Mallet Or Maul For Punching? (Not Tooling)

[Willbury]

I know the topic comes up a fair bit and ultimatley comes down to personal preference, but I'm looking for a new hammer for punching exclusively: round holes, oblong holes, and belt ends.

If tooling is not in the picture would you still consider a round maul vs a mallet?

[WyomingSlick]

I believe it all boils down to your personal preferance. Best advice I can give is to try both. If you don't know someone whose tools you can test drive, perhaps you can grab some leather scraps, and your punches, and take them to your tool dealer and see if they will let you try both.

[oltoot]

yes and heavy too. Up to the 6-8 pound class

[Itch]

I was taught on the mauls and that is what we use 3 different sizes in our shop.. I would suggest the heavy weight for punching belt slots and such..

[TwinOaks]

Since it's just for punching holes, I think a dead blow hammer would do nicely.

[Willbury]

I've been using a deadblow for years and it works well, but I'm always choking up on the handle. Hence the search for something with a shorter handle.

I was looking at the Barry King 64oz mauls or mallets. Maybe I should get an even heavier one....

[Red Cent]

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=arbor+press&qpvt=arbor+press&FORM=IGRE#view=detail&id=C98B1F876154EF52608203C4D2CF293AABEEC3A9&selectedIndex=7

[Studio-N]

my 3 lb maul does a fine job for punching holes. Pretty much just let gravity do it's job without any extra effort (if the punches as sharp).

cheers!

[Chief31794]

my 3 lb maul does a fine job for punching holes. Pretty much just let gravity do it's job without any extra effort (if the punches as sharp).

cheers!

X2 except mine is a 3lb Mallet from Barry King. My grandkids call me Thor! Gravity is about all you need to punch through anything with it. The big one in the picture, the other is my carving mallet. I learned with the old Rawhide mallets and have tried but can't get used to the maul. It all boils down to personal preference like was said.

Chief

[Tramps Leatherworking]

I just recently had this discussion with Brad at Barry King tools --- he recommended a 16 oz maul for tooling, and a minimum 32 oz maul for setting snaps and punching holes... The straight, or tapered head is just a matter of personal preference...

[unicornleather]

I use a no 2 rawhide mallet

[keplerts]

^{Just bought the 22oz and 3 pound Master Tools mauls that Weaver Leather sells. They are very nice and the price is reasonable. Got them on the Weaver Route truck and paid no shipping.}

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

I agree with most of the comments made here concerning mauls vs. mallets. I will add that I (Personally) prefer rawhide over nylon for the head. I like the sound, or lack of it that the rawhide makes vs. the tapping sound of a nylon head and also like the fact that when using a rawhide head, even if you miss hit the object you are applying persuasion to, it will "grab" the object and direct the force anyway. Also the same reasoning for maul over mallet, in style of head used, especially when applying a lot of force, as in large holes, strap ends and oblong holes in the 1" and over size in 10 oz. and up skirting leather.

Bob

[XSport]

I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in on this subject if I could. I am pretty new, but feel I can add something. For perspective I'm 5'8" and about 190lb, fairly strong but not a weightlifter or anything like that. I work an office job but have spent a lot of time working on renovations and other wood based projects. I'm pretty accurate and effective with a hammer and nails.

I started off with the basic cheap yellow plastic Tandy hammer. The biggest improvement I made was getting a piece of granite from Tandy. It really makes a differnce for noise and striking something solid, the stamping is much easier. I just bought a 20oz Barry King Maul at Longview Leather in Alberta, Canada. I find it, just a little bit tricky to hit the stamp square, but it is only a marginal difference and it's getting better with each strike.....but again I'm pretty good with a steel hammer and nails so, take that for what it's worth.

The thing I really notice though is the weight. I find I only have to tap the stamps, really, really lightly to get the impression. I've only tried stamping on 2 to 3 oz leather so also take that for what it's worth, but right now I would say the 20oz is a little heavy for me for light stamping, but might be better on the 8 to 9oz. I find that with a maul, I fatigue easy because I have to hold my elbow out to the side to strike the stamp perpendicular. Because of these experiences I plan to get a 14oz tapered maul soon from Barry King as this will allow me to drop my elbow and I won't have to be so gentle due to the weight.

The 20oz is a really nice weight (for me) for hole punches and stitching punches on 8-9 oz with a 2 to 3 oz backing, for a total of 10 to 12 oz of leather plus glue.

The Barry King Maul's seem really nice. An impressive tool for sure and about half the price of the ones at Tandy. I also bought his swivel knife and really like that too.