Peddinghaus Leather Working Hammer?

[mrtreat32]

Anyone have one of these and can share their thoughts on the quality?

I bought a Garland rawhide mallet to use with my pricking iron about 2 months back but now realizing Its a bit too light in weight and think I need to upgrade. I think I got a 9oz.

Saw this brand from a seller on ebay who also carries vergez blanchard tools and it looks nice. Leaning towards this or a Barry King mallet. I dont do any carving so this would be pretty much only for use with pricking irons and setting snaps, rivets.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Peddinghaus-Leather-Working-Mallet-Hammer-32oz-soft-tip-leather-tool-/321386637692?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ad422e97c

[DavidL]

trip to home depot? You will be able to test the weights of the hammers.

[Eccho]

There are lots of hammers and mallets out there, but I can see where a 9oz. might be a tad light, for rivets and such. I have a number of different ones on the bench, but my hand falls most often on a Barry King 16oz. maul. Well made, well priced, and it feels good in the hand. IMHO

[mrtreat32]

trip to home depot? You will be able to test the weights of the hammers.

I have some hammers at home to get a idea of the weight I want but they are steel.

I dont think home depot carries that brand? maybe.

Was trying to get a feel if people thought they were of high quality since that isnt exactly cheap for a hammer. Dont mind spending the money if its nice though.

Also would the regular flat style be preferred for pricking irons? I know a lot of people like the round and tapered mauls by Barry King but cant envision how that would work with hammering a object as straight as possible. Maybe it helps. not really sure.

thanks

also the heads of Barry King and the previous brand I mentioned are made of a different material I believe. Would like something that gives me the weight and force I want but also fairly easy on the wear of the tools.

[UnionCraft]

@1:04 in this Dunhill video, Thomas is using a "Split Hammer." It's like a hammer with a heavy metal head, but the striking surfaces on both ends are raw hide. The head splits in two in order to replace the raw hide faces.

There are also "solid-head hammers." They are similar, but with fixed rawhide faces that require a press to insert new faces; they're also a bit lighter in weight.

List of Manufacturers

CS Osbourne

Garland

Vaughn

Thor

All of these split/solid hammers can be purchased on ebay.

Edited May 20, 2014 by UnionCraft

[electrathon]

I can not speak directly to the exact hammer in the link, but I do have a fair amount of hammer experience. I would suspect that you will get bounce with the plastic hammer. If you could not find a ploy hammer, it may be a usable choice, but likely not a good first choice.

[DavidL]

anyone know how to reduce the sound of a hammer? Im moving into an apartment and the sound of the hammering is slightly too loud.

[Northmount]

anyone know how to reduce the sound of a hammer? Im moving into an apartment and the sound of the hammering is slightly too loud.

There are several threads discussing reducing the noise level for apartment dwellers and for the rest of the family. Types of mallets, support for granite slabs, thickness of slabs, modifications to workbenches, etc. A search would be a good place to start. If you have trouble finding them, let me know. I'd do a search now, but have been at the computer too long and need to get to 'work' instead of play.

Tom

[DavidL]

I've done some research on the search and the conclusion is to use a marble slab, over that, a poundo board and piece of leather.

I have a marble counter, which I put a pound board and piece of leather and there is still a lot of sound. It is most likely because the counter has some drawers that echo the sound. On the ground there is the same issue, nothing is softening the hit and it sounds like iron hitting a poly board.

If there is no way to reduce the noise I am looking into arbor presses 1/2 or 1 ton to press the pricking iron. How the impression will look I don't know.

[oltoot]

The Pedinghaus is high quality but low suitability. That design would suit you but with flatter, squarer faces. For your use, BK flat faces in the 20-32 oz range would be my recommendation. Home Depot might have something like the Pedinghaus but with a flat face. I don't know, its 115 mile from here to a Home Depot.

[WyomingSlick]

There's no doubt that this is a high quality tool.......but it is also a pricey one since it is imported from a German firm known for their tools worldwide. Their metalworking hammer are excellent, and yes........ they are pricey also. All this actually is.....is a soft faced mallet and there are plenty of less expensive alternatives at your local hardware store that will do your tasks very well. One of the models that has a selection of different screw on tips might be very handy for a great range of tasks in your leather work.

[WyomingSlick]

anyone know how to reduce the sound of a hammer? Im moving into an apartment and the sound of the hammering is slightly too loud.

If you want to reduce any sound, the key is to isolate the source of the sound. A piece of high density foam under a marble tooling slab will reduce the sound there by isolating it from the table/bench which can carry the sound to the floor and to your neighbors. Vibration/sound absorbing machine mount pads under the legs will also help. If the sound is carrying through the air to the walls and thus to your neighbor's ears, you can pick up some sound absorbing material and build yourself a 3 sided surrounding wall to contain the sound. You could even put some hooks in the ceiling and hang some sleeping bags from them to catch the sound.

[mrtreat32]

There's no doubt that this is a high quality tool.......but it is also a pricey one since it is imported from a German firm known for their tools worldwide. Their metalworking hammer are excellent, and yes........ they are pricey also. All this actually is.....is a soft faced mallet and there are plenty of less expensive alternatives at your local hardware store that will do your tasks very well. One of the models that has a selection of different screw on tips might be very handy for a great range of tasks in your leather work.

thanks for the feedback guys.

I thought maybe it would be cheaper to get a US made hammer but after looking on Amazon anything around 2lbs with soft tips seems to be going for around $50. So pretty similar in price. At that point I might just go with a Barry King. The split hammers look interesting as well. Not sure if the barry king or the split face have any advantages over one another.

[WyomingSlick]

Something to think about. In the last 50 years, there have been a gazillion kids who took leathercraft in 4-H, Scouts, or other youth clubs and did not continue the pastime. Some of those mallets turn up at yard sales, pawn shops, etc. I have a fairly complete range of Garland mallets not counting the heavy weighted ones. I am sure that my total out of pocket expense for all of those shown in the picture was much less than $50,00 !

Even the Garland split face mallet was cheap. My cousin got 3 of them in a box of tools at an auction for a buck, and gave me one. The rawhide faces were shot so I simply replaced them with faces I sawed off another rawhide mallet I got somewhere for a buck or two. A little bronze paint and it was ready to go.

[FStyles]

While I do enjoy my custom made hand tools and gizmos, I find very little differentiation in mallets used for pricking irons & rivets. (I don't do any tooling, etc)

Thus, I hate to be that-guy but this has served me very well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/soft-face-mallet-69048.html

Cheaper than an hour of parking downstairs.

Edited May 27, 2014 by FStyles