Maul Preferences

[Mablung]

Not sure if this is better here or in the Leather Tools forum, but this is about discussion, not technicalities of tools. Anyway, looking for updated discussion of the various mauls available. I’ve read some threads about the differences among brands, but the threads I’ve found are several years old. 
 

Anyway, thinking about upgrading my striking tools. I got a cheapo maul on Amazon for $10.99 to test out the concept. It’s too light, at 10.6 ounces or so. Thinking about a 16-ounce or 20-ounce maul, possibly a tapered head. Barry King and Wayne Jueschke are top contenders, of course, but I’m also thinking about seeing if I can stick the Tandy Pro Tooling Maul replacement head on my current cheapo handle. Not sure about the Tandy Poly Maul, except maybe the heavy one for driving punches (my Bakelite mallet does the trick but takes several swings—the head diameter is nice for the purpose, though). The Tandy Pro and Owden ones look decent as well, with similar head materials and grooving.

Thoughts? Trying to stay under $100, as that’s how much gift money I had socked away that I forgot about and rediscovered recently. 

Edited May 26 by Mablung

[DieselTech]

I got a 16oz Owden I like for various tooling, it's a tapered poly maul. I wish I would have started with a tapered head maul. 

They are more relaxing to me while tooling. 

I also got a 24oz Barry king straight head poly maul, for doing makers stamp, letter stamps, & such. Really like it too. 

Then I got a Zhongjiang 12oz tapered poly maul that I do most of my tooling with. To me it's my favorite for detail work & it just feels right while using it for extended periods. 

 

Lol I also got 1 of them 10.6oz blue light specials, as you could say, that I done a ton of tooling with & still use it for my beveling. 

Edited May 26 by DieselTech

[Mablung]

6 hours ago, DieselTech said:

I got a 16oz Owden I like for various tooling, it's a tapered poly maul. I wish I would have started with a tapered head maul. 

They are more relaxing to me while tooling. 

I also got a 24oz Barry king straight head poly maul, for doing makers stamp, letter stamps, & such. Really like it too. 

Then I got a Zhongjiang 12oz tapered poly maul that I do most of my tooling with. To me it's my favorite for detail work & it just feels right while using it for extended periods. 

 

Lol I also got 1 of them 10.6oz blue light specials, as you could say, that I done a ton of tooling with & still use it for my beveling. 

Lol. It sounds like my 10.6 “Blue Light Special” is in good company. I wouldn’t mind continuing to use it if the head didn’t slip easily if the strike isn’t perfectly square. That might not be so much the material as the angle (or lack thereof). 

[tsunkasapa]

1 hour ago, Mablung said:

Lol. It sounds like my 10.6 “Blue Light Special” is in good company. I wouldn’t mind continuing to use it if the head didn’t slip easily if the strike isn’t perfectly square. That might not be so much the material as the angle (or lack thereof). 

Never liked the mauls for just that reason. I have used mallets all the years I've done this. Maybe because as a carpenter I've used hammers for almost 50 years. But I never liked the round heads.

 

[DieselTech]

1 hour ago, Mablung said:

Lol. It sounds like my 10.6 “Blue Light Special” is in good company. I wouldn’t mind continuing to use it if the head didn’t slip easily if the strike isn’t perfectly square. That might not be so much the material as the angle (or lack thereof). 

Yeah after going to a tapered head poly maul, I've had less slips/mis-strikes when tooling. 

Yeah I need to mill some lines in my cheapy poly maul. I can't believe just how much the lines/knurling helps with slips/mis-strikes. 

[DieselTech]

Here is my arsenal of beating tools! 

[Mablung]

35 minutes ago, tsunkasapa said:

Never liked the mauls for just that reason. I have used mallets all the years I've done this. Maybe because as a carpenter I've used hammers for almost 50 years. But I never liked the round heads.

 

Fair point. I like the way my maul handles, for lack of a better way of describing it. But my mallet’s flat face does make certain aspects easier. 

 

12 minutes ago, DieselTech said:

Yeah after going to a tapered head poly maul, I've had less slips/mis-strikes when tooling. 

I’ve made friends with the guys at my local Tandy, so I go in and work on projects while shooting the breeze with them on slow weekends. I think I’ll borrow one of their tapered mauls used in classes sometimes to compare how each one strikes, before dropping the coin on a new (possibly expensive) one. Gotta love being able to test-drive tools. 

[bruce johnson]

Mauls I have had - CS Osborne rawhide, Maul Master I, MaulMaster II, No names, Imports, Barry King, Bearman, Clay Miller, Bob Beard (yes he made them back in the day), Don King, handmades, and Wayne Jueschke. Mauls I sell - Wayne Jueschke. I am just going to concentrate on the Jueschke mauls.

The handle - stacked leather and  good ergonomic shape for me, stays in place in my hand doesn't transmit vibration. It is long enough to give a nice rebound action in your hand if you do the crosshand rocking wrist style of hitting. 

Head material - grippy without being rubbery or bouncy. Quiet when you hit the stamp. Bench is solid with a 3" thick rock and you just don't hear much. 

Weight - weight is toward the head, not neutral. That deadfall effect makes tooling much easier and in the case of walking stamps - faster. You are not "hammering", the maul weight does most of the work They can weigh the same as other mauls but have a heavier effect due to that head weighted balance.

Durability - likely among the longest lasting. These are a few of the mauls in our shop -  two Jueschkes on the right are around 18 years old, used for high volume work, the one of the left is maybe 6 years old - one of the first 12 mauls when he started making that size. 

Price - probably the highest initial price non-custom leather handle mauls available

Value - That 1# maul in the center has conservatively 300,000 strikes (likely more). Cost per strike is around 0.0003$/strike. Still no flaking, chips, or surface wear to the head, handle is good and nothing loose.

My experience....

[Mablung]

2 minutes ago, bruce johnson said:

Mauls I have had - CS Osborne rawhide, Maul Master I, MaulMaster II, No names, Imports, Barry King, Bearman, Clay Miller, Bob Beard (yes he made them back in the day), Don King, handmades, and Wayne Jueschke. Mauls I sell - Wayne Jueschke. I am just going to concentrate on the Jueschke mauls.

The handle - stacked leather and  good ergonomic shape for me, stays in place in my hand doesn't transmit vibration. It is long enough to give a nice rebound action in your hand if you do the crosshand rocking wrist style of hitting. 

Head material - grippy without being rubbery or bouncy. Quiet when you hit the stamp. Bench is solid with a 3" thick rock and you just don't hear much. 

Weight - weight is toward the head, not neutral. That deadfall effect makes tooling much easier and in the case of walking stamps - faster. You are not "hammering", the maul weight does most of the work They can weigh the same as other mauls but have a heavier effect due to that head weighted balance.

Durability - likely among the longest lasting. These are a few of the mauls in our shop -  two Jueschkes on the right are around 18 years old, used for high volume work, the one of the left is maybe 6 years old - one of the first 12 mauls when he started making that size. 

Price - probably the highest initial price non-custom leather handle mauls available

Value - That 1# maul in the center has conservatively 300,000 strikes (likely more). Cost per strike is around 0.0003$/strike. Still no flaking, chips, or surface wear to the head, handle is good and nothing loose.

My experience....

I’ve been eyeing those Jueschke ones. May have to pull the trigger on one, if I decide to go for the tapered head. 

[dikman]

Interesting handle shape with a taper towards the end, rather than having the palm swell towards the end.

I see you have one or two stamps............