Mauls : Poly or Rawhide

[LAPat]

I'm getting a maul and would like to know if anyone can share which they prefer between poly and rawhide and why.

Thanks

Pat

[Tkleather1]

I'm getting a maul and would like to know if anyone can share which they prefer between poly and rawhide and why.

Thanks

Pat

I am not as versed as alot of people on this site, but I prefer a poly, I had a rawhide for a while and granted it was a lower end maul but I went through a head very fast. So I went out and bought a Barry King poly head maul and absolutely love it. The head has a nice texture to it so it wont slip while striking a tool. but dont buy a cheap ploy though as they dont have as much texture on the face and slip if you dont strike the tool just right. Wich happens to me quite a bit.

Just my opinion

[LAPat]

See I posted too quickly and realized there is more than one variable.

Is tapered and round head the same? And where do I get a good maul at a good price?

Thanks again

Pat

[Bree]

I have both and I prefer angled poly by a slight margin. I can use either but the poly has a good feel and nice "stickiness".

[Tkleather1]

I dont have a tapered head but I tried one at the pendelton trade show last fall and didnt care for it. that part of the equation is totally your feel and preference. I like the Barry king tools www.barrykingtools.com I think. They are very nice and very resonable in price in my opinion. He has many different weights and head sizes.

[LAPat]

The ergonomics of striking are in the mix too.

Hitting the tool from up high and straight like a hammer blow, rolling your wrist, all that stuff. It seems like tapered head is a power head?

If the thing about an angled maul versus a round maul is how you strike the tool, I have a feeling that women are differently built at the shoulder anyway, which is one reason women don't throw the same. Our shoulders are more in at the socket. I am thinking round head for me.

Pat

[hidepounder]

The mauls I use are no longer available. But if I were to buy a new maul it would be one of Barry King's or Wayne Jueschke's, tapered mauls. When tooling I prefer the round maul which is used by twisting your wrist back and forth rather than swinging it up and down like a mallet. The tapered maul is very comfortable to use...I actually find myself getting a little lazy with my arm, letting my hand down too much, but I like them. Also, the nylon doesn't flake off onto my tooling like the old rawhide ones do, so I prefer it also. Barry's mauls are priced a little lower than Wayne's and their handles are shaped differently. Both are excellent!

[BruceGibson]

The mauls I use are no longer available. But if I were to buy a new maul it would be one of Barry King's or Wayne Jueschke's, tapered mauls. When tooling I prefer the round maul which is used by twisting your wrist back and forth rather than swinging it up and down like a mallet. The tapered maul is very comfortable to use...I actually find myself getting a little lazy with my arm, letting my hand down too much, but I like them. Also, the nylon doesn't flake off onto my tooling like the old rawhide ones do, so I prefer it also. Barry's mauls are priced a little lower than Wayne's and their handles are shaped differently. Both are excellent!

I agree, even though I'm nowhere near Hidepounder's league!

Rawhide peels and flakes like a sun-roasted tourist. Plus, if you have a ricochet (which I've been known to) the rawhide will bite a chunk out of your index finger knuckle. It's rough once it starts to wear and flake.

Edited March 18, 2009 by BruceGibson

[bruce johnson]

These are one of those things that going to a show and trying them out is a plus. For me the biggest difference between a tapered maul and a straight maul is how high you need to hold your elbow to have the head hit the stamp squarely. The issue comes into play with heavier mauls and when you have had shoulder problems. With the straight mauls I need to hold my elbow up some. With the tapereds I can pretty much rest it at my side with the height of my chair and surface.

I have some of Barry's and some of Wayne's. Like Hidepounder said, the handles are different. I can kind of "ring" Barry's with a my thumb and first two finger and let them rock. Barry's mauls are more neutrally weighted. I like them for walking stamps and backgrounding. Wayne's are more head heavy and the handle works a bit better for me to grip and put a little more force behind the deadfall effect. I prefer them for single impression stamps like larger baskets and geometrics. There is some difference in the head material between them, but not enough to be a factor for me.

[gtwister09]

Unfortunately mauls is something that my son and I played with qute a bit when we were testing and trying what we liked best. We probably gave away 10-12 mauls with exotic wood handles and 3-4 leather handled ones to people that were starting out. We have several of Barry's, a Maul Master , a Stohlman and many handmade ones.

I prefer the poly hands down to the rawhide because as Bruce Gibson so accurately stated "....Rawhide peels and flakes like a sun-roasted tourist." I haven't tried one of Wayne's either. it was interesting to hear Bruce Johnson's choices.... I prefer the tapered on for because it allows me to tool a little longer without feeling as tired. The reason being is that my elbow is slightly lower and I don't have to expend as much energy (simple biomechanics). The one that we use for stamping larger basketweaves and geometrics has some extra weight added to the top end of the maul. We have also going to try a maul with a larger diameter piece of poly.

Bruce is right...test and try to see what you like.

Bob - Which one did you like so much?

Regards,

Ben

[Tkleather1]

Well that explains half of the shoulder problems, Cat mechanic,Riding bulls, and cowboy work probably explain the rest. You know I think I might get one of the tapered mauls next time and try it out for more than 2 minutes. All of what you guys are saying sure makes a whole lot of sense. I find myself with my round maul getting so tired in my shoulders that I cant hardly hold them up any more. and then in turn have a lot of glancing blows and beat up fingers and knuckles. Thanks for the insight even though I am not the one who started the post.

[hidepounder]

Unfortunately mauls is something that my son and I played with qute a bit when we were testing and trying what we liked best. We probably gave away 10-12 mauls with exotic wood handles and 3-4 leather handled ones to people that were starting out. We have several of Barry's, a Maul Master , a Stohlman and many handmade ones.

I prefer the poly hands down to the rawhide because as Bruce Gibson so accurately stated "....Rawhide peels and flakes like a sun-roasted tourist." I haven't tried one of Wayne's either. it was interesting to hear Bruce Johnson's choices.... I prefer the tapered on for because it allows me to tool a little longer without feeling as tired. The reason being is that my elbow is slightly lower and I don't have to expend as much energy (simple biomechanics). The one that we use for stamping larger basketweaves and geometrics has some extra weight added to the top end of the maul. We have also going to try a maul with a larger diameter piece of poly.

Bruce is right...test and try to see what you like.

Bob - Which one did you like so much?

Regards,

Ben

Ben, I like the mauls that Bob Beard used to make. They were made out of some sort of black polymer. He had to stop making them because he couldn't get the material anymore. They don't bounce, they grip the tool, there is absolutely no flaking and they last many times longer than than the white poly. The heads are a little longer which allows me to choke up and use the end for a light strike on 2/3 oz leather or when I want more weight I can strike near the base. These mauls were cast, handle and all. I had heard that Hadlock & Fox was making them, however when I called a while back, they informed me they were not making them and no longer sold them. My assumption is that they were carrying Bob's and of course are out of them. I have a 16oz, 20oz & 24 oz. Wish I had a 12oz and a 32oz. I have never seen a used one for sale, and have never been able to talk anyone else out of theirs......oh well!

Bob

[greg gomersall]

Does anybody use a stamping stick when carving anyore. i have a single ended one as well as a double. Use these and maul's steady. Greg

[Kevinjohnson]

Hey Bruce and Greg, has either of you used the maul that Bob, just came from a Phish concert, Beard use to make. They are the only ones I used for the last 8 or 10 yrs. and would not trade them for anything or maybe a dime bag which I could trade for more mauls. Greg, not sure, but I think I saw one of those double headed mauls in a magazine one time? It was probably in Shop Talk or The Leather Crafters J.

[bruce johnson]

Kevin,

I haven't used the black mauls because everyone who has won't give them up. I am kind of recalling that Gore tools used to sell them or something like them too?? I haven't used the stamping sticks but a lot of those old guys did. I haven't been around anyone who used them, just don't have the experience. I got started with a Maul-master, enough said there. I got a couple straight ones from Barry, and then a couple tapered ones from Wayne after I tried them at a show. I like them all for different things.

[Bree]

I have a 64 oz maul that I got from Weaver which is made by Barry King and a 20 oz that I got directly from Barry at a show. The Weaver Master Tools Mauls are Barry King mauls at a discount... at least the last time I looked.

[superchute]

ok have to speak out I made my maul out of hockey pucks and the 2 pucks my maul is 20 oz. I like how it kinda grips when I hit with it and is 3 inches acrost so a little bigger then some. i have made 3 with wooden handles and put some pucks on my Dads STahlman maul and he like it better then the harder plastic.

Russ

Edited March 19, 2009 by superchute

[BruceGibson]

ok have to speak out I made my maul out of hockey pucks and the 2 pucks my maul is 20 oz. I like how it kinda grips when I hit with it and is 3 inches acrost so a little bigger then some. i have made 3 with wooden handles and put some pucks on my Dads STahlman maul and he like it better then the harder plastic.

Russ

I'd like to see that. Have you got any pictures?

[superchute]

here is my puck maul

Russ

[gtwister09]

Greg,

I had a couple but don't use them anymore. One was extremely poorly made and the other had so much lead in the end that it was too top heavy (the center of gravity was about 1.25 inches from that end).....so I never really took to using them.

Bob,

I had one of those but never really liked the feel and the action of them. I gave it away (Don't worry it was a 24 oz). However I have to add that it did seem a little better for stamping basketweaves and geometrics. So we adopted some of the ideas of the heft at the end of the maul (additional weight and longer/larger diameter maul heads) to make one that I like for that purpose. One of these days I will get a metal lathe and turn some brass to replace the washers at the end of the maul. The washers work great when prototyping because you can keep adding weight as you test them.

A lot of the poly heads are HDPE (High Density Polyethene) and some are UHMWPE (Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethene). I have not seen much HDPE in black rod form but I have seen UHMWPE and ABS in black a lot. Both of them also come in White and sometimes green. I have a sneaking suspicion that Bob's might be ABS Machine Grade Rods like Lustran 752 or Polycarbonate like Hydex 4301. It most likely is the ABS due to the Rockwell hardness and a fairly high impact resistance. I would have to look at them to see because it has been quite a while since I gave mine away.

When I was looking and selecting rods for the heads I looked at 3 specific properties to gauge it by. The hardness (Rockwell R or Shore D for plastics), density or specific gravity and impact resistance (specifically notched izod due the the edges of tools sometimes striking at less than a 90 degree angle). The three that I considered were Lustran 752 (ABS), Hydex 4301 (Polycarbonate) or UHMWPE.

Here's the three specs for them.

You notice that UHMWPE has the best overall impact resistance but falls behind in hardness to the Lustran ABS. However a 69R for hardness isn't too shabby either. The Lustran has the highest hardness and the 2nd highest notched impact resistance. Either one would be a good choice but I would stay away from HDPE because it is about 10R less and it's notched izod for impact resistance is low at 1.5-3.

Regards,

Ben

P.S. Probably more than you wanted to know about plastic rod!!!!

[hidepounder]

Greg,

Here's a stamping stick I used years ago and have just kept because........? Just because! I haven't seen a double ended one...might like it better. More balanced I'd bet!

Bob

Edited March 19, 2009 by hidepounder

[Bree]

Hey Bob... how the heck do you decide which swivel knife you are going to use today?? That rack of swivel knives reminds me of Imelda Marcos' Shoe closet!!

[greg gomersall]

Yes there is a lot of balance to the double ended stick Bob. Ben both my sticks are ligna-vita so they have alot of weight without the lead added but I have seen that as well. Thanks guys. Greg

[gtwister09]

Bree,

Imelda Marcos now that's a blast from the past.... Bob isn't the only one that has that many...Have seen several pictures around with that many and more.

Greg,

The one that looked like Bob's only worse was the double ended. Tne one with lead was single ended and made of lignum vitae. It didn't make sense to me to add that much lead with that heavy wood. Glad you like yours.

Regards,

Ben

[hidepounder]

I have another one that I didn't take a picture of because the rawhide sleeve is off of it and it just looks like a piece of scrap wood. It's really heavy...some kind of exotic, but I'm not sure which. I haven't had the little one in my hand since replacing the rawhide 30 years ago. It feels kinda good...might use it awhile this morning. I've never seen one loaded with lead...I'll bet they hit pretty good.

Here's what the Bob Beard mallets look like...just so that if anyone finds one for sale they can let me know about it! I made the rack so that I could move it around the bench...it's been pretty handy.

Bree...that's funny! Believe it or not I use most of them. I've got to make room for another one....I won one of Pauls last weekend in Wickenburg.

Edited March 19, 2009 by hidepounder