Brass Hammer For Stamping ?

[Sylvia]

+1 on the Dead Blow for a quick and cheap solution.

+1 on the poly mallet/maul

[Art]

Jake -- that works, but the rawhide will start to flake pretty soon, the flakes are a real pain as you have to watch not to pound them into the leather.

Deadblow hammer -1 when "walking a beveler, it just don't work for me.

If you like a mallet, a poly works IF it doesn't start flaking.

Rawhide Maul -- love them till the flaking starts, then dress them on a belt grinder.

Wood maul -- hickory handle and ironwood or live oak head, again, dress on the belt grinder when it gets too banged up, which will be a long time.

Brass hammer -- great, they are a bit heavy but they give a unique "made by Thor" impression. I guess you could walk a small one but mine are all too big for that. When the head gets buggered up or little bits start coming off, just dress it down with a belt grinder and an old belt (one you won't use again for anything but brass); never use a file or anything you want to use again unless you have a set just for brass.

A Bearman maul will last you on the corner of forever so the price is not so dear. I've seen Bob Beard rear back and wallop the crud out of a big stamp on barely wet leather and it doesn't leave a mark on the maul, and there are no flakes.

Art

[BearMan]

Thanks Art,

About a year ago I decided to "test" the head material to see if I could damage it. So I mounted a 1/4" bolt in the vice & then mounted a section of the head stock on a axe handle, about 18" long. With a mighty sledge hammer swing I swung & missed the first time. With better aim, I made very good solid contact, to my surprise, all I had was the outline of the bolt end,,, but no real dent or divot. So, on the next swing I purposely hit it with a heavy glancing blow. All I can say is it didn't bounce off like I thought it would, it basically grabbed & bent the bolt,, still just leaving a small mark. So,,, yes it's a very tough material, & I've never seen or heard of anybody having flakes.

Take Care,,, Ed

[Art]

Hi Ed,

What I was describing as flakes is these tiny specs of maul head material that would appear on the piece I was tooling. Since I am using your mauls now, I haven't encountered it.

Art

[ContactCement]

On ‎9‎/‎14‎/‎2012 at 0:57 PM, Art said:

Jake -- that works, but the rawhide will start to flake pretty soon, the flakes are a real pain as you have to watch not to pound them into the leather.

Deadblow hammer -1 when "walking a beveler, it just don't work for me.

If you like a mallet, a poly works IF it doesn't start flaking.

Rawhide Maul -- love them till the flaking starts, then dress them on a belt grinder.

Wood maul -- hickory handle and ironwood or live oak head, again, dress on the belt grinder when it gets too banged up, which will be a long time.

Brass hammer -- great, they are a bit heavy but they give a unique "made by Thor" impression. I guess you could walk a small one but mine are all too big for that. When the head gets buggered up or little bits start coming off, just dress it down with a belt grinder and an old belt (one you won't use again for anything but brass); never use a file or anything you want to use again unless you have a set just for brass.

A Bearman maul will last you on the corner of forever so the price is not so dear. I've seen Bob Beard rear back and wallop the crud out of a big stamp on barely wet leather and it doesn't leave a mark on the maul, and there are no flakes.

Art

Just leave the wood lathe spur and center indentations alone and the plastic or rawhide can easily be cut off for resurfacing using a wood lathe and carbide wood turning tool.

[ContactCement]

On ‎9‎/‎8‎/‎2012 at 6:54 PM, KAYAK45 said:

what good is your hand made maul, if you cannot use it. What the hell did you make it for? It's a tool, and yes it will take a beating. That's what it's for. It's not to "JUST LOOK NICE AND SET ON THE MANTLE" Use it.

Or make it a 'WORK DE ART' and keep it pristene condition and look for another, "less gentile tool" to use.

Kevin

The made hard maple woodworking maul I created on my wood lathe is custom made for wood chisels only because I said so ! I am a master woodworker for more than 30 years. I  easily chisel mortise and cut tenon joints by hand and they fit tight!  Furthermore anyone capable of using a child's plastic ruler can plainly see that wood chisels typically have a 1"  striking surfaces that properly distribute and transfer the striking force to the work.

Its very profound that when a narrow leather tool 1/4" - 5/16" in diameter penetrates a maul with a wood striking surface, the striking force and energy created will diminished and wasted. Finally the wood maul's surface will be destroyed because of total ignorance and stupidity when it comes to the proper tool selection.

[ContactCement]

On 5/6/2012 at 1:49 PM, Vikti said:

If you want to use your wooden mauls you could get some rawhide and wrap it around your maul so that the rawhide will take the abuse from tooling instead of the wood. If you find any pictures about striking sticks you'll see that they mostly have the heads wrapped in rawhide. After a while the rawhide will start to flake off and crack but you could simply replace it.

Just a thought.

Damon

I think that a rawhide wrap is a good idea. I'm going to get some iron wood to add some weight to my next maul.  I may drill a hole for 1 1/2" diamater plastic rod & cut a disc that can be glued into a hole.