chisel handle, I get a small dent in the mallet. If things get too bad, I find it easier to make another softwood mallet than to re-handle my chisels. Am I alone in this approach? Alan N. Graham |
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