How to Buy a Mallet

Mallets are unlike hammers and sledges where steel heads are used to pound in large and small metal like nails and stakes. Mallet heads are made of soft material for pounding surfaces without damaging or denting them. The following steps will help you buy a mallet for those special striking jobs.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Decide what type of mallet is best for your tool box. Many different designs are available in different materials.

2. Go to your local hardware store and see what types of mallets are available.

3. Pick a mallet up in your hands and see what it feels like. If it is too heavy, pick up another one. You want to be able to swing it comfortably like a standard hammer; not like a sledge hammer.

4. Make your choice of mallet. If it has a black rubber or plastic head, consider getting a second one just like it, except with a blond or brown head. Black heads can scuff light colored material like black sole shoes on a light floor.

Tips & Warnings

• Mallet heads come in different materials for different types of jobs. Wood, rubber, leather and plastic are some of the materials.
• If you have a variety of jobs that require more than one type of mallet, consider buying an interchangeable-face mallet. You screw on harder or softer faces to do the job right.
• Dead-blow mallets have sand in the plastic or rubber head. The sand adds striking force, yet keeps the mallet from bouncing on the surface as you strike it. Cabinet makers love to use this mallet.
• For leather makers, raw-hide mallets work wonders in pounding holes and bass rivets.